Sustainability Strategy in Higher Education Institutions: Lessons learned from a

nine-year case study

1. Method
The article is projected on the UMinho case study, being the first HEI in Portugal to
carry out the public report on sustainability performance indicators through an
institutional sustainability report, managed to occupy position 48, worldwide, among
619 presentations world, in 2017 in the UI Green Metric Ranking.
 The UMinho case study
UMinho Sustainability Strategy (2009-2017)
The development of UMinho's mission was based on medium-term strategic plans and
short-term action plans.
The 2009-2013 action plan
This plan is based on a hierarchical operational program, directed to lead and mobilize
UMinho around seven strategic vectors of: mission and support.
 Mission vectors: aim to mobilize the academic community
 Support vectors correspond to activities that support the harmonious and
sustained development of the University, with the aim of improving the
organizational environment and working conditions.
The seventh and last vector “assuming sustainable practices and options” adopts
sustainability criteria and good practices as a reference for life in the field, as part of the
University's policies, for students, teachers, researchers and staff, the same approach
was applied at the Technical University of Catalonia, where the highest priority was
given to the optimization and improvement of processes
The same vector in order to enhance and ensure its operationalization, proposed the
following measures:
 Development of a sustainable culture;
 Promotion of sustainable mobility;
 A commitment to energy efficiency;
 Improvements in the quality of the field's environmental information;
 Adoption of digital technologies for paperwork management.

The 2013-2017 action plan

It proposes measures in the areas of health, safety, and new infrastructures based on
sustainability policies and actions, whose objectives are simultaneously focused on
developing an integrated strategy for teaching; reinforce research in the area of
sustainability and value knowledge
2. Results
 Education
Sustainability can take an integrated or embedded approach, within which sustainability
concepts and analyzes are introduced as separate courses or titles in the HEI portfolio;
that is, it consists in introducing sustainability in all courses and research projects.
Within the study plans, sustainability was progressively introduced following an
integrated approach, thus being a mixed top-down and bottom-up approach
 Investigación
Multidisciplinary sustainability research, inducing different research groups to
undertake new activities and projects related to sustainability is becoming a driving
force behind sustainability research at UMinho. Therefore, it not only promotes
integrated research, but simultaneously catalyzes new solutions that address social
challenges.
 Interaction with society
UMinho made possible the creation of multidisciplinary teams giving a holistic and
integrated vision of social problems and challenges. They developed three initiatives to
support education and research
 Culture
Included in the UMinho Sustainability Report include a wide range of campi events:
sports, art exhibitions, conferences, concerts and musical shows.
The role of higher education institutions in sustainability initiatives at the local
level
Method
Due to the purpose of the study in the article they carry out a small survey, based on the
scarcity of information in the literature review and on the suggestions to improve the
contribution of universities to regional development, thus offering a qualitative
evaluation of trends, instead of a superficial
To collect the data, they developed a matrix, which was tested and implemented to
collect information on local and regional development initiatives from 22 universities in
different countries.
This matrix is made up of three sectors:
 Networking: Respondents had an opportunity to assess the quality of the
sustainability network with local organizations, describe what types of
organizations are generally partners in cooperation, the frequency of
cooperation, how long the cooperation has been carried out and the factors that
hinder it.
 Cooperation in local initiatives: Evaluations were made through which
initiatives universities generally cooperate with local organizations and which
thematic areas are part of the cooperation. In addition, university satisfaction
with the results of the cooperation was evaluated.
 Case study: The universities present studies that describe actions taken and
what could be done to achieve a better relationship and / or intensify
cooperation efforts at the local level.
Results
A total of 22 responses from universities both in industrialized countries (Canada,
France, Italy, Latvia, Portugal, Serbia, United Kingdom, and USA) and developing
(Brazil, Ghana, India, Malaysia, Thailand) are reported, showing that it is a qualitative
study.
 Networking
Each university evaluated the quality of its sustainability actions at the local level in the
following way: more than 80% rated it positively, while 18% showed some
dissatisfaction when evaluating them as "quite weak". Regarding the frequency of
cooperation, 50% said "sometimes", followed by "often" and "very often", which
represents more than 45%. Only a small percentage of universities rarely cooperate with
local organizations.
Most universities have been cooperating on SD issues with organizations for 5-10 years,
or even longer. Only a minority has been investing in that topic for less than 4 years. No
significant difference regarding networking between industrialized or developing
countries.
One of the factors preventing cooperation is the lack of resources / incentives, followed
by the lack of coordination. Lack of interest and time for universities in developing
countries are among the main challenges.

 Case study

Ambient Industrialized  Project aimed at raising awareness in the

countries community about the importance of investing in
"green capital"
 Universities help to care for and improve the tree
heritage of the city.
 National University Network for Sustainable
Development: first experience of coordination and
exchange between universities involved in the
subject of environmental sustainability and social
responsibility, whose main objective is to spread the
culture of sustainability, both inside and outside the
universities.
Developing Economic support directed to communities to design,
countries implement and evaluate sustainable solutions for
sanitation and water hygiene (WASH).
Development of a project aimed at increasing the
level of environmental health security
Development of technology for cleaning the air in
highly contaminated urban microenvironments
Project to promote the adoption of conservationist
agricultural practices in the local community.