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

3968
Total Resources
1910
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.

3968 resources

A proposal of personal competencies for sustainable consumption

  • Leuphana University of Lüneburg

Despite advances in Environmental and Sustainability Education (ESE) scholarship and practice, ESE has not yet contributed to mitigate the sustainability-related problems it is meant to remedy. As part of an …


Climate Emergency: UK Universities' Declarations and Their Role in Responding to Climate Change

  • Cardiff University

On April 17, 2019, the University of Bristol became the first university in the United Kingdom (UK) to declare a climate emergency. Against a backdrop of high visibility and public …


Sustainable Development Goals as a Framework for Postgraduate Future Research Following COVID-19 Pandemic: A New Norm for Developing Countries

  • Northwest University (WA)

Education is regarded as the key to economic development, and COVID-19 has provided all universities the unique opportunity to urgently address their fitness for purpose. Universities can play a significant …


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

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

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 …


Engaging students in education for sustainable development: The benefits of active learning, reflective practices and flipped classroom pedagogies

  • University of Edinburgh

Effective Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) requires appropriate pedagogies that engage learners in transformative learning. These pedagogies include reflective and active learning, involving experiential, collaborative and learner-centred activities. This paper …


Stimulating boundary crossing learning in a multi-stakeholder learning environment for sustainable development

  • Wageningen University

Sustainable development requires multiple stakeholders to work and learn across practices, in other words, it requires boundary crossing competence. To prepare students for their future sustainability professions, higher education should …


Integrating Sustainable Development Goals in educational institutions

  • Universitat Jaume I (Castelló)

This research contributes to the achievement of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through Education, a growing area of research, by means of a systematic review of the literature on …


How management education is engaging students in the sustainable development goals

This paper aims to explore if, and how, business schools globally have been engaging their students in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), both inside and outside the classroom, since the …


Epistemic stability and epistemic adaptability: interdisciplinary knowledge integration competencies for complex sustainability issues

  • Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Global sustainability challenges transcend disciplines and, therefore, demand interdisciplinary approaches that are characterized by cross-disciplinary collaboration and integration across disciplines. In accordance with this need for interdisciplinary approaches, sustainability professionals …


A Global MetaUniversity to Lead by Design to a Sustainable Well-Being Future

  • University of Denver (CO)
  • Australian National University
  • University of Melbourne (Victoria)

The COVID19 pandemic has revealed deep, ingrained problems with higher education, but also opportunities for positive transformation. In the post-COVID world, education at all levels has the chance to become: …


Sustainability practices at higher education institutions in Asia

  • University of Waterloo (ON)
  • Universiti Putra Malaysia
  • Universiti Sains Malaysia
  • Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (Santa Catarina)
  • University of Passo Fundo
  • Manchester Metropolitan University
  • Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP) (Perak Darul Ridzuan)
  • Beaconhouse National University
  • Hiroshima University
  • Universidade Fernando Pessoa
  • Khulna University of Engineering & Technology
  • Universiti Utara Malaysia

It is still unclear how Asian universities incorporate the theory or practice of sustainable development (SD) in their research and education programmes. To address this gap, the purpose of this …


Higher Education for Sustainability: A Critical Review of the Empirical Evidence 2013–2020

  • University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna

Higher education for sustainable development (HESD) has grown into a substantial field of research and practice. HESD proposes that higher education will be central in a transition towards more sustainable …


Corporate Social Responsibility through SDGs: Preliminary Results from a Pilot Study in Italian Universities

  • Università del Salento

Background: In the broad scientific debate on the integration of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the strategic planning of universities and on the use of monitoring the results of the …


Towards an eco-literate tertiary music education: Notes from a South African context

  • University of the Witwatersrand

On 20 September 2019 in Cape Town, as part of the global protests on inaction on climate change, the African Climate Alliance submitted a memorandum of demands to South African …


The adoption of corporate social responsibility active learning methodology with management accounting students

  • University of Jaén

The aim of this paper is to integrate active methodology on corporate social responsibility (CSR)1 learning into management accounting studies. The linkages between sustainable management and management accounting demand those …


Perceptions of a green university: an exploratory study among students

  • UNSW Sydney (NSW)
  • Hong Kong Baptist University

This study aims at exploring perceptions of a green university among its students. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 18 postgraduate and undergraduate students at a green campus in Germany through …


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 …


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 …


Learning for the Future: Exploring Effective Characteristics of Sustainability Leadership Programs in Higher Education

  • Thompson Rivers University (BC)

In response to global environmental, economic, and social issues, universities and colleges have begun to create and expand leadership courses and programs that aspire to foster sustainability change agents. This …


Students’ learning sustainability – implicit, explicit or non-existent: a case study approach on students’ key competencies addressing the SDGs in HEI program

  • Kristianstad University

This study aims to understand better the student awareness and knowledge on how the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are used in higher education institutions (HEIs) to motivate students’ learning on …


University gardens for sustainable citizenship: assessing the impacts of garden-based learning on environmental and food education at Spanish higher education

  • Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador
  • University of Valladolid

Gardens are being used at all educational stages, because they provide with a real-world context for active and experiential learning. In Spain, there exists a movement in favor of their …


COVID-19: the impact of a global crisis on sustainable development teaching

  • College of Charleston (SC)
  • University of Malta (Northern Harbor District)
  • Bournemouth University (Dorset)
  • Universidade Aberta
  • Hamburg University of Applied Sciences
  • University of Passo Fundo
  • University of Aveiro
  • Manchester Metropolitan University
  • Universidade federal de Santa Maria
  • Universidade NOVA de Lisboa
  • University of Chester
  • North-West University (North West)
  • University of Milano-Bicocca
  • Universidade Federal da Paraíba

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a global crisis, one which also influences the ways sustainability is being taught at universities. This paper undertakes an analysis of the extent to which …


Taking power seriously: Towards a power-sensitive approach for transdisciplinary action research

  • Maastricht University
  • Kozminski University

In this paper, we focus on transdisciplinary action research to explore the key challenge of post-normal science – how to deal with power. First, the paper reviews the literature on …


Exploring opportunities to incorporate systems thinking into secondary and tertiary chemistry education through practitioner perspectives

  • Deakin University

Recently, the chemistry education community has focused considerable effort on incorporating systems thinking into chemistry education as a means to address global challenges such as sustainability. In this project, a …


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 …


The Effect of Service Quality on Student Loyalty and Student Satisfaction: An Empirical Study of Universities in Vietnam

  • Ho Chi Minh City Open University

In recent years, there have been several studies on service quality in higher education, however, research on service quality and sustainable activities affecting student loyalty has been largely ignored in …


Fostering Sustainability through Mobility Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes

  • Universidad Autonoma de Madrid (Madrid)

International mobility programmes embed higher education (HE) students in a learning process in which they gain key knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAs), some of them crucial in pursuing the Sustainable …


A scale for assessing student understandings of marine resource conservation and sustainability: psychometric verification and the latent mean difference between genders

  • Tzu Chi University
  • National Taiwan Ocean University

This study developed a scale for evaluating how well students understand marine-resource conservation and sustainability; it evaluated the scale’s psychometric properties and investigated the gender difference in the scale’s score. …


Multilevel barrier and driver analysis to improve sustainability implementation strategies: Towards sustainable operations in institutions of higher education

  • United Nations University
  • Technische Universität Dresden (Dresden)

In practice what they preach in research and education, higher education institutions (HEIs) must consider economic, ecological, and social impacts in their quest for sustainable operations. We contribute to the …


A framework for implementing and reporting United Nations sustainable development goals in Spanish higher education institutions

  • Universidad de Oviedo (Asturias)

This study aims to explore a holistic framework for implementing and reporting sustainable development goals (SDGs) in universities. The aim is to define elements of the content as well as …


University Social Responsibility: The Case of Italy

  • Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale
  • Libera Università Carlo Cattaneo, LIUC

Increasing attention is now being paid to the concept of sustainability as a crucial element of our life at all levels. The awareness that attention must be paid not only …


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 …


The Contribution of Higher Education Institutions to the SDGs—An Evaluation of Sustainability Reporting Practices

  • Università del Salento

The introduction of Agenda 2030 has impacted the public and private sectors. Agenda 2030 is a document that aims to promote collaboration and partnership between countries and the population for …


Beyond practitioner and researcher: 15 roles adopted by actors in transdisciplinary and transformative research processes

  • Leuphana University of Lüneburg
  • Wuppertal Institut

To tackle complex sustainability problems, science and practice must join forces and interact in the processes of knowledge co-production. This central claim of sustainability science requires all actors to do …


Assessing climate solutions and taking climate leadership: how can universities prepare their students for challenging times?

  • Trent University (ON)

Through this point-of-departure paper we aim to prompt discussion and action around redesigning university learning to help students tackle climate-related challenges in a personally and societally meaningful way. We use …


Higher education and the sustainable tourism pedagogy: Are tourism students ready to lead change in the post pandemic era?

  • Universidad Complutense de Madrid

The present context of COVID19 pandemics has highlighted the vulnerability of tourism. Sustainable tourism needs to be thoroughly implemented to confront this and other crises; and sustainable tourism pedagogies must …


CSR Education in Economia Aziendale Curricula: An Overview

  • Università del Salento

In the last few years, policymakers have underlined the need for new soft and hard skills about corporate social responsibility (CSR). The main debate about CSR education has been driven …


Arranging university semester date to minimize annual CO2 emission: A UK university case study

  • University of Edinburgh
  • Tsinghua University
  • Sichuan University

Existing methods of reducing carbon emissions on campus often require substantial investment, and the potential opportunities for carbon dioxide and energy savings in universities with existing infrastructure have not been …


Learning towards environmental sustainability practices: insights from a values-based participatory research approach

  • University of the Free State
  • Fudan University

Transformative Learning Theory is instrumental in fostering sustained positive change in adult learners as it explains how critical reflection in crystallization processes results in emancipatory learning. Despite its relevance, there …


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 …


Promoting language education for sustainable development: a program effects case study in Japanese higher education

  • Konan University

The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of education for sustainable development (ESD) approaches in English as a foreign language (EFL) in Japanese higher education. A content …


What Does Education for Sustainable Development Offer in Initial Teacher Training? A Systematic Review

  • University of Jaén
  • Universidad de Granada

Promoting Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in higher education impliesan improvement and quality in the exercise of responsible citizenship, being the key inthe training of future teachers as the main …


The University at the Crossroads of Eco-Social Challenges: Pedagogy of Care and the Community of Life for a Transformative Learning

  • Universidad de Granada

What kind of responsibility do universities have with regard to the current emergency created by ecological and socio-economic collapse? This work begins by considering the colonization of universities by neoliberal …


Developing an Integrated Sustainability Management Approach for Higher Education Institutions

  • University of the West of England, Bristol

The Higher Education Institutions' (HEIs) around the world have to pay the main role in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals for that HEIs need to be sustainable first. This …


Measuring interdisciplinarity in the context of sustainability research projects toward capacity building in higher education

  • Technische Universität Dresden (Dresden)

The purpose of this paper is to develop an analytical framework toward facilitating the quantitative measurement of interdisciplinary understanding regarding sustainable energy systems with an application in the area of …


Place-responsive Pedagogies in the Anthropocene: attuning with the more-than-human

  • The Mind Lab
  • University of Stirling (Scotland)

Drawing on New Materialist frameworks for environmental and sustainability education, we extend and deepen our understanding of contemporary place-responsive pedagogies in the light of our human-impacted geological epoch, the Anthropocene, …


Effectiveness of a game-based class for interdisciplinary energy systems education in engineering courses

  • University of Tsukuba

Professionals in the energy sector are required to understand the interactions among technology, society, and the environment to tackle complex trade-offs among policy issues. The fostering of such professionals with …


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 …


Towards Sustainable Development through Higher Education Quality Assurance

  • Quality Assurance Agency For Higher Education (--None--)
  • Dnipro University of Technology

This study aims to identify the role of higher education quality assurance in achieving sustainable development goals. To support this aim, the following objectives were formulated: to discuss and summarize …


Driving Transformational Sustainability in a University Through Structural and Academic Innovation: A Case Study of A Public University in Spain

  • United Nations University
  • Universidad Politécnica de Madrid

Higher education institutions (HEIs) are increasingly engaged in the urgent and important work involved in the global transition towards sustainable development. They are potentially well suited to address key challenges, …