Abstract
Universities play a crucial role in promoting sustainable development. Accordingly, the project “Sustainability at Higher Education Institutions: develop — network — report (HOCHN)” (2016–2018) aims to facilitate sustainable development at universities in Germany. One of the project’s research focuses is sustainability governance. It investigates the variety of different protagonists and structures that are involved in the processes of developing and managing sustainability. To this end, a heuristic technique referred to as the “governance equalizer” is applied. It covers five dimensions that have been adapted for this research: politics, profession, organisation, knowledge and visibility. This paper introduces the concept of the governance equalizer and locates it in the context of sustainability in higher education institutions. Against this backdrop, it presents and discusses findings from preparatory expert interviews on sustainability governance, with the aim of validating the governance equalizer and identifying focal points for subsequent stakeholder interviews in German universities.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adams, C.A. (2013) ‘Sustainability reporting and performance management in universities’, Sustainability 4(3): 384–392.
Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) (ed.) (2016) Sustainable Campus Index. 2016 Top Performers & Highlights, Philadelphia, USA, http://www.aashe.org/files/sci-2016-final.pdf, accessed 12 April 2017.
Atherton, A. and Giurco, D. (2011) ‘Campus sustainability. Climate change, transport and paper reduction’, International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education 12(3): 269–279.
Baker-Shelley, A., van Zeijl-Rozema, A. and Martens, P. (2017) ‘A conceptual synthesis of organisational transformation. How to diagnose, and navigate, pathways for sustainability at universities?’, Journal of Cleaner Production 145: 262–276.
Braun, D. and Merrien, F.-X. (1999) ‘Governance of universities and modernisation of the state: Analytical aspects’, in D. Braun and F.-X. Merrien (eds.) Towards a New Model of Governance for Universities? A Comparative View, London: Jessica Kingsley, pp. 9–33.
Brinkhurst, M., Rose, P., Maurice, G. and Ackerman, J.D. (2011) ‘Achieving campus sustainability. Top–down, bottom–up, or neither?’, International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education 12(4): 338–354.
Clark, B.R. (1979) ‘The many pathways of academic coordination’, Higher Education 8(3): 251–267.
de Boer, H., Enders, J. and Schimank, U. (2007) ‘On the way towards new public management? The governance of university systems in England, the Netherlands, Austria, and Germany’, in D. Jansen (ed.) New Forms of Governance in Research Organizations — Disciplinary Approaches, Interfaces and Integration, Dordrecht: Springer Science + Business Media B.V., pp. 137–152.
Disterheft, A., Azeiteiro, U.M., Leal Filho, W. and Caeiro, S. (2015) ‘Participatory processes in sustainable universities — what to assess?’, International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education 16(5): 748–771.
Enders, J. (2002) Governing the Academic Commons: About Blurring Boundaries, Blistering Organisations, and Growing Demands, Enschede, The CHEPS inaugural lectures 2002.
Fadeeva, Z. and Mochizuki, Y. (2010) ‘Higher education for today and tomorrow: university appraisal for diversity, innovation and change towards sustainable development’, Sustainability Science 5(2): 249–256.
Ferrer-Balas, D., Adachi, J., Banas, S., Davidson, C.I., Hoshikoshi, A. and Mishra, A. (2008) ‘An international comparative analysis of sustainability transformation across seven universities’, International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education 9(3): 295–316.
Ferrer-Balas, D., Buckland, H. and de Mingo, M. (2009) ‘Explorations on the University’s role in society for sustainable development through a systems transition approach. Case-study of the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC)’, Journal of Cleaner Production 17(12): 1075–1085.
Franz, K. and Brüsemeister, T. (2016) ‘Gegenstandsbezogene Analyse sozialer Welten des BNE-Transfers‘, in I. Bormann, S. Hamborg, M. Heinrich (eds.) Governance-Regime des Transfers von Bildung für nachhaltige Entwicklung, Wiesbaden: Springer VS, pp. 67-88.
Gerhards, J. and Neidhardt, F. (1990) Strukturen und Funktionen moderner Öffentlichkeit. Fragestellungen und Ansätze, Berlin: Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung.
Giddens, A. (1984) The Constitution of Society, Outline of the Theory of Structuration, Cambridge: Polity Press.
Hoover, E. and Harder, M.K. (2015) ‘What lies beneath the surface? The hidden complexities of organizational change for sustainability in higher education’, Journal of Cleaner Production 106: 175–188.
Kolleck, N. and Bormann, I. (2014) ‘Analyzing trust in innovation networks: combining quantitative and qualitative techniques of Social Network Analysis’, Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft 17: 9–27.
Leal Filho, W. (ed.) (2012) Sustainable Development at Universities, Frankfurt: Peter Lang.
Leal Filho, W., Pallant, E., Enete, A., Richter, B. and Brandli, L.L. (2018) ‘Planning and implementing sustainability in higher education institutions: an overview of the difficulties and potentials’, International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology. Published online 10 April 2018. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504509.2018.1461707.
Littledyke, M., Manolas, E. and Littledyke, R.A. (2013) ‘A systems approach to education for sustainability in higher education’, International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education 14(4): 367–383.
Lozano, R. (2006) ‘Incorporation and institutionalization of SD into universities. Breaking through barriers to change’, Journal of Cleaner Production 14(9-11): 787–796.
Lozano, R., Lukman, R., Lozano, F.J., Huisingh, D. and Lambrechts, W. (2013) ‘Declarations for sustainability in higher education. Becoming better leaders, through addressing the university system’, Journal of Cleaner Production 48: 10–19.
Lozano, R., Ceulemans, K., Alonso-Almeida, M., Huisingh, D., Lozano, F.J. and Waas, T. (2015) ‘A review of commitment and implementation of sustainable development in higher education. Results from a worldwide survey’, Journal of Cleaner Production 108: 1–18.
Luhmann, N. (2000) Die Politik der Gesellschaft, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.
Mader, C., Scott G. and Dzulkifli, A.R. (2013) ‘Effective change management, governance and policy for sustainability transformation in higher education’, Sustainability 4(3): 264–284.
Martens, W. and Ortmann, G. (2006) ‘Organisationen in Luhmanns Systemtheorie‘, in A. Kieser and M. Ebers (eds.) Organisationstheorien, 6th Edition, Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer, pp. 427–461.
Michelsen, G. (2016) ‘Policy, politics and polity in higher education for sustainable development’, in M. Barth, G. Michelsen, I. Thomas and M. Rieckmann (eds.) Routledge Handbook of Higher Education for Sustainable Development, London: Routledge, pp. 40–55.
Moore, J. (2005) ‘Policy, priorities and action. A case study of the University of British Columbia’s engagement with sustainability’, Higher Education Policy 18(2): 179–197.
Moore, J., Pagani, F., Quayle, M., Robinson, J., Sawada, B., Spiegelman, G. and van Wynsberghe, R. (2005) ‘Recreating the university from within’, International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education 18(2): 65–80.
Müller-Christ, G., Sterling, S., van Dam-Mieras, R., Adomßent, M., Fischer, D. and Rieckmann, M. (2014) ‘The role of campus, curriculum, and community in higher education for sustainable development — a conference report’, Journal of Cleaner Production 62: 134–137.
Parto, S. (2005) “Good” Governance and Policy Analysis: What of Institutions? Maastricht: MERIT, Maastricht Economic Research Institute on Innovation and Technology. MERIT Research Memoranda No. 001.
Pfadenhauer, M. and Sander, T. (2010) ‘Professionssoziologie‘, in G. Kneer and M. Schroer (eds.) Handbuch Spezielle Soziologien, Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, pp. 361–378.
Rammel, C., Velásquez, L. and Mader, C. (2016) ‘sustainability assessment in higher education institutions. What and how?‘, in M. Barth, G. Michelsen, I. Thomas and M. Rieckmann (eds.) Routledge Handbook of Higher Education for Sustainable Development, London: Routledge, pp. 331–346.
Saretzki, T. (2007) ‘Argumentieren, Verhandeln und Strategie. Theoretische Referenzen, begriffliche Unterscheidungen und empirische Studien zu arguing und bargaining in der internationalen Politik’, in P. Niesen and B. Herborth (eds.) Anarchie der kommunikativen Freiheit. Jürgen Habermas und die Theorie der internationalen Politik, Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp. pp. 111–146.
Schimank, U., Kehm, B. and Enders, J. (1999) ‘Institutional mechanisms of problem processing of the German university system: Status quo and new developments’, in D. Braun and F.-X. Merrien (eds.) Towards a New Model of Governance for Universities? A Comparative View, London: Jessica Kingsley, pp. 179–194.
Schimank, U. (2007) ‘Die Governance-Perspektive: Analytisches Potenzial und anstehende konzeptionelle Fragen‘, in H. Altrichter, T. Brüsemeister and J. Wissinger (eds.) Educational Governance. Handlungskoordination und Steuerung im Bildungssystem, Wiesbaden, pp. 231–260.
Scott, G., Tilbury, D., Sharp, L. and Deane, E. (2012) Turnaround Leadership for Sustainability in Higher Education. Executive Summary, Sydney: University of Western Sydney.
Shiel, C. and Williams, A. (2015) ‘Working together, driven apart: reflecting on a joint endeavour to address sustainable development within a university’, in W. Leal Filho, L. Brandli, O. Kuznetsova, and A.M. Finisterra do Paço (eds.) Integrative Approaches to Sustainable Development at University Level, Cham: Springer International Publishing (World Sustainability Series), pp. 425–447.
Shriberg, M.P. (2002) ‘Sustainability in U.S. higher education: organizational factors influencing campus environmental performance and leadership’, PhD dissertation, University of Michigan.
Spillane, J.P., Reiser, B.J. and Reimer, T. (2002) ‘Policy implementation and cognition: reframing and refocusing implementation research’, Review of Educational Research 72(3): 387–431.
Spira, F., Tappeser, V. and Meyer, A. (2013) ‘Perspectives on sustainability governance from universities in the USA, UK, and Germany: how do change agents employ different tools to alter organizational cultures and structures?’ in S. Caeiro, W. Leal Filho, C. Jabbour, and U. M. Azeiteiro (eds.) Sustainability Assessment Tools in Higher Education Institutions. Mapping Trends and Good Practices around the World, Cham: Springer, pp. 175–187.
Stehr, N. (2009) ‘Wissenswelten, Governance und Demokratie‘, in S. Botzem, J. Hofmann, S. Quack, G.F. Schuppert and H. Straßheim (eds.) Governance als Prozess. Koordinationsformen im Wandel, Baden-Baden: Nomos, pp. 479–502.
Stephens, J.C. and Graham, A.C. (2010) ‘Toward an empirical research agenda for sustainability in higher education. Exploring the transition management framework’, Journal of Cleaner Production 18(7): 611–618.
Straßheim, H. (2009) ‘Governance als reflexive Koordination’, in S. Botzem, J. Hofmann, S. Quack, G.F. Schuppert and H. Straßheim (eds.) Governance als Prozess. Koordinationsformen im Wandel, Baden-Baden: Nomos, pp. 461–477.
Wals, A.E.J., Tassone, V.C., Hampson, G.P. and Reams, J. (2016) ‘Learning for walking the change: eco-social innovation through sustainability-oriented higher education’, in M. Barth, G. Michelsen, I. Thomas, and M. Rieckmann (eds.) Routledge Handbook of Higher Education for Sustainable Development, London: Routledge, pp. 25–39.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the editors and reviewers for their constructive comments, feedback and recommendations relating to an earlier draft of the article. Furthermore, the authors would like to acknowledge the active participation of all the partners in the HOCHN project.
Funding
The HOCHN project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) from 11/2016 to 10/2018 under No. FKZ13NKE007A and is linked to existing results from the BMBF-framework FONA (research for sustainable development) and the BMBF-initiative “sustainability in science” (SISI).
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bauer, M., Bormann, I., Kummer, B. et al. Sustainability Governance at Universities: Using a Governance Equalizer as a Research Heuristic. High Educ Policy 31, 491–511 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41307-018-0104-x
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41307-018-0104-x