Publications

Introduction

AASHE’s publications library is the leading repository of reports, journal articles, books, and student research on sustainability in higher education. Certain publication types are entered in the annual AASHE Awards Program.

At a Glance

3942
Total Resources
1903
Organizations
99
Countries
58
U.S. States & Territories
12
Canadian Provinces

Bars in graphs can be clicked to view resources that align with a particular category. Because a resource may be listed under multiple topics and disciplines, graph data may include higher total counts than what is indicated in total resources above.

3942 resources

The six dimensions of collective leadership that advance sustainability objectives: rethinking what it means to be an academic leader

  • Salisbury University (MD)
  • University of British Columbia Okanagan (BC)
  • Northeastern University (MA)
  • McGill University (QC)
  • Colorado State University (CO)
  • Stanford University (CA)
  • University of Maryland, College Park (MD)
  • TREE Foundation (FL)
  • National Geographic Society (DC)
  • Iowa State University (IA)
  • Northern Arizona University (AZ)

Solutions to our most pressing environmental problems demand the development and application of leadership skills that are not typically fostered in traditional academic programs: skills that advance new transdisciplinary approaches ...


Nursing students' attitudes towards climate change and sustainability: A cross-sectional multisite study

  • University of Jaén
  • University of Plymouth (Devon)
  • Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia
  • Queensland University of Technology
  • Hochschule für Technik Stuttgart/University of Applied Sciences (HFT) (Stuttgart)
  • Dalarna University
  • University of Brighton

This study aimed to: i) investigate nursing students' attitudes towards and awareness of climate change and sustainability issues and its inclusion in nurse education, ii) explore differences across a range ...


Which are the best practices for MSc programmes in sustainable agriculture?

  • Universidade do Porto
  • Universidade de Évora
  • Agricultural University of Athens
  • Università degli Studi della Basilicata

Programmes of education for sustainable development are important to reformulate and revise educational programmes in Sustainable Agriculture. Higher education institutes emerge as learning places to integrate sustainable development into the ...


Potential for urban agriculture to support accessible and impactful undergraduate biology education

  • Rollins College (FL)
  • Salish Kootenai College (MT)
  • Tulane University (LA)
  • University of St. Thomas (MN)
  • University of San Diego (CA)

Active learning in STEM education is essential for engaging the diverse pool of scholars needed to address pressing environmental and social challenges. However, active learning formats are difficult to scale ...


Green Campus Initiatives as sustainable development dissemination at higher education institutions: Students’ perceptions

  • Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (Santa Catarina)
  • Université de l'État de Santa Catarina
  • Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul
  • Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina
  • University of Vale do Itajaí
  • Unoesc Joaçaba

Students are future leaders who will be expected to make decisions aimed at achieving sustainability as they take up key roles in education in the area of sustainable development. In ...


Preparing engineering students for the challenges of the SDGs: what competences are required?

  • Technological University Dublin (Dublin)
  • Aalborg Universitet
  • Metropolia University of Applied Sciences
  • ENSTA Bretagne

Despite the emerging discussions about the growing role of engineers in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), there is a lack of agreement on which competences should be prioritised to ...


Sustainability as an Emerging Paradigm in Universities

  • University of Valladolid
  • Fundación Universitaria Konrad Lorenz
  • Universitat Carlemany
  • Fundación Universitaria Los Libertadores
  • Universidad Centroccidental Lisandro Alvarado
  • Universidad Nacional Experimental Politécnica Antonio José de Sucre

This article aims to review the perspective of sustainability adoption in universities through two dimensions: firstly, from the educational and research process, and second, from their global positioning in terms ...


Trends in scientific publishing on sustainability in higher education

  • Hamburg University of Applied Sciences
  • Manchester Metropolitan University
  • University of Passo Fundo
  • Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná
  • Universidade Positivo
  • University of Chester
  • University of Malta (Northern Harbor District)
  • University of Applied Sciences Zittau/Görlitz

It is widely acknowledged that research and publications in peer reviewed journals offer important metrics in describing the academic outputs of higher education institutions on one hand, and their societal ...


Supporting the role of universities in leading individual and societal transformation through education for sustainable development

  • Manchester Metropolitan University
  • University of St Andrews (Scotland)
  • Quality Assurance Agency For Higher Education (--None--)
  • University of the West of England, Bristol
  • Advance HE
  • Cardiff Metropolitan University
  • University of Bristol

There is growing recognition of the value of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) for all learners, and of the unique role that universities play in the transformation of individuals, institutions ...


Teaching and learning for change: analysis of a post-graduate One Health program

  • Universite Libre de Bruxelles (Brussels Region)
  • Université Dan Dicko Dankoulodo de Maradi
  • Université de Namur
  • Université de Liège
  • Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques en Côte d'Ivoire
  • Université de Montpellier

As problematized through the One Health concept, global health issues are defeating conventional disciplinary approaches since they unfold across various scientific domains and across all levels of society. Calling for ...


Differentiated Impact of Politics- and Science-Oriented Education on Pro-Environmental Behavior: A Case Study of Chinese University Students

  • China University of Geosciences

The purpose of this study is to understand the differentiated impact of politics- and science-oriented education on pro-environmental behavior among university students. A questionnaire was designed and sent to more ...


Towards Carbon Neutrality in Higher Education Institutions: Case of Two Private Universities in Colombia

  • Universidad EAN
  • Hamburg University of Applied Sciences
  • Manchester Metropolitan University
  • Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana

This paper addresses the path followed by two private higher education institutions (HEI) in Colombia towards achieving carbon neutrality. The methodology followed by these universities to achieve a carbon-neutral certification ...


Measuring professional action competence in education for sustainable development (PACesd)

  • KU Leuven
  • University of Antwerp

Based on the concept of action competence, the current study introduces an integrated framework of Professional Action Competence in Education for Sustainable Development (PACesd) described by three defining features: willingness ...


Transforming science and society? Methodological lessons from and for transformation research

  • Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg
  • Erasmus University Rotterdam
  • Ecologic Institute
  • Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development (IOER)

Transformation research has in the past years emerged as a shared lens to study and support radical societal change towards sustainability. Given the nascent and exploratory—yet highly normative and ...


Reflections on developing a collaborative multi-disciplinary approach to embedding education for sustainable development into higher education curricula

  • University of Strathclyde
  • Robert Gordon University

As higher education institutions (HEIs) have increasingly turned to consider sustainability over the last decade, education for sustainable development (ESD) has emerged as a way of imbuing students with the ...


The Perceived Importance and Intended Purchasing Patterns of Sustainable Foods in Australian University Students

  • Western Sydney University (NSW)
  • University of Tasmania (TAS)

Although there has been considerable research on consumers’ opinions about sustainable foods and purchasing behaviors, the experience of university students remains unclear. This study aims to characterize university students’ perceptions ...


Measuring the Transformation of University Students’ Self-Construal for Greater Environmental Sustainability

  • Arizona State University (AZ)
  • Kyoto University
  • National Taiwan University

University campus sustainability projects frequently aim to promote ecological behavior of their community members. However, these projects rarely consider the level of students’ self-construal, the view of self held by ...


Pandemic shift: Meeting the challenges of moving post-secondary environmental education online

  • Florida Atlantic University (FL)
  • Pennsylvania State University (PA)
  • University of Montevallo (AL)
  • University of Nebraska - Lincoln (NE)
  • University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (WI)

As the COVID-19 pandemic surged and resurged across the world, members of a higher education professional group associated with the North American Association of Environmental Education met regularly online to ...


Towards a European framework for community engagement in higher education – a case study analysis of European universities

  • University of Twente
  • Ghent University
  • Technological University Dublin (Dublin)
  • University of Rijeka
  • Institute for the Development of Education

This paper aims to examine the development and piloting of a novel European framework for community engagement (CE) in higher education, which has been purposefully designed to progress the CE ...


Online learning and teaching for the SDGs – exploring emerging university strategies

  • RMIT University

The purpose of this paper is to explore emerging synergies and tensions between the twin moves to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) and online learning and teaching ...


The influence of group-level factors on individual energy-saving behaviors in a shared space: The case of shared residences

  • Swinburne University of Technology
  • Shenzhen University

In business and service buildings, shared spaces constitute large areas where occupants share energy resources and manage them. Changing people's behaviors toward conscious and efficient energy use within shared ...


Teaching What Society Needs: “Hacking” an Introductory Marketing Course With Sustainability and Macromarketing

  • Pennsylvania State University (PA)
  • Simon Fraser University (BC)
  • Ollscoil na Gaillimhe - University of Galway (Co. Galway)
  • University of London
  • Middle East Technical University
  • IE Business School

Marketing classes are often focused on the micro level, failing to account for wider societal issues. In this article, we argue for the inclusion of a wider macro-sustainability focus, one ...


Sustainable Product Design Education: Current Practice

  • UNSW Sydney (NSW)
  • Technische Universiteit Delft
  • Nottingham Trent University
  • University of Sheffield
  • Technical University of Denmark
  • 3Drivers

Current production and consumption patterns are unsustainable, causing irreversible damage to the environment and human health and well-being. Designers play a vital role in resolving this problem—their decisions affect ...


Expectations and Interests of University Students in COVID-19 Times about Sustainable Development Goals: Evidence from Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, and Peru

  • Ontario Tech University (ON)
  • Tecnológico de Monterrey (Nuevo Leon)
  • Universidad Politécnica Estatal del Carchi
  • Universidad Autónoma de Bucaramanga
  • Escuela Nacional de Marina Mercante “Almirante Miguel Grau”
  • Universidad de Lima

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has changed the world, creating the need for new actions from society, including universities and companies. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are ...


Multiple case-study analysis of service-learning as a means to foster sustainability competencies amongst pre-service educators

  • Universidad Autonoma de Madrid (Madrid)
  • Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya
  • Rovira i Virgili University
  • Universitat Internacional de Catalunya

The aim of this multiple case-study analysis was to find out the influence that service-learning methodology has on the development of sustainability competences amongst university students (Preschool, Primary and Social ...


Analysis of sustainability insertion in materials selection courses of engineering undergraduate programmes

  • University of Campinas
  • Universidade Federal Fluminense
  • Manchester Metropolitan University
  • Universidad Católica del Norte

This study aims to analyse how the materials selection courses of engineering undergraduate programmes can be better aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).


Exploring Student Engagement in Sustainability Education and Study Abroad

  • University of Georgia (GA)
  • University of Technology Sydney
  • Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MN)
  • Fulbright University Vietnam

This paper specifically outlines an investigation of the influence of sustainability education and study abroad coursework on levels of a key component of academic success, student engagement. A quasi-experimental design ...


Social Learning of Sustainability in a Pandemic—Changes to Sustainability Understandings, Attitudes, and Behaviors during the Global Pandemic in a Higher Education Setting

  • University of Queensland (QLD)
  • University of Klagenfurt

When people learn from each other and change their behavior accordingly, this is called social learning. COVID-19 not only taught us new habits to limit contagion, imposed restrictions also limited ...


Applying SDGs as a systematic approach for incorporating sustainability in higher education

  • University of Melbourne (Victoria)

The achievement of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) for all communities and jurisdictions require a comprehensive roadmap that encompasses all dimensions of data infrastructure, social, economic, environmental and governance ecosystems ...


A hybrid approach to sustainable development competencies: the role of formal, informal and non-formal learning experiences

  • University of São Paulo

This paper aims to explore whether formal, non-formal, and informal learning experiences contribute to developing sustainable development competencies (SDCs) among students in a Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME) signatory ...


Healthy Settings: Barriers and Facilitators to a Healthy Campus Community

  • University of Texas at Austin (TX)
  • McMaster University (ON)
  • St. Francis Xavier University (NS)

This paper provides a synopsis of findings from the first two phases of a larger campus-based participatory action research study, which examines the factors that contribute to health within a ...


Diversity without Race: How University Internationalization Strategies Discuss International Students

  • University of Toronto (ON)

This article examines how a sample of 62 higher education institutions in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom discuss international students in their official institutionalization strategies, focusing on ...


The engagement CUBE: a dialogical tool for designing, facilitating and monitoring engaged research and teaching strategies

  • Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Community engaged research and learning strategies are considered meaningful methods for universities to demonstrate their critical importance to today’s societies. At the same time, it is stressed that not ...


Challenge-based, interdisciplinary learning for sustainability in doctoral education

  • Chalmers University of Technology
  • Lund University
  • Norwegian University of Science and Technology
  • Aalto University

Doctoral candidates possess specialized knowledge that could support sustainability transitions. Doctoral education, however, often focusses on discipline-specific topics and working methods, making it difficult to “see the bigger picture”. This ...


Sustainability, Energy, and the Green Economy: An Interdisciplinary Course on Environmental Sustainability and Life Cycle Analysis

  • Bronx Community College (NY)

Interdisciplinary education offers a collaborative approach to multifaceted topics, such as environmental sustainability. In this article, we present the conceptual framework and lessons learned from a team-taught course, entitled Sustainability ...


On and beyond traumatic fallout: unsettling political ecology in practice and scholarship

  • Clark University (MA)
  • University of Colorado Colorado Springs (CO)
  • University of Tennessee System Office (TN)
  • University of Texas at Austin (TX)
  • University of Wisconsin-Madison (WI)

Franz Fanon poignantly argued that trauma is both an act and a memory of wounding that haunts subjects of violence. Addressing geographies of trauma, and the way that trauma is ...


Fostering Sustainability Competencies and Ethical Thinking in Higher Education: Case Sustainable Chocolate

  • University of Eastern Finland
  • Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences

The context of this empirical research is a hands-on sustainability project by an international group of students, teachers, and entrepreneurs. The aim is to find out what kind of sustainability ...


Wicked problems: university research topic convergence despite divergence in local educational and innovation policies

  • National Defense University (DC)
  • Häme University of Applied Sciences
  • Universidade Feevale

This study aims to determine how sustainable development (SD) demands (according to the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe’s (UNECE) SD themes from 2005) are connected to the contents ...


Building University Capabilities to Respond to Climate Change Through Participatory Action Research: Towards a Comparative Analytical Framework

  • University of The South Pacific (Central Division)
  • University College London (London)
  • University of Passo Fundo
  • Kenyatta University
  • International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) (England)

This paper aims to explore how the principles of participatory action research (PAR) articulate with questions of climate justice. Drawing on three qualitative case studies in Brazil, Fiji and Kenya ...


Sustainability challenges in architectural education: assessment of an architectural technology course on the bioclimatic redesign of existing buildings in Greece

  • National Technical University of Athens

During the last decades, the sustainable redesign of existing buildings has been gaining importance in both architectural practice and education. While based on the knowledge of the basic principles of ...


Teamwork makes the net-work: participant-governed networks and athletics sustainability collaboration

  • Frostburg State University (MD)
  • North Carolina State University (NC)
  • Temple University (PA)

Athletic departments play an important role in sustainability-based collaborative processes due to their boundary spanning connections with both internal and external university stakeholders. As a result, athletic department representatives have ...


How can universities in emerging economies support a more thriving cycling culture?

  • University of Melbourne (Victoria)
  • University of the Philippines
  • Asian Development Bank
  • PayMongo Philippines
  • Philippine Competition Commission

Higher education institutions have played an important role in pursuing sustainable futures, but do they also ensure inclusive futures? This research examines the implementation of a campus-based public bikesharing programs ...


Quantitative assessment of environmental impacts at the urban scale: the ecological footprint of a university campus

  • Università degli Studi di Torino
  • Politecnico di Torino

This paper explores the consumption-based ecological footprint method and its application aiming at a quantitative assessment of the sustainability of a university campus. The goal is to inform the planning ...


Reimagining Internationalization in Higher Education Through the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for the Betterment of Society

  • University of Saskatchewan (SK)
  • UNICA—Network of Universities from the Capitals of Europe

Higher education institutions (HEIs) play a critical role in creating and distributing the knowledge required to tackle the complex global challenges faced by society today. This role is frequently linked ...


Provision of education for sustainability development and sustainability literacy in business programs in three higher education institutions in Brazil, Colombia and Peru

  • Manchester Metropolitan University
  • Centro Universitário Municipal de Franca
  • Universidad Nacional Jorge Basadre Grohmann
  • Universidad Externado de Colombia

This paper aims to report on the status and the development of education for sustainable development (ESD) and sustainability literacy (SL) in three Latin American (LA) higher education institutions (HEIs ...


Water conservation potential within higher education institutions: lessons from a Brazilian university

  • Universidade Federal de Campina Grande, UFCG
  • Universidade de Pernambuco

This study seeks to analyze water consumption and promote water conservation measures in universities through a case study conducted at the University of Pernambuco, Brazil. The methodology consisted of collecting ...


Lean practices toward a balanced sustainability in higher education institutions: A Brazilian experience

  • Universidade federal de Santa Maria
  • Universidade Federal de Pernambuco
  • Centro Universitário UniFBV

As few studies have explored the causal relationship between both the triple bottom line (TBL) of sustainability and the lean practices in higher education institutions (HEIs), the purpose of this ...


The Role of Simulation and Serious Games in Teaching Concepts on Circular Economy and Sustainable Energy

  • Boston University (MA)
  • Technische Universiteit Delft
  • University of Southampton
  • Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (Barcelona)
  • Universidad Pública de Navarra

The prevailing need for a more sustainable management of natural resources depends not only on the decisions made by governments and the will of the population, but also on the ...


Selection and framing of briefs for educational circular design projects

  • Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya
  • Technische Universiteit Delft
  • University of Limerick
  • Linkoping University

This paper aims to present key characteristics of educational design briefs for the circular economy (CE) through the analysis of 11 design briefs focussing on real-life challenges related to sustainability ...


Scalable pathways to net zero carbon in the UK higher education sector: A systematic review of smart energy systems in university campuses

  • Buro Happold (NY)
  • University College London (London)

The following literature review sets out the state-of-the-art research relating to smart building principles and smart energy systems in UK higher education university campuses. The paper begins by discussing the ...