Participatory processes in sustainable universities – what to assess?

Abstract

Purpose – This paper aims to connect participatory sustainability implementation with sustainability assessment, exploring learning theories, the principles of Higher Education for Sustainable Development (HESD) and respective indicators applied in the university context. Even though participation is partly considered in existing assessment practices, it is still unclear what and how to measure participatory processes that envision implementing sustainability principles in higher education institutions. Holistic approaches are often proclaimed, but reductionist assessment methods are frequently followed. Design/methodology/approach – The study followed a qualitative approach, inspired by the Delphi method, and includes semi-structured expert interviews (N = 15) and two focus group discussions (N = 23), with participants coming from a total of 17 different countries. Data were analysed and compared according to qualitative content analysis and systemized according to the underlying theoretical strands. Findings – The findings suggest that participatory processes can be better assessed from a social learning and organisational learning perspective, emphasizing non-linear criteria for the quality of the process in terms of depth and meaningfulness as well as criteria for the quality of the outcome in terms of knowledge generation and innovation. The findings also point implicitly to the need of considering double- and triple-loop learning, if a culture of participation towards sustainability is to be pursued, and underline the high impact of institutional governance. Originality/value – Although a great volume of literature about sustainability implementation in higher education exists, studies focusing on participatory processes in this context are rather scarce. This research pays attention to sustainability experts working in universities rarely heard in a more systemic manner and also applies a reflective participatory approach itself by using qualitative methods.

Identifying and overcoming obstacles to the implementation of sustainable development at universities

“…Progress has been noticeable specifically regarding participation processes (Disterheft et al 2015a(Disterheft et al , 2015b, and barriers to this intervention and to sustainability practices implementation are being addressed by HEIs (e.g. Aleixo et al 2016Aleixo et al , 2017aAleixo et al , 2017bÁvila et al 2017).…”

Stakeholder engagement in sustainability reporting in higher education

“…In these hierarchical environments, participatory processes are clearly positive in order to meet social demands. In literature, a growing number of studies focus on the benefits of participatory approaches in HEIs to contribute towards the integration of sustainability in their missions, values and activities and tools that encourage an effective participatory stakeholder engagement (Reed et al 2009;Disterheft et al, 2015a;Disterheft et al, 2015b;Disterheft et al, 2016).…”

The INDICARE-model – measuring and caring about participation in higher education's sustainability assessment

“…The dimensions of participation are therefore to be further explored. To some extent, social learning indicators (Disterheft et al, 2015a;Dlouhá et al, 2013;Mulà, 2011) provide a more distinguished use of participation, differentiating e.g. levels of involvement from informing up to inclusion in decision-making, but with no or little emphasis on the transformative potentials of such interactions.…”

“…The research follows a mixed-method design, having used interviews and focus groups with a total of 51 sustainability practitioners in HE from 22 countries (Disterheft et al, 2015a,b). The findings (Disterheft et al, 2015a) suggest that participatory approaches could be better assessed from a social learning and organizational learning perspective (Cebrián et al, 2013), emphasizing non-linear criteria for the quality of the process in terms of depth and meaningfulness, underlining as well the high impact of institutional governance. Following these findings, an indicator-based model for assessing participation in HE's sustainability implementation was developed.…”

“…Within this debate, participatory processes are seen as valuable for a paradigm change towards sustainability, as they can contribute towards the debate about how to integrate the sustainability concept into the university culture (Disterheft et al, 2013a;Sterling, 2005). The concept of participation touches areas of institutional governance, social learning and organizational learning, but is presently vaguely defined and is not contextualized yet to sustainability in HE (Barth and Michelsen, 2013;Disterheft et al, 2015a). Motivated by filling this research lacuna, this study is embedded in an on-going cross-sectional project focusing on participatory approaches within sustainability initiatives in HE with the overall objective of developing an assessment tool for these approaches.…”