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The Environmental Sustainability of Brazilian Universities: Barriers and Pre-conditions

Authors:
  • Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (Germany) & Manchester Metropolitan University (UK)
  • Federal University of Fronteira Sul - Campus Erechim

Abstract and Figures

The aim of this paper is to discuss the application of sustainability in Brazilian universities, emphasizing the preconditions for implementation and the barriers and difficulties for its application. The methodology approach is based in a theoretical background and on the gathering of empirical evidence. Due to the scope of the study and the nature of the methodological approach, the survey, by no means, can be regarded as representative. However, since it is combined with the review of the literature, it builds a rough profile of the status of the sustainability in Brazilian universities. Larger studies can be undertaken at a later stage, provided that the necessary staff time and funding are available. The results indicate positive experiences and opportunities; risks, threats and obstacles; creativity and new solutions for Brazilian universities. This paper will be useful to academics and researchers interested in the topic of sustainability in higher education institutions in Brazil and other developing countries.
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The Environmental Sustainability
of Brazilian Universities: Barriers
and Pre-conditions
Luciana Londero Brandli, Walter Leal Filho,
Marcos Antonio Leite Frandoloso, Eduardo Pavan Korf
and Denise Daris
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to discuss the application of sustainability in Brazilian
universities, emphasizing the preconditions for implementation and the barriers
and difculties for its application. The methodology approach is based in a
theoretical background and on the gathering of empirical evidence. Due to the
scope of the study and the nature of the methodological approach, the survey, by
no means, can be regarded as representative. However, since it is combined with
the review of the literature, it builds a rough prole of the status of the
sustainability in Brazilian universities. Larger studies can be undertaken at a later
stage, provided that the necessary staff time and funding are available. The results
indicate positive experiences and opportunities; risks, threats and obstacles;
L.L. Brandli (&)D. Daris
University of Passo Fundo, PPGeng Campus I, Passo Fundo, RS 99052-900, Brazil
e-mail: brandli@upf.br
D. Daris
e-mail: dedaris@hotmail.com
W. Leal Filho
HAW Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
W. Leal Filho
Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK
e-mail: walter.leal@haw-hamburg.de
M.A.L. Frandoloso E.P. Korf
Faculty of Engineering and Architecture Campus I, University of Passo Fundo, Passo Fundo,
RS 99052-900, Brazil
e-mail: frandoloso@upf.br
E.P. Korf
e-mail: eduardokorf@upf.br
©Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015
W. Leal Filho et al. (eds.), Integrating Sustainability Thinking in Science and Engineering
Curricula, World Sustainability Series, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-09474-8_5
63
creativity and new solutions for Brazilian universities. This paper will be useful
to academics and researchers interested in the topic of sustainability in higher
education institutions in Brazil and other developing countries.
Keywords
Brazilian universities Sustainability Implementation
1 Introduction
The pressures on higher education today are intense (Barlett and Chase 2013), from
legislators, society, work market and others, a fundamental transformation of higher
education ensures that more students graduate with the skills and abilities to meet
the challenges of the twenty-rst century.
Implementing sustainability is not an easy task (Lozano 2006; Leal Filho 2011)it
is confusing, time intensive, and with many uncertainties and various stakeholders
that should be involved (Tilbury 2012 apud Waas et al. 2012). There is often
resistance to change that is evident through the large number of barriers to change,
that should be identied, addressed and overcome. Brazil, is not different, and maybe
as a developing country, there are specic barriers that need to be explored.
At the end of the Decade for Education for Sustainable Development, UNESCO
(20052014) many researches and analyzes are being conducted (Gonçalves et al.
2012) to show what have been developed in terms of objectives proposed 10 years
ago. The focus of this paper is surrounding this topic in the moment that discusses the
situation of Brazilian universities and brings some insights to promote sustainability.
Sustainability should not be understood to be a special subject but should be
incorporated into the practices of each academic course (curriculum). This does not
mean to insert into the curriculum a subject about environmental issues or sus-
tainability but it means introducing an attitude and behavior pattern into each
student as a future member of society and a future professional (Brandli et al. 2014).
According Leal Filho (2009), the levels of implementation of sustainability in
university systems may be found at roughly three different stages of evolution.
According the author these are as follows:
Stage 1: the principles of SD are not universally understood, there are not
signicant efforts towards promoting sustainability in university operations and no
systematic projects that try to promote sustainability either holistically or in the
context of specic subjects.
Stage 2: the principles of SD are widely understood and there are signicant
efforts towards promoting sustainability at university operations. There are projects
which try to promote sustainability in the university as a whole or in the context of
specic subjects, as well as in research and extension.
Stage 3: in this stage are the universities which fulll requirements at level 2 and
committed to sustainability on a long-term basis doing so by means of sustainability
policies (ISO 14001 or EMAS for European universities), the existence of various
64 L.L. Brandli et al.
senior members of staff who oversee its sustainability efforts and the existence of
centrally-funded sustainability projects.
The author commented that it is not possible to measure the actual numbers of
universities at the different stages, but to present an estimate based on the available
literature and conferences on SD held over the past 10 years. The result is that
around 20 % of the universities are found in stage 1, especially in developing
countries (Brazils case); around 70 % of the universities are found in stage 2, with
an uneven distribution towards industrialized nations and towards North American
and western European countries; up to 10 % of the universities are found in stage 3,
almost exclusively in North America, Western Europe and Australia/Oceania.
Many universities have not succeeded in implementing the principles of
sustainable development, according Leal Filho (2011) the reasons are lack of
institutional interest, limited resources and staff involvement. The problems in
implementing sustainability in higher education are inuenced by social, political
and economic issues. They can be categorized in perception, attitude, perspective,
focus and cost-effectiveness (Leal Filho and Manolas 2012).
Waas et al. (2012) synthesize the barriers that higher education encounters in
working toward sustainability. They show that these barriers could be related to
understanding of sustainable development (SD), paradigm shift, resources and
leadership (Fig. 1).
SD is perceived as an “add-on”, not a built-in aspect of higher education
Lack of vision and prioritization/leadership of SD among higher education leaders
Lack of awareness, common understanding and knowledge of sustainability in higher education
and its consequences
Perceived lack of scientific basis of sustainability
Confusion about SD
Broadness of SD
Lack of coordination and vision to change sustainability policies and education at government
level
Little or no motivation or realism
Sustainability is considered to be radical
Changes into curricula are translated into budget claims
Overcrowded curricula
Sustainability is considered to have little or no relevance to the discipline, its courses and
research
Lack of (financial) resources and uncertainty about the required efforts/resources to engage and
implement sustainability
Threat to academic credibility of scholars and teachers
Disciplinary organizational structure hindering integrative thinking and interdisciplinary
cooperation and learning
Fig. 1 Barriers that higher education encounters in working toward sustainability. Source Waas
et al. (2012)
The Environmental Sustainability of Brazilian Universities 65
The aim of this paper is to discuss the application of the sustainability in the
Brazilian universities emphasizing the barriers and difculties of the implementa-
tion and the preconditions for this implementation.
2 The Brazilian Universities
The level of achievement of Brazilian universities does not compare with European
universities (Leal Filho 2009), neither with North American universities (Barlett
and Chase 2013).
The Brazilian higher education consists of 2,377 higher education institutions,
according to data from the Ministry of Education (MEC). Of this total, 85 % are
colleges, 8 % are universities, 5.3 % are technology centers, and 1.6 % are tech-
nological institutes. This means that there are around 190 universities in Brazil
(Ranking Universitário Folha 2012).
In Brazil few universities have implemented Environmental Management Sys-
tems in their campuses. Although there are some examples that need to be men-
tioned as the UNISINOS, the rst university in Latin America with ISO 14001
Certication (Venzke et al. 2012). This scenario is quite different from that showed
in Disterheft et al. (2012b) for European universities, where current state of
Environment Management System (EMS) implementation processes and practices
is an advanced level with many universities using ISO14001, EMAS and EMS.
Generally, as commented by Tauchen and Brandli (2006) and Brandli et al.
(2011), most of the environmental actions that have been adopted in Brazilian
universities are isolated and do not consider a systemic vision.
As the largest Brazilian university and the third in Latin America with an aca-
demic community of over 106,000 people, since 1997 the University of São Paulo
has the Permanent Program and Energy EfciencyPUREUSP (PUREUSP 2012),
evaluating the potential for 20 % energy savings for the University. In addition to
prescribing some measures to control energy consumption, it has a monitoring
system for consumption (SISGEN) that identies indicators for the seven campuses.
The cost impact of natural resources constitute a strong impulse also to environ-
mental and social measures, dealing with paper consumption and with water
management (PURA program), and to establish parameters for the calculation of
the ecological footprint and CO
2
emissions (USP 2009).
Although cooperation exist with other international universities such as the
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), the USP does not yet have a formal EMS
or ISO14001 certications. This is mostly due to political and economic reasons.
3 Methodology
The research method used in this study consisted of a background analysis (with a
review of the literature), complemented with the collection of empirical evidence. A
questionnaire with four questions below was sent by email to a sample of 10 experts
66 L.L. Brandli et al.
working in some Brazilian universities, of which 6 were returned. For the selection
of the surveyed institutions was made a random sampling, considering the spatial
distribution in country.
Due to the scope of the study and the nature of the methodological approach, the
survey, by no means, can be regarded as representative. However, since it is
combined with the review of the literature, it builds a rough prole of the status of
the sustainability in Brazilian universities. Larger studies can be undertaken at a
later state, provided that the necessary provisions for staff time and funding are
available. The surveyed institutions can be seen in Table 1.
The questions posed to the experts were as follows:
What is the status of sustainability in your university?
How do you see the implementation of sustainability in Brazilian universities
nowadays?
What are the main barriers to the implementation of sustainability in your
university?
What must be done to promote sustainability in Brazilian universities?
The next section presents the results gathered, the analysis and its implications.
The transcriptions in the text were freely translated to English.
4 Results and Analysis
4.1 Status of Sustainability in the Brazilian Universities
The respondents have shown that most universities do not have institutionalized
sustainability programs within the framework of the management of the whole
university. Sustainability actions are isolated, sometimes guided by ideologies.
Table 1 Surveyed institutions in Brazil
University Federal
state
in Brazil
Month and year
of foundation
Number of students
Federal university of Bahia Bahia April 1946 27,600 students
University of Brasilia Brasilia April 1962 30,727 undergraduates
and 8,913 graduate students
Estadual university
Paulista (Unesp)
São Paulo January 1976 35,000 graduate students
12,000 mil postgraduate
students
University of Southern
Santa Catarina Unesul
Santa
Catarina
November 1964 30,000 students in graduate,
posgradutate and distance
education
Estadual University
of Roraima
Roraima November 2005 3,000 graduate students
Federal Institute of Education,
science and technology from
Rio Grande do Sul
Rio
Grande
do Sul
December 2008 6,200 students
The Environmental Sustainability of Brazilian Universities 67
Those universities which reported an institutional approach to sustainability have
stated that their efforts are still in the early stages. About the green actions, the
waste management is the action more cited among the universities.
This scenario means that there is not a formal policy for sustainability and
structured framework for managing the environmental impact of the university
activities like the a Environmental Management System (EMS).
As a respondent commented:
We have not yet institutionalized programs focusing on the actions and decisions of
sustainable orientation. However, the institution is taking several actions that aim to reduce
direct and indirect impacts on the environment. But there are isolated actions that are not
systemic or actually institutionalized through program to sustainable practices.
In the Brazilian universities sustainability is seen from a really early stage
Furthermore, most of the sustainability actions found, focus on green campus,
missing the approach to sustainable education.
The sustainability is reported in the social balance sheet.
With regard to federal higher institutions, two comments are to be mentioned:
The disorganization in public universities puts the theme of sustainability away.
Federal universities are still discussing the creation of centers for these purposes.
4.2 Barriers for the Sustainability in Brazilian Universities
The respondents identied several commons barriers: lack of mandatory strategies
from the institutional program that motivate staff, professors and students to engage
in sustainability; the lack of interest in sustainability; lack of knowledge about
sustainability; and the activities including teaching, research, and university man-
agement that leave no space for the implementation of sustainability measures.
Other problems may also be added the list:
1. Cultural change
2. Importance attributed to sustainability
3. Lack of cooperation networks between universities
4. Government policies to encourage the implementation of education for sus-
tainability and sustainable practices on campus, especially from Ministry of
Education.
5. Lack of resources or available funding for sustainability projects.
6. Lack of staff and a senior member of staff who can implement and oversee
sustainability efforts. This could be in terms of size and teams background.
7. Lack of projects between companies and universities, and R&D projects.
68 L.L. Brandli et al.
Many of these barriers can be explained as are organized societal levels of
participation presented by Disterheft et al. (2012a). According the authors, the
educational sector at the macro level involves the international and national
framework of educational policymaking; at the meso level, it involves the gover-
nance of the institutions and their organizational structure and at the micro level, it
refers to the concrete learning settings and spaces for participation in institutions
and their communities.
Beyond these, there are more contextual barriers that can be observed in
development countries (macro level): there is a lack of sustainable-related practice
in the day-to-day of the population; there is a lack of sustainability practices in the
city life including sustainable transport, formal mechanisms for selective collection
of municipal waste, investments in water and efcient energy consumption; and
there are intrinsic difculties for the population to (attend) comply with the legis-
lation/and/or not sufcient environmental legislation. All of these issues are affected
by the role of the university.
One of the challenges of the educators is developing in themselves and in their
students, mindsets and habits that enable people to live sustainably. In this point,
maybe the role of the university is more evident in developed countries.
The Fig. 2presents the link between the participation processes in higher edu-
cation for promoting sustainability practices and for fostering citizenship and
democratic values, and the barriers in developing countries like Brazil.
Fig. 2 Barriers that university encounter in implementing sustainability in developing countries.
Source the authors
The Environmental Sustainability of Brazilian Universities 69
4.3 Pre-conditions for the Sustainability in Brazilian Universities
Brazilian universities must realize the importance of their role in society with
respect to education for SD by educating leaders and advancing knowledge, and by
developing an institutional understanding, culture, and planning for the integration
of sustainability.
To improve the efforts for the implementation of sustainability in Brazilian
universities, some points should be considered:
4.3.1 Investing in Support
In order to have a structure for the sustainability, top-down policies and full-time
equivalent Environmental Management Staff must be considered.
Universities should o raise more support, in terms of staff capacity, nancial
support and investments.
Political support is closely related to the nancial support for implementation of
sustainable projects and as such, It is important that rectors and other ofcials of the
HEI support sustainable initiatives and to add them to the institutional strategic
planning.
One of respondents said:
Personally, I believe the campus is very large. So, such initiatives should be enforced
because there is hardly any awareness by so many people. This is an important point of
view because successful experiences in sustainability show their need to inuence people
without authority (Newman 2013).
4.3.2 Know the Benefits
Understand the nancial benets (water, energy, food, waste management, etc.).
Understand the environment benets; View sustainability as a commitment
universities would take on not to be the best but to approach global issues including
clime change, disasters and conict, ecosystem management, harmful substances,
and resource efciency.
To view the sustainability as a criteria of quality and competitiveness, a national
ranking about sustainability could motivate the universities to implement it, as the
People and Planet Green League in UK, and AASHE in US. This standardized
instrument would measure the progress of the HEI toward sustainability and
achieve recognition. Using this self-assessment and rating system, institutions can
benchmark their sustainability progress over time and compare with others
(AASHE 2014). Also, Waas et al. (2012) recommended to develop an assessment
frameworks and indicators to assess the progress of sustainability in higher
education at the institutional, regional, national and international levels and to
communicate regularly to allinternal and external- stakeholders.
70 L.L. Brandli et al.
4.3.3 Educate and Train
Develop an institutional understanding about the topic of sustainability, and include
it in the educational process. According Porritt (2012) the starting point is staff
training and preparation. Only then can we begin to embed sustainability more
widely into university programmes across the curriculum. As educators, we have a
huge responsibility to embed sustainability into what we do across the board, not
just for those students who choose to take subjects that directly relate to issues
around sustainability, but for the whole student body. In essence, we should be
preparing students for the work of the world, not just the world of work.
As a respondent commented.
Change and learning. Aware teachers, managers and other staff are not only about the
subject but also related to learning and education in general (greater understanding
regarding these topics and also their relationship to sustainability). Go beyond the
mainstream. Change into a place of knowledge generation and not Knowledge reproducing
(as seems to be today).
4.3.4 Involve People/Stakeholders
Sustainability must be funny and bring some news every time that to engage the
students and staff in campaigns with a sustainability focus.
Engage the community and external stakeholders (as for example business-
university partnerships). Universities could be very important actors in any specic
sector, in terms of research as well as the education and training of employees. In
exchange, they could get more clean technology investments in environmental
management in their campus activities or even project funding (R&D).
4.3.5 Politics/Cooperation Networking
In terms of the country, and based on the barriers mentioned, there is an eminent
necessity for the government policies to encourage and value the implementation of
education for sustainability and sustainable practices on campus, especially from
Ministry of Education. The National System of Higher Education Assessment
(Sinaes) analyzes the institutions, courses and student performance. The evaluation
process considers aspects such as teaching, research, outreach, social responsibility,
management of the institution and faculty. As the information is used for institu-
tional orientation of higher education and to support public policies, it could include
some sustainability criteria.
In this way, it is important to promote the cooperation between networks
in universities in Brazil and with other countries. There are good examples as
Ecocampus in UK which provides and support a exible approach to EMS
implementation in HEI (http://www.ecocampus.co.uk).
Waas et al. (2012) suggests that government subsidy programes should stimulate
sustainability in HEI initiatives and collaboration and networking at all levels
(regional, national, international).
The universities should engage with the Regional Centers of Expertise (sup-
ported by the United Nations University). In Brazil, there are three regional centers,
one in Curitiba/SC; Rio de Janeiro/RJ and São Paulo/SP.
The Environmental Sustainability of Brazilian Universities 71
5 Conclusion
Incorporating sustainability is a social issue that should obviously be born in the
university as a resource for teaching, research and outreach, by doing so, dissem-
inating a sustainable posture, skills, development, knowledge and technologies.
In Brazil there are many barriers be overcome, some inherent in the process of
incorporating sustainability and cultural change widely discussed in the literature
and other related to the current context of the country and state of involvement of
these universities with the topic.
However, several successful sustainability efforts by HEI may show how the
university is capable and dynamic, and how it could be applied to the Brazilian
reality. With regard to the stage of sustainability in Brazilian universities, future
research will be necessary to develop a better understanding of the current situation
and ways to organize and promote sustainability in Brazilian universities.
Acknowledgments Acknowledgements the CAPES for the nancial support for the research
postdoctoral of Prof. Luciana L. Brandli under the supervision of Prof. Walter Leal Filho at
Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (Process 9285-13-0).
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Authors Biography
Professor Luciana Londero Brandli is graduated in Civil Engineering (1995), masters degree in
Civil Engineering (1998) and Ph.D. in Production Engineering (2004). Pos Doctorial Research at
Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (2014). She is currently Associate Professor in the
University of Passo Fundo, south of Brazil, working in the Master Program in Engineering,
Infrastructure and Environment. Her current research interests include sustainability in high
education and green campus, environment management, management of urban infrastructure,
sustainable cities and green buildings.
Professor Walter Leal Filho has a rst class degree in Biology and a doctorate in environmental
science (PhD), having also completed a post-doctorate programme on environmental communi-
cation. He also has a higher doctorate (Dr. rer. nat habil.) in environmental information (DSc), a
DPhil in sustainable development and holds the titles of Doctor of Letters (DL), Doctor of
Literature (DLitt) and Doctor of Education (DEd) commensurate with his scientic performance
and outputs translated by over 300 publications among books, book chapters and scientic papers.
The Environmental Sustainability of Brazilian Universities 73
Professor Marcos Antonio Leite Frandoloso has a degree in Architecture and Urbanism at
Federal University of Pelotas (1986), Master in Architecture at Federal University of Rio Grande
do Sul (2001), and a course in Urban Ecology at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (2008).
Currently he is PhD cadindate at Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain, focusing
on eco-efciency and environmental management at universities. Besides his Architectural ofce,
he is Professor and researcher at the University of Passo FundoUPFsince 1995, nowadays he
is Coordinator of Product Design course at the UPF. He has experience in Architecture and
Urbanism with emphasis on building and environmental planning, acting on the following topics:
energy efciency, energy and environment, sustainable construction, bioclimatic architecture,
architectural heritage, ecodesign and urban ecology.
Professor Eduardo Pavan Korf received his Master degree in Engineering from the Federal
University of Rio Grande do Sul in 2011 and graduate in Environmental Engineering from the
University of Passo Fundo in 2010. Since 2010, he has been a Professor in Environmental
Engineering Course at the Passo Fundo University and has been researching the topics: envi-
ronmental monitoring such as air pollution, environmental modelling and environmental geo-
technics. He is currently a PhD student in the Engineering from the Federal University of Rio
Grande do Sul, expected defense to March 2015.
Professor Denise Daris holds a degree in Food Engineering from Regional Integrated University
of High Uruguay and Missions (2000). Specialization in Food Technology (2004) and Word
Safety (2011). She is currently an engineer of Work Safety, Professor at the Federal Institute of
Education, Science and Technology of Rio Grande do Sul, IFRS, Brazil. Student at Master in
Environmental and Civil Engineering at Passo Fundo University since 2013 researching atmo-
spheric pollution.
74 L.L. Brandli et al.
... In recent decades, environmental-oriented policies have prompted SD in the country, which often secured Brazil a leading role in international negotiations regarding the sustainability agenda (Dauvergne & Bl Farias, 2012) and also made the country the host of important SD conferences, such as the Rio 92 and Rio + 20. This scenario has favoured initiatives to incorporate green practices into the daily routine of Brazilian HEIs (Brandli et al., 2015a(Brandli et al., , 2015b, which represents a latent potential for the country to strengthen SD, as it holds over 2000 of these institutions and more than 14 million students (INEP, 2022). Such potential remains under-explored, as the green initiatives within Brazilian universities are often isolated efforts dealing with specific issues of campus operation, and they are usually disconnected from larger institutionalized sustainability policies integrating teaching, research, outreach, and campus management (Brandli et al., 2015a(Brandli et al., , 2015b. ...
... This scenario has favoured initiatives to incorporate green practices into the daily routine of Brazilian HEIs (Brandli et al., 2015a(Brandli et al., , 2015b, which represents a latent potential for the country to strengthen SD, as it holds over 2000 of these institutions and more than 14 million students (INEP, 2022). Such potential remains under-explored, as the green initiatives within Brazilian universities are often isolated efforts dealing with specific issues of campus operation, and they are usually disconnected from larger institutionalized sustainability policies integrating teaching, research, outreach, and campus management (Brandli et al., 2015a(Brandli et al., , 2015b. ...
... Universities have increasingly become aware of their roles in promoting SD through the implementation of environmental-friendly actions and programmes in their daily routines (Ávila et al., 2017). Mostly, HEIs incorporate environmental sustainability through teaching and research (Posch & Steiner, 2006), and scientists have been investigating the multitude of sustainable initiatives in these two dimensions and their relevance to broader SD goals (Brandli et al., 2015a(Brandli et al., , 2015bKopnina, 2018;Leal Filho et al., 2019;Lozano et al., 2013;O'Flaherty & Liddy, 2018;Price et al., 2021;Shiel et al., 2016;Venkataraman, 2009). Nonetheless, SD inside universities must go beyond teaching and research: It implies recognizing the environmental impacts of the day-today routines of campus operations and, consequently, establishing actions to identify, manage, and mitigate them (Ávila et al., 2017). ...
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The escalation of environmental issues demands a response towards sustainable development , and universities may contribute to a greener future by reducing their own environmental impacts. Brazil has a history of environmental policies and more than 2000 higher education institutions (HEIs). Although Brazilian universities have been implementing green practices and taking part in sustainability rankings, their performances in these platforms are poorly appreciated. We aimed to address this issue and investigated the participation of Brazilian HEIs in GreenMetrics (GM). We asked whether the number of universities in Brazil participating in GM increased over the years, and whether their overall and criteria performances have been improving. The number of Brazilian HEIs ranked by GM has increased by over 1000% since its first edition, and their overall scores have increased since 2014. Nonetheless, the greening strategies of universities in Brazil have changed since 2014, because "Education & Research" score largely increased in the period, while "Water" and "Waste" scores decreased. These results show that a growing number of universities in Brazil are implementing sustainability actions, reflecting the country's commitment with sustainable development. However, they are approaching sustainability mainly through a traditional teaching and research approach. Therefore, there is a lot of potential for improvement of campus sustainability in Brazil, especially regarding different aspects of campus operations, and we suggest that creating institutional sustainability policies oriented by GM indicators is an opportunity to make Brazilian universities greener.
... ¿Qué barreras identifican como limitantes en la articulación de los ods para las universidades privadas en Colombia? El reconocimiento de las tensiones y contradicciones es una de las barreras en la articulación de los ods, por otro lado, se evidencia un conjunto de barreras en las diferentes fases de articulación e integración de los ods en las universidades, entre ellas destacan, los límites de los recursos financieros (Brandli et al., 2015;Dahle y Neumayer, 2001) y las barreras culturales (Reid y Schwab, 2006). ...
... Como factores externos, Leal et al. (2018) identifican, entre otros, la escasez de personal docente, los limitados fondos gubernamentales y las crisis políticas. Por otro lado, Brandli et al. (2015) identifican como barreras: la falta de gobernanza para la sostenibilidad, la falta de un programa institucional que motive al personal, profesores y estudiantes para participar en la sostenibilidad; la falta de interés; la falta de conocimiento, y el exceso de trabajo que limita el tiempo para acciones de sostenibilidad. ...
... Partiendo de las alusiones de los participantes en el estudio, del total de universidades que estructuran la muestra de estudio, se destaca que el 91% cuenta con acreditación y los planes de desarrollo se constituyen en periodos de 6 a 10 años y en su mayoría están recién establecidos, por otra parte, las universidades acreditadas se caracterizan en su mayoría por contar con planes de desarrollo de períodos mayores a tres años y las no acreditadas a planes menores a tres años. Es probable que tal como lo evidencian Leal et al. (2018) y Brandli et al. (2015, exista un límite relacionado con la asignación de tiempo de los docentes a actividades relacionadas con los ods. ...
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Este documento evalúa la articulación de los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS) y las barreras en las universidades privadas colombianas, desde un enfoque institucionalista, a través de un estudio aplicado. Se diseñó, validó y administró un instrumento dirigido a los responsables del proceso de planificación de las universidades activas de naturaleza jurídica privada autorizadas por el Ministerio de Educación Nacional; en total participaron 55 universidades, de las cuales 53 finalizaron en su totalidad el cuestionario. Los resultados exponen el compromiso en la incorporación de los ODS y se identifican barreras que están relacionadas con la gobernanza.
... To embed university spin-outs (and spin-off), universities have dedicated Technology Transfer Offices to access external finance for spin-offs (Brandli et al. 2015;Munari, Sobrero, and Toschi 2018) and deal with associated contractual matters relating to commercializing ventures. A closer relationship between academics and industry is beneficial, as evidenced by the experiences of Boston and San Francisco universities. ...
... A closer relationship between academics and industry is beneficial, as evidenced by the experiences of Boston and San Francisco universities. In both cases a closer relationship has yielded positive benefits (Brandli et al. 2015). It has been suggested (Munari, Sobrero, and Toschi 2018;BEIS 2017) that it is essential that a combination of university concept grants and follow-on VC seed investment is available to enable the projects be fully exploited. ...
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... HEIs are well-positioned to solve societal challenges such as unsustainability, social injustice, poverty and climate change. These institutions can disseminate accurate information about SD grounded in legal and scientific facts (Brandli et al., 2015). There is a need for more research into SD for the Brazilian and South African governments and thus for citizens for two reasons. ...
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Scholarly literature informs that education for sustainable development (ESD) has become a significant educational initiative to address global challenges in the past decades. However, academic attention was mainly devoted to primary and secondary education. Some scholars report that the main focus on these two levels of education has averted scholarly attention from research exploring the relationship between higher education and sustainable development (SD). Academic dialogue about ESD in higher education has only recently gained momentum. Although all levels of education have an essential role to play in sustainability, the role of higher education is critical as higher education institutions (HEIs) are responsible for ensuring that future leaders understand the needs of the present and future. This responsibility is delegated to HEIs since they educate professionals who will take up leadership positions within society and incorporate sustainability into their organisations’ operations. In addition, the commitment of HEIs to sustainability serves as an example to other institutions. It is evident from the findings that maximising the implementation of ESD in higher education first calls for thorough identification of challenges limiting such implementation. Driven by the need to fill the gap in the existing literature, this study, based on systematic document analysis, brings attention to challenges associated with implementing ESD in institutions under investigation in the two BRICS countries, namely Brazil and South Africa. The two-folded research purpose was to (a) systematically examine relevant documents to explore the effectiveness of HEIs in South Africa and Brazil in implementing ESD and (b) provide recommendations for how HEIs in both contexts can enhance the implementation of ESD.
... However, implementing sustainability remains a key issue within educational institutions worldwide, which seek to integrate its core value into their facilities and operations (Avila et al., 2017). Brandli et al. (2015) noted that the institution would face internal and external challenges when a university wants to achieve a more sustainable vision. This has led to many researchers studying diverse aspects of sustainability implementation in HE institutions. ...
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