Call for Papers: Assessing the contribution of higher education institutions to sustainable development (Special issue call for papers from International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education)
Guest Editors:
PD Dr. Remmer Sassen, Technische Universität Dresden, PRISMA- Centre for Sustainability Assessment and Policy, Chair of Business Management, esp. Sustainability Management and Environmental Accounting (Germany), [log in to unmask]
Dr. Anne-Karen Hueske, Technische Universität Dresden, PRISMA- Centre for Sustainability Assessment and Policy, Chair of Business Management, esp. Sustainability Management and Environmental Accounting (Germany), [log in to unmask]
Associate Professor Caroline Aggestam Pontoppidan, Copenhagen Business School, Accounting Department and Academic Director of PRME, [log in to unmask]
About the Journal:
The International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education (IJSHE) is the world´s leading journal specifically addressing sustainability issues in a higher education context. Now in Volume 20, IJSHE is fully indexed and has an Impact Factor: 1.437* (2018) and 5-year Impact Factor (2018): 2.377*, which attest its influential role in the academic community and community of good practitioners.
Further details on IJSHE can be seen at: http://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/products/journals/journals.htm?id=IJSHE
Background and Research Focus:
Sustainability is one of the great challenges for humanity. Higher education plays a critical role in ensuring that the next generation of decision makers is capably responsive to global societal and environmental needs (Sassen & Azizi, 2018a, 2018b). These graduates will encounter a work environment that is challenging, constantly changing, and highly competitive, while at the same time being susceptible to sustainability dilemmas and various crises (Storey et. al., 2017). Implementation of sustainable development in higher education institutions can be euphemistically seen as challenging or, as expressed by Lozano et al. (2013, p. 4), simply ‘troublesome’.
Achieving sustainable development means that sustainability education needs to be diffused throughout the entire higher education system, encompassing all elements of the higher education institutions (governance, education, research, outreach, campus operations) and interfaces among them (Hueske & Aggestam Pontoppidan, forthcoming; Velazquez et al., 2006):
• A key function within the higher education system is that of designing and delivering curricula that create competencies in sustainable development.
• Research for sustainable development requires a transdisciplinary approach.
• Outreach refers to activities and action programs related to the integration of the higher education institution within society. In terms of sustainable education, outreach includes working with other universities, various government and business entities, as well as the broader local community on matters pertaining to sustainable development.
• Beyond education and research, higher education institutions are responsible for the sustainable development of their own operations.
Nevertheless, the way higher education institutions are teaching and promoting sustainability has been widely discussed in the literature where the success of current strategies has been questioned (Fleming & Oswick, 2014; Wilson & Thomas, 2012). Sustainability assessment is still in its infancy (Findler et al., 2018). Current assessment tools tend to neglect the impact of higher education institutions beyond their organizational boundaries (Findler et al., 2018).
This special issue of the International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education (IJSHE) seeks to add to a sound assessment of the contribution of higher education institutions to sustainable development by addressing the requirements for sustainability assessment: transparency, boundary orientatedness, comprehensiveness, integratedness, stakholders’ involvement, scalability and strategicness (Sala et al., 2015). This might be applied for the different tasks and elements of the higher education institutions (governance, education, research, outreach and campus operations) with their interfaces (Hueske & Aggestam Pontoppidan, forthcoming). This might focus on accounting and reporting (Azizi et al., 2018; Isenmann et al., 2018; Klußmann et al., 2019; Sassen & Azizi, 2018a, 2018b) as well as on implementing and evaluating organizational change. Thereby this special issues aims at explicitly addressing the current state of the art, delivering good practice examples, identifying drivers, describing challenges, delivering guidance and developing new approaches to sustainability assessment for higher education institutions in terms of sustainable development and meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the higher education sector on the whole.
Topical Areas of the IJSHE Special Issue:
The guest editors of this special issue solicit contributions from academia in particular higher education institutions specialized in sustainability assessment as well as practitioners involved in centers on sustainability integration in higher education institutions from different countries including, but not limited to, the following topical areas on sustainability assessment of higher education institutions:
• How to measure impact on sustainable development of the higher education institutions? How to measure impact on sustainable development of one or several elements of the higher education institutions (governance, education, research, outreach, campus operations)?
• How to measure progress for the integration of sustainability in higher education institutions with regards to the development of governance, education, research, outreach or campus operations?
• How to measure direct and indirect impact of higher education institutions within and beyond their organizational boundaries on sustainable development?
• How to balance the assessment for all three pillars of sustainability and account for their interdependencies?
• How to assess the degree of inter- and transdisciplinarity in research and teaching?
• How to assess stakeholder participation in higher education institutions?
• How to account for different level of analysis (individual, higher education institution, external) and different research objects (students, academic staff, administration, study programs, courses, research projects)?
• How to report on impact measurements and assessments by higher education systems?
• How to evaluate organizational change within higher education systems?
Consistent with the aims of IJSHE and in line with the topical areas, contributions are invited on a range of empirical and conceptual issues, with priority given to papers expanding previous research while addressing challenges and methodologies related to sustainability assessment of higher education institutions, taking a holistic approach or focusing on sustainability assessment for a special task or element of the higher education institutions (governance, education, research, outreach, campus activities). Contributions employing innovative and under-used methodological approaches or theoretical frameworks are particularly welcomed as well as elaborated case studies.
Dates & Submissions for special issue conference track:
To aid in the development and integration of papers intended for the special issue, a conference track at 7th RME Research Conference at Chur (Switzerland, 18th – 21st October 2020) will be dedicated to this special issue. Presenters at this track will have a unique opportunity to receive feedback on their work from PRME researchers and practitioners, both the guest editors and other participants. Contributions for the conference track are due May 31th 2020 via the submission system. While participation in the conference is encouraged, it is not required for consideration in the special issue.
Independently, from your submission to 7th RMER send expressions of interest with an extended abstract of 500 words and full contact details of the authors to the guest editor: Remmer Sassen ([log in to unmask]) till May 31th 2020. Full papers are due by the December 15th 2020.
References:
Azizi, L., Bien, C., & Sassen, R. (2018). Recent trends in sustainability reporting by German universities. NachhaltigkeitsManagementForum | Sustainability Management Forum, 26(1–4), 65–85. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00550-018-0469-8
Findler, F., Schönherr, N., Lozano, R., & Stacherl, B. (2018). Assessing the Impacts of Higher Education Institutions on Sustainable Development—An Analysis of Tools and Indicators. Sustainability, 11(1), 59. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11010059
Fleming, P., & Oswick, C. (2014). Educating consent? A conversation with Noam Chomsky on the university and business school education. Organization, 21(4), 568–578. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350508413514748
Hueske, A.-K., & Aggestam, Pontoppidan, C. (forthcoming). GEROCO: a model for integrating susatinability in management education at HEIs. In Leadership and Strategies: International Perspectives on Civil Society and Social Responsibility in Higher Education.
Isenmann, R., Sassen, R., & Leal-Filho, W. (2018). Guest editorial. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 19(7), 1154–1157. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-11-2018-230
Klußmann, C., Sassen, R., & Gansel, E. (2019). Structural key factors of participatory sustainability reporting for universities. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 20(6), 1080–1098. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-08-2018-0139
Lozano, R., Lozano, F. J., Mulder, K., Huisingh, D., & Waas, T. (2013). Advancing Higher Education for Sustainable Development: international insights and critical reflections. Journal of Cleaner Production, 48, 3–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.03.034
Sala, S., Ciuffo, B., & Nijkamp, P. (2015). A systemic framework for sustainability assessment. Ecological Economics, 119, 314–325. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2015.09.015
Sassen, R., & Azizi, L. (2018a). Voluntary disclosure of sustainability reports by Canadian universities. Journal of Business Economics, 88(1), 97–137. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11573-017-0869-1
Sassen, R., & Azizi, L. (2018b). Assessing sustainability reports of US universities. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 19(7), 1158–1184. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-06-2016-0114
Storey, M., Killian, S., & O’Regan, P. (2017). Responsible management education: Mapping the field in the context of the SDGs. The International Journal of Management Education, 15(2, Part B), 93–103. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijme.2017.02.009
Velazquez, L., Munguia, N., Platt, A., & Taddei, J. (2006). Sustainable university: what can be the matter? Journal of Cleaner Production, 14(9), 810–819. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2005.12.008
Wilson, D. C., & Thomas, H. (2012). The legitimacy of the business of business schools: what’s the future? Journal of Management Development, 31(4), 368–376. https://doi.org/10.1108/02621711211219040
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