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Pioneering in Sustainability Reporting in Higher Education: Experiences of a Belgian Business Faculty

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Handbook of Sustainability Science and Research

Part of the book series: World Sustainability Series ((WSUSE))

Abstract

Sustainability reporting is increasingly perceived as a valuable tool for organizations to communicate and engage with stakeholders on their sustainability activities and performance. While sustainability reporting is mainly a corporate activity, over the last 10 years some pioneering higher education institutions have started engaging in this process. Yet, until today, the higher education sector is still lacking in-depth guidance on how to organize the sustainability reporting process in complex organizations such as higher education institutions. This paper addresses this gap by describing and analyzing the sustainability reporting process in the preparation of four consecutive sustainability reports (2010–2014) for a Belgian university, led by the business faculty’s sustainability office. The study is aimed at broadening the knowledge on the topic of sustainability reporting in higher education institutions, by unfolding elements of the process and some of its main challenges and opportunities through the use of action research. The paper describes (1) how the Global Reporting Initiative’s Sustainability Guidelines were used; (2) how the data collection and analysis were organized; (3) which types of stakeholder engagement took place within the sustainability reporting process; and (4) how students were involved in the reporting process. Afterward, these different elements are reflected upon and the main challenges of the process are identified, such as the organizational structure of higher education institutions linked to the data collection process and the absence of suitable indicators to report on higher education’s core impacts on society. Moreover, the paper specifically highlights the opportunities for higher education institutions and business faculties to engage in this process, including the use of sustainability reporting as an educational tool and the link with accreditation activities.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education’s (AASHE) STARS tool is currently one of the most broadly used HEI-specific SD assessment tools around the world, with a total number of 750 HEIs registered to use the tool, among which mainly North American HEIs (AASHE 2016b; Lidstone et al. 2015).

  2. 2.

    KAURI is currently part of “The Shift”, a Belgian organization that serves as a meeting point for sustainability. See www.theshift.be.

  3. 3.

    The faculty’s CSR course is offered as an elective to Master students of the Business Administration, Business Engineering, and Business Economics Programs.

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Acknowledgements

The authors of this paper would like to thank all the HUB and KU Leuven students, personnel, and external stakeholders who offered their thoughts, values, and visions during the preparation of the university’s sustainability reports.

Kim Ceulemans’ Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Centre for Social and Sustainable Innovation (CSSI), University of Victoria, Gustavson School of Business, was funded by a donation from Goldcorp Inc.

In 2015–2016, Wim Lambrechts was holder of a Special Ph.D. Fellowship of the Research Foundation-Flanders (FWO).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Gustavson School of Business, Centre for Social and Sustainable Innovation, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada

    K. Ceulemans

  2. Centre for Economics and Corporate Sustainability, KU Leuven—University of Leuven, Warmoesberg 26, 1000, Brussels, Belgium

    K. Ceulemans & T. Stough

  3. Faculty of Management, Science and Technology, Open University of the Netherlands, Heerlen, The Netherlands

    W. Lambrechts

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  1. K. Ceulemans
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  2. T. Stough
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  3. W. Lambrechts
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Correspondence to K. Ceulemans .

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  1. Faculty of Life Sciences, HAW Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

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Ceulemans, K., Stough, T., Lambrechts, W. (2018). Pioneering in Sustainability Reporting in Higher Education: Experiences of a Belgian Business Faculty. In: Leal Filho, W. (eds) Handbook of Sustainability Science and Research. World Sustainability Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63007-6_13

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