Search results

The role of higher education institutions is paramount in creating social and cultural conditions for sustainability. Several studies show universities play an important role in promoting public understanding and awareness about sustainability. The purpose of this study is to analyze the application of university social responsibility (USR) on green and nongreen campuses and how it affects the corporate social responsibility (CSR) of students' self-consciousness (SSC), especially in accounting undergraduate programs by looking at how the undergraduate programs shape their curriculum and can build student awareness related to CSR.

A total of 704 accounting undergraduate programs students from eight different universities in Indonesia were surveyed to test the CSR SSC. Eight participating universities were included in the green campus based on Universitas Indonesia Green Metric (UI GreenMetric) and nongreen campus. Each university was analyzed regarding the application of USR.

The results of this study show that universities included in the green campus at the UI GreenMetric do not necessarily have a higher USR than the nongreen campus. Overall, there is evidence that graduates from universities with high USR implementation have better CSR SSC than graduates from universities with low USR implementation. Furthermore, the findings of this study show that there is a high value of ethic and CSR knowledge coming from university students with high USR implementation but not so with character. The findings show the same results from students between the two university groups.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first attempt to examine the effect of USR implementation on CSR SSC in Indonesia, by putting students’ CSR knowledge as a part of CSR SSC.

This study sought to assess the process of initiating a sustainable recycling program at the University of Jordan. It illustrates the potentials of recycling, perceived awareness of recycling by the students and staff, as well as challenges to a sustainable waste recycling program. This study aims to identify the barriers and challenges that face a sustainable waste recycling program at the University of Jordan.

The study consisted of investigating waste recycling potential on campus, inspecting general environmental awareness toward recycling and running an experimental recycling study on part of the campus. A waste characterization study was conducted to assess the current waste status and recycling extent. A questionnaire survey was carried out to obtain information on the students’ and staffs’ awareness of waste recycling and management on campus. In the experimental recycling study, seventy units of waste segregation bins were distributed on campus. The recycling efficiency was evaluated at two schools; the School of Engineering and the School of Medicine. The administrative support and collaboration while running the recycling program were also observed.

Overall, waste recycling at the University of Jordan has an appreciable opportunity and potential. A substantial amount of waste can be diverted from going to the landfill. Data showed general positive recycling rates except for plastic. Also, the recycling rates show great potential for enhancing. The recycling at the University of Jordan faces several barriers and obstacles. The greatest barrier was identified as the lack of cooperation of the administrative system on campus. The administrative support for the recycling program was strong only at the initiation of the recycling program. Administrative support has a vital influence on the recycling program. It has the potential of boosting it or bringing it to halt. Future studies should focus on investigating recycling efficiency for the entire campus and focus more on increasing pro-environmental behavior among students and staff in higher education institutions.

The value of this research lies in it being conducted in a large campus university in a developing country. Also, the study used a diagnostic approach that is based on evaluating an environmental sustainability program as it evolves inside a higher education institution. The study illustrates the challenges that face universities in developing countries while adopting green campus initiatives.

An important facet of student’s sense of belonging is students’ relationships with, and time spent in, the university campus. The purpose of this paper is to explore the notion that access to campus “green space”, including parks, fields and gardens, may bolster students’ sense of belonging, improve well-being feelings and promote place attachment.

The authors surveyed students in different locations (including three green and one non-green campus spaces) across a large UK campus-based Northern institution. 146 students participated in the study in one of the four campus locations. The authors investigated how being in green spaces on campus may impact students’ sense of belonging, well-being and place attachment. The authors also qualitatively explored students’ perceptions of campus spaces through Ahn’s (2017) 10 Words Question measure.

Analyses demonstrate that students surveyed in green spaces reported significantly more positive sense of belonging, compared to students surveyed in non-green campus spaces. Campus location did not impact well-being, however. Students associated green spaces on campus with “calm”, “positive emotion” and “nature” words and non-green spaces with “busy”, “social” and “students”.

Taken together, the results of this paper suggest that access to green spaces can be important for campus sense of belonging. Thus, efforts should be made to ensure the sustainability of these important spaces across university campuses.

This study crucially examines how occupying green spaces on university campuses may impact students’ feelings of belongingness. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that uses field-based methods to understand students’ feelings whilst occupying green spaces.

The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of greenery on residential mobility within purpose-built student housing facilities in Northern Ghana.

This research employed a structured questionnaire and utilized an experimental block design, encompassing 124 comparative greened and non-greened student housing facilities, with a total of 995 resident participants. The impact of greenery on residential mobility was analyzed using a repeated sales model and t-test analysis.

Results revealed that residential mobility was significantly higher in non-greened student housing facilities than their greened counterparts. The study further indicated that the presence of greenery had a substantial effect on residential mobility, attributed to residents' preferences for the ecological, social and economic benefits associated with greenery, rather than merely infrastructure considerations.

Enhancing the aesthetic appeal, economic viability, safety, security and health benefits of greened student housing facilities while managing the influence of greenery on infrastructure was found to affect residential mobility. The findings suggest that improving occupancy rates in these facilities through the incorporation of greenery could yield higher rental income and better cash flows for investors involved in student housing operations.

This study highlights the ecological, social and economic advantages of greenery for residents. While the benefits of greenery in residential contexts are increasingly recognized, the specific impact of greenery on residential mobility within the Sub-Saharan African context represents a novel contribution. The application of neighborhood effects theory to the examination of greenery benefits and residential mobility in this region adds a new dimension to existing research.

This paper aims to present and describe the main actions carried out in six different faculties and common areas such as cultural and research centres and administrative buildings in the Ferrol campus at the University of A Coruña to achieve the second green flag on a Galician University.

A case study describing the steps for implementing a green campus programme in a medium-size, young university campus integrated into a small city. An Environmental Campus Committee was created to assess the main factors that affect environmental footprint, discuss sustainability initiatives and develop a guide to action regarding different goals related to sustainable transport options, energy, water conservation and waste reduction. The actions included several fields such as education, circular economy and healthy life and involved the on and off-campus community.

The programme achieved a decrease in water consumption and electrical energy. An important change in educational values and behaviours regarding sustainability was observed in and out of the campus community. The measurements adopted mainly in waste management, mobility and education led the Ferrol campus to achieve a green campus flag on November 2019.

This experiment can serve as a guide to establish the Green Campus philosophy in other similar university campuses.

The purpose of this study is to review university social responsibility (USR) using a well-known quantitative approach of bibliometric analysis. Compared to corporate social responsibility (CSR), USR is in its infancy stage, requiring further exploration of its meaning and impact toward higher education institutions (HEIs).

A total of 306 publications and 9,530 cited references were retrieved from the Web of Science database. Bibliographic coupling analysis was applied to uncover present themes, while co-word analysis was used to predict future trends.

Findings suggested that themes are centralized toward the impact of USR on HEIs. USR is important for HEIs to attain excellence in today's challenging business environment.

USR could develop HEIs into world-renowned institutions by establishing a good reputation and engaging with the broader community, locally and internationally. USR is regarded as HEIs' new value proposition in marketing its brand within the competitive environment in higher education.

This study is the first that reviews USR by extracting the knowledge structure and providing visualization on the implicit themes of the subject interest.

This paper aims to investigate the relationship between a sustainable university brand and the intention of international students to study at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), one of Malaysia’s premier universities. Moreover, the study explored the moderating effect of opinion leaders on the intention of international students to study at USM.

A survey involving 391 international students was conducted using a self-assessment questionnaire, data from which were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling.

Empirical data show that USM’s sustainability brand had a positive impact on international students’ intention to study at the university, but opinion leaders had no significant sway in influencing this decision. This finding could be attributed to USM’s established reputation as a sustainable university, which helps cement its standing as the top choice for international students.

This research only focussed on international students at one Malaysian university. Hence, the findings are not generalisable, in particular, to illuminate the experiences of students at non-Malaysian institutions, whose contexts are inevitably different than Malaysia’s.

This study offered a dimensional insight into the university management on the pivotal branding of sustainability as one of the important tools for attracting international students to study at the university. In light of the findings, it is suggested that universities magnify their efforts to support the sustainable agenda, to help create a sustainable university brand that adds value to the interests of stakeholders.

Universities are continuously faced with challenges in terms of branding. Besides, not many universities are branded as sustainable universities despite the high involvement in sustainability-focused activities. Research has scarcely focused on the influence of the “sustainable university brand” on the marketing effort of the university to international students. In studies where this topic was highlighted, they focused on the opinion leader as the moderating influence of the choice of university amongst international students.

There is a growing awareness of the dangers of climate change and global warming due to increasing energy consumption and associated greenhouse gas emissions. Campus universities are critical for implementing low-carbon development efficiently, given the large population and socio-economic activities concentrated on campus. This paper aims to explore the existing campus management initiatives and recommends holistic driving elements towards successful low-carbon campus development.

This study’s triangulation of information was supplemented by contributions from 116 respondents on the UiTM Shah Alam campus and eight professional interviews with stakeholders involved in low-carbon campus projects.

The study reported that low-carbon strategies had been implemented on the UiTM Shah Alam campus, with most existing programmes and activities focusing on low-hanging fruit initiatives. Moreover, the findings indicate that financial, cultural, behavioural, organisational and physical constraints are critical challenges to effectively implementing low-carbon approaches. The proposed techniques suggest that generating green funding, defining clear targets, developing standard procedures for carbon assessment and monitoring, also boosting education and outreach programmes lead to the improvement of low-carbon campus efforts.

The outcomes of this paper offer perspective to campus administration and community into an evaluation of current approaches and strategies for merging low-carbon systems. The effectiveness of low-carbon implementation was ensured by addressing issues concerning low-carbon uptake and fostering low-carbon improvement.

Besides providing a better understanding of techniques to implementing low-carbon development in Malaysia, the critical hurdles and driving factors, the output from this study adds to the existing knowledge available concerning the campus community’s existing comprehension.

The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of rivalry and excludability in transport systems on the positive external effects important for the functioning of a large private university in Wroclaw (Poland). In the context of campus sustainability, policy implications supporting sustainable transport are discussed.

Four research questions were formulated, which were tested by way of questionnaire research among students of the Bachelor and Engineer Programmes in Logistics and taking part in the course Transport Economics at the WSB University in Wroclaw (Poland).

Car use seems to be the most important for the positive transport externalities enabling the functioning of the university. Levels of rivalry and excludability did not have a significant impact on the levels of external transport benefits or the transport behaviour of students. To sustain/enhance the levels of positive external effects of transport and stimulate sustainable commuting, the university should support the development of alternative modes of transport, by improving transport infrastructure on the campus, and develop cooperation with the Wroclaw municipality to develop synergies between their transport policy goals.

The research should be interpreted with care, as it is a case study of one large private university in Poland. Further research should be conducted among different private and public universities that are characterised by different levels of accessibility (location, development of infrastructure). The case study is based on students' transport behaviour, not considering transport behaviour of academic and non-academic workers, which could function as a role mode.

Policy aiming at banning cars is likely to be unsuccessful and/or could lead to a decrease in positive externalities in a short term. For this reason, more attention should be given to marketing and promotion of more sustainable means of transport, including e.g. better information on the possibilities of reaching the campus by train or urban public transport, facilitations for non-motorised students and improvements in cycling and walking infrastructure. To support campus sustainability in the field of transport, stronger cooperation with local administration is needed to undertake joint, consistent actions aimed at sharing and supporting the idea of sustainable commuting among students.

While many activities for supporting campus sustainability focus on reducing negative environmental externalities, positive externalities are not so often considered. In this context, the levels of rivalry and excludability can become an indicator of the contribution of transport systems to social and economic sustainability.

It is still unclear how Asian universities incorporate the theory or practice of sustainable development (SD) in their research and education programmes. To address this gap, the purpose of this paper is to report on a study that has examined how universities in Asian countries handle and address matters related to SD.

The study used a bibliometric analysis and an online survey-method. The online survey data were analysed through descriptive analysis and one-sample student’s t-test.

The study indicates that there is considerable variation among the Asian countries regarding sustainability practices in higher education institutions (HEIs). The HEIs in far eastern countries, such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand are perceived to demonstrate more sustainability practices.

Even though a substantial number of participants participated in the survey, it did not cover all Asian countries. The online survey was carried out over a limited period of time, and not all HEIs in the field may have received information about the study.

Asia is the largest continent facing a number of sustainability challenges. In this context, the contribution of HEIs is very important. The findings of the current study may serve as a baseline for Asian HEIs to take more initiatives towards SD goals, as HEIs are responsible for the education and training of hundreds of thousands of students who will be occupying key positions in industry, government or education in the coming years.

The study contributes to the existing literature in two distinct ways. First, it was possible to develop a comprehensive instrument to measure sustainability practices in HEIs. Second, this study has filled the gap of the scarcity of studies regarding sustainability practices in HEIs in Asia.