Rodrigo Lozano (PhD), Prof. Don Huisingh (PhD), Kim Ceulemans, Prof. Francisco J. Lozano (PhD), Wim Lambrechts, Tom Waas, Jean

Huge (PhD), Rebeka Lukman (PhD), email: r.lozano@uu.nl

4-7 June 2013 ERSCP-EMSU 2013 Istanbul, Turkey

Since 1972 many academic declarations, charters and partnerships were developed that were designed to foster environmental education, and education for sustainable development

Since 1987 there has been a large increase in such initiatives The initiatives discussed emphasise that universities have a

moral obligation to work towards sustainable societies, focusing on environmental degradation, threats to society, and sustainable production and consumption for this and future generations

This research presents the results from a survey exploring whether universities have signed any of the available initiatives and to what extent they have been implementing sustainable development into their systems

Online survey Sent to over 800 people through direct email

contact, linkedin, GUNI newsletter, HEA newsletter, as well as snow-balling effect

228 questions in 8 sections Mixed methods: Quantitative (mainly using a

Likert scale) and !ualitative Open for 8 months through Bristol Online

Surveys 87 responses but 3 had to be removed

79%

15%

2% 2% 1%

Europe

America

Africa

Asia

Australia

4 1 1

0

16

2 1 4 1

0

0 0

3

3

15

Talloires Declaration

Halifax Declaration

Kyoto Declaration

Swansea Declaration

COPERNICUS Charter

Global Higher Education forSustainability Partnership (GHESP)Lüneburg Declaration

Barcelona Declaration

Graz Declaration

Turin Declaration

Abuja Declaration

Bonn Declaration

Don't know

Other (please specify):

Other

0.00%

5.00%

10.00%

15.00%

20.00%

25.00%

30.00%

35.00%

40.00%

45.00%

50.00%

Completely Disagree

Disagree

Neither agree nor disagree

Agree

Completely Agree

Energy: ◦ Not so many of the measures discussed are actual

structural measures or actions ◦ Examples from energy monitoring, optimisation,

efficiency, and infrastructure and buildings GHG: ◦ Examples from mobility, renewable energy sources,

infrastructure, and student participation Waste: ◦ Examples from sorting and recycling, paper, food

consumption, and second hand market Water: ◦ Examples from rainwater collection, monitoring,

optimisation and auditing

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

Completely Disagree

Disagree

Neither agree nor disagree

Agree

Completely Agree

Integration in courses and sometimes in all programmes

Many of the programmes given as examples have a focus on the environment

There is some certification and attempts to include in accreditation, but these are still limited

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

Completely Disagree

Disagree

Neither agree nor disagree

Agree

Completely Agree

Research on ESD is still limited, with the traditional journal appearing as example

There are some sources of funding (only 13 answers here), e.g. Mistra, EU FP7 ESDinds, and some not focusing on education (e.g. focusing on buildings)

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

Completely Disagree

Disagree

Neither agree nor disagree

Agree

Completely Agree

Community projects such as: ◦ Schools at university for climate and energy ◦ Agreements with NGOs to measure radioactive

levels exposure SD events ◦ Encontro Latino Americo de Universidades

Sustentaveis ◦ Yearly sustainability day with over 400 participnats

SD working groups ◦ Mainly focusing on the environment ◦ One on developing the sustainability report

0.00%

5.00%

10.00%

15.00%

20.00%

25.00%

30.00%

35.00%

40.00%

45.00%

Completely Disagree

Disagree

Neither agree nor disagree

Agree

Completely Agree

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Completely Agree

Agree

Neither agree nor disagr

Disagree

Completely Disagree

Many examples in the different sections

The ones most considered are operations and outreach, followed by curricula, research, transdisciplinary, and finally assessment

Many of the examples focus on environmental issues

It appears that universities are doing many things for sustainability, but the efforts seem disconnected

It seems that there is a ‘chasm’ between the SD declarations and university activities

This raises the following questions: ◦ Is it really important that universities sign a

declaration? ◦ How can the ‘policies’ and actions be better

linked?