Introduction of the Sustainable Development Principles in Universities as a Factor of Increasing Ecological and Economic Security

Abstract

The higher education system makes it possible to accelerate the process of transition of the economy and society to a sustainable direction of its development by forming a new ecological worldview among the younger generation and minimizing future ecological and economic damage to the environment of the region in which the university is located. Nowadays, the pace of the implementation of sustainable development principles in the operational and educational activities of Russian universities remains low, which affects the level of environmental and economic security. The purpose of this study is to identify barriers and prospects for the implementation of sustainable development principles in Russian universities, as a factor of increasing the level of environmental and economic security, using the case of Ural Federal University. The authors analyzed the university's development program, its implemented activities in the field of ecology and sustainable development, its eco-oriented activities, and evaluated the university using the UI Green University Metrics methodology in order to determine its potential position in the green universities ranking. SWOT analysis was carried out to combine the results obtained and to identify the barriers to the implementation of the sustainable development principles and the barriers to increasing the level of environmental and economic security. Promising directions for the development of the university for the coming years were also identified within the framework of the new concept. The main barriers are the lack of an official program of sustainable development of the university, appropriate administrative and economic management tools and targeted state support. In order to stimulate the university's transition to a new concept, the development of a specialized information resource and improvement of the solid municipal waste management system are proposed. A list of economic, organizational and administrative tools for managing sustainable development is also formulated. The implementation of these measures could not only form the foundation for the successful implementation of the sustainable development principles at Ural Federal University but would also increase the university's potential position in the UI Green University Metrics rating and would have a positive impact on the level of environmental and economic security.

Role of EU and non-EU universities in achieving environmental sustainability

“…The introduction of the sustainable development principles and the transition to a new green direction of development requires the involvement of all elements of society, from a single individual to the largest sectors of the economy [11]. A high level of awareness of the population makes it possible to implement the necessary changes faster and encourages the introduction of principles into a person's daily life [12].…”

“…It allows to form the right ecological worldview for new generations and accumulate intellectual capital that could become the basis for future socio-economic transformations. Higher educational institutions, being centres of research activities, have a significant impact not only on the ecological outlook of the population and the level of its awareness, but also on the speed of implementation of changes and, consequently, on the speed of achieving environmental sustainability and circular economy concepts [11,13,16]. It is possible to distinguish the following mechanisms of universities aimed at achieving environmental sustainability (fig.…”

“…1. Mechanisms for achieving environmental sustainability in universities (made by authors using data from: [11,[17][18][19][20]).…”