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The purpose of this study was to establish an objective mathematical decision-making procedure to help universities prioritize credits, while using the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS) framework developed by the Association for Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), when pursuing their sustainability goals in the short-, medium- and long-term. The authors used the assessment data from Dominican University of California (DUofC), as our case study.

Two criteria, the number of possible points available and overall priority, were developed to classify credits in the STARS version 1.2 framework into six groups from lowest to highest level of difficulty. Two mathematical credit-selecting models based on how many points were available per credit, partial or full amount, were also established to produce short-, medium- and long-term plans.

Our results show that DUofC can reach the Silver level in three years by working on 25 credits; Gold level in nine years by focusing its efforts in 28 additional credits; and Platinum level in 15 years by improving another 10 credits.

The procedure developed in this study can be applied to other universities and other versions of the STARS framework.

Green building information modelling (BIM) has been highlighted as an essential topic owing to its potential benefits. However, both Green Star and BIM are still in their earlier stages in New Zealand. This paper aims to examine and evaluate the benefits, barriers/challenges and solutions for the integration of Green Star and BIM in New Zealand.

In this paper, a total of 77 responses collected from construction professionals in New Zealand using questionnaires were analysed through descriptive and statistical tests.

Building performance modelling used for Green Star assessment can be implemented using BIM; this was highlighted as the most significant benefit of the integration. Whereas, the most significant barrier preventing the integration of Green Star and BIM was the fact they are two completely separate processes. Regarding the solutions for the integration, showcasing BIM-Green Star benchmark projects was considered as the most effective solution amongst a range of eight provided.

The research provided insights into Green Star–BIM integration in New Zealand. By evaluating the significance of the benefits, barriers/challenges and solutions for the integration, this research could be used as a guideline for Green Star and BIM development by New Zealand Green Building Council (NZGBC), the Government and construction practitioners in New Zealand. Specifically, the results here could be valuable inputs for Green Star manuals and the New Zealand BIM handbook.

Universities are continually transforming its structure and governance in response to the new social, environmental and economic challenges. Particularly, there has recently been a growing academic interest for measuring sustainable practices of higher education institutions (HEI) aiming to monitor and reduce their carbon emissions, as well as transform them into more sustainable organizations. More recent studies began to focus also on the sustainable performance of distance education Universities. So it became crucial to evaluate their sustainability practices through sustainability assessment tools with the aim of improving their sustainability performance and boosting their role as agents of academic, social and economic change. The purpose of this study is to assess and compare holistically sustainability implementation in two similar distance learning universities and to evaluate their advantages and disadvantages.

One of the most rigorous and internationally used sustainability assessment tools was used – the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System, to evaluate and compare sustainability implementation in two distance universities, one from Spain and another from Portugal: the Madrid Open University and Universidade Aberta. Indicators of both universities were compared and ways of improvement in both universities were widely discussed.

The results of this research show that there is a similar pattern in both universities. Both have low performance in campus operations and low levels of community participation but good performance in sustainability courses and programmes offer. The results of both institutions were compared and allowed a learning process for improvement.

This research hopes to contribute to the continuous research about the usefulness of sustainability assessment tools in particular when applied to distance universities at the time that offers new paths to carry out improved sustainable practices in crucial areas of interest such as research, administration, education and resource-saving. This research also highlights the value of distance learning universities and their ability to be more sustainable after the advent of COVID-19.

This paper aims to report on a census of high-level sustainability initiatives at all accredited post-secondary institutions in Canada by documenting the institutions that have undertaken sustainability assessments, have signed one or more sustainability declarations, have sustainability offices or officers or have sustainability policies. The aim was to better understand the broad-scale patterns of commitments by post-secondary institutions to these sustainability initiatives by exploring the interrelationships among them, and with geographic and institutional characteristics.

Data were collected on existing high-level sustainability initiatives at Canada’s 220 accredited post-secondary institutions. Patterns in the data were analyzed using exploratory statistical techniques. This paper proposes a sustainability initiative score to help understand the diversity and patterns of sustainability initiative uptake.

Institutions located in larger communities, and in British Columbia and Québec, tended to have higher sustainability initiative scores. Institutions in Saskatchewan and the territories had the lowest sustainability initiative scores. It was found that sustainability office(r)s, assessments and policies co-occurred disproportionately, potentially suggesting positive reinforcement mechanisms. On the other hand, having signed a declaration was not strongly linked to other sustainability initiatives. Terminological preference had shifted from “environment” and “sustainable development” to “sustainability”.

The scope was limited to a discrete set of high-level sustainability initiatives appropriate for a nation-wide census, at a moment in time, and is therefore not exhaustive in subject or temporal extent. This broad-scale comparative analysis compels further study into the relationship between the sustainability policy environment and sustainability practices on the ground, as well as implications for how post-secondary institutions engage with sustainability. The patterns and interrelationships this paper discovered help to structure future critical and comparative in-depth analyses of sustainability policies and practices within post-secondary education.

Almost no extensive, comparative empirical studies of sustainability policy and practice in post-secondary institutions exist. This void is addressed by documenting and analyzing high-level sustainability initiatives across all accredited post-secondary institutions in Canada.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the way to achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Through the introduction and learning of a specific case, this paper summarizes the specific process of green campus’s development and construction and directly discusses how to achieve the goal of sustainable development. By analyzing the achievements and measures of its construction, on the one hand, the experience and shortcomings of its green campus construction are summarized; on the other hand, the impact of Stanford’s own green campus construction on the local community is discussed.

This paper takes Stanford, one of the best green campuses assessed by sustainability tracking, assessment and rating system (STARS), as a case study in three steps. First, it introduces the academics, energy supply and demand, water and land, waste, management, food and living, buildings and transportation of its campus construction in detail; second, it uses the STARS to make a comprehensive sustainable evaluation of Stanford; finally, it discusses the development relationship between Stanford and local community.

The four characteristics of its green campus development model are summarized, namely, based on its own scientific research; from the aspect of environmental friendliness; to achieve joint participation; and forming complementary development with the community. The construction of green campus has changed from a single triangle framework composed of SDGs, STARS and universities to a compound triangle framework composed of SDGs, universities and communities on the existing basis, greatly expanding the way to realize SDGs.

This development mode will have direct guiding significance for the sustainable construction of other campuses.

This paper also discusses the development concept from green campus to sustainable community to provide positive reference to achieve the global SDGs from the perspective of colleges and universities.

According to the historical track of its development, this paper combines the two (SDGs and green campus) to discuss by using campus construction as an effective way to achieve the SDGs. On the basis of literature research and case study, STARS sustainable assessment is introduced. This will lead to quantitative analysis of sustainable construction in the discussion of the specific case, judging the specific sustainable degree of all aspects of campus construction, to provide a scientific basis for summarizing its characteristics of development mode.

This paper aims to make a comparative study on the latest version of green campus evaluation standard between China and America: Green Campus Evaluation Standard (GB/T51356-2019) and the sustainability tracking, assessment and rating system (STARS 2.2). The differences of evaluation methods and contents are analyzed and their respective characteristics and advantages are sorted out, so as to promote the development of sustainable campus evaluation standards.

The research mainly adopts the method of comparative study, which is carried out from three dimensions, namely, the related policies development of campus construction and world university sustainable rankings; the content of evaluation standards (including evaluation methods and evaluation categories and scores); the characteristics and current application of standards.

There are great differences between the evaluation standards of China and America in organization and participation mode, evaluation method and content. Public engagement, energy and campus engagement are the hot spots. Buildings, energy, food and dining and investment and finance will become the focus of sustainable campus in the future. Specific optimization strategies of key points, evaluation method and content and organization and participation mode of Chinese standard are put forward.

This paper clarifies the advantages and disadvantages of the current global sustainable campus, and provides the basis for the next stage of construction policy. At the same time, it is helpful for all countries, especially China, to formulate construction guidelines that not only meet their own actual needs but also conform to the trend of global sustainable campus development.

The connotation of sustainable campus is enriched, and the evaluation standards of sustainable campus are improved. The development of sustainable campus is promoted, so as to realize the sustainable development goals.

This research expands the scope of the study to the whole campus, rather than just one aspect of campus buildings. It compares the evaluation standard of green campus in China with STARS in the USA, and no longer compares leadership in energy and environmental design for schools. It discusses the campus building’s energy conservation while paying attention to the campus green consciousness, green management and green planning. Based on the relevant data currently used by STARS in the global evaluation, this paper analyzes the hot spots and shortcomings of the current global sustainable campus construction and puts forward some optimization suggestions for China’s green campus evaluation system.

Before COVID-19 pandemic, translation students in higher education attended courses on computer-assisted translation to acquire operational knowledge of professional software, without experiencing collaborative/interactive learning. In few European universities skills labs were introduced to offer fieldwork-like activities, but without shared modelling standards and mainly held in presence for few consecutive days. As the COVID-19 pandemic further deprived students of crucial educational experiences, the purpose of this paper is to present an online collaborative learning environment exploiting a customised combination of information and learning applications the students already experienced during the pandemic to smoothen their learning curve and increase the educational effectiveness.

A multi-framework methodology to build and operate a computer-supported online collaborative skills lab for translation students is proposed. Reference standards and guidelines are leveraged to provide participants with a common knowledge ground, to activate the computer-supported collaborative learning perspective, and to ensure an appropriate simulation fidelity.

An end-to-end implementation of the proposed approach along with educational effectiveness analysis performed via complementary assessment strategies is presented. Achieved outcomes highlight significant participation rate, consistent improvement in technical and soft skills at both individual and collective levels, and clear activation of collaborative learning dynamics.

Every master degree in translation teaching can adopt this approach by complying with the proposed guidelines.

The proposed multi-framework approach is novel and applied to a teaching sector where it is highly needed to fill a pre-existing gap.

The research investigates valuers' understanding of the value of sustainability in property and its' consideration in valuation practice in Australia. This paper explores valuers' perceptions of the relationships between sustainability and market values, sustainability and valuation variables, and the value influence of industry sustainability certification schemes. Further, this paper tracks prevalence of certified buildings in Australian commercial markets and the evolution of valuers' knowledge of sustainability certifications used in Australia.

This paper reports on the next rendition of a longitudinal study examining valuers’ practice in Australia. This research explores the evolution of Australian valuers' perception and knowledge of sustainability in valuation practice. The survey data has been periodically collected from practising valuers from 2007 to 2021. The survey questions investigate valuers' knowledge development, understanding, reporting and consideration of the relationship between sustainability and market value.

The results have identified the evolution of the influence of normative research on valuers' perceptions of the relationship between sustainability and value; with a clearer understanding emerging over time of where the value relationships are identified in valuation variables. Greater alignment between empirical Australian studies and valuers' perceptions of the influence of sustainability ratings on value, demonstrate the value connection for higher rated buildings under NABERS (energy rating) and Green Star. Whilst only 41% of the study's participants are including sustainability in their valuation reports, they include a higher level of commentary on building descriptions and initiatives, building ratings, and reporting of owner and tenant objectives, than in previous studies. Knowledge development relating to sustainability certification tool, NABERS was identified. This is likely linked to the introduction of mandatory disclosure legislation. This has also led to increased awareness and valuers' knowledge of the differences between the two key rating tools used in Australia.

The research has several limitations: firstly, recruitment of valuers and the number of valuers' responses has varied over time; secondly, due to collection methods respondents have a greater likelihood of having an interest in and knowledge of sustainability creating potential for positive bias; thirdly, respondents may have responded to the survey in different years, but due to anonymity there has been no ability to track this. The results provide insights into the Australian valuation profession but may not be fully representative of the profession overall in Australia.

The broader agenda of net zero, climate change, mitigation and carbon requirements, whether driven by market forces or government legislation, are generating changes in property markets as investors' reconsider their positions and model the implications of carbon emissions on their bottom lines. Introductions of policy and legislation over time in the Australian context have led to changes in valuation practice and increasing consideration of energy efficiency and ratings in the valuation of assets. However, further guidance and research still is required in Australia to assist in the knowledge development of valuers, and their ability to consider the emerging effects of sustainability, net zero and other market driven objectives including legislation, and how these may affect or influence their evaluation of market evidence and thus property values.

The research has tracked valuers' understanding, knowledge, and consideration of sustainability and energy efficiency in valuation practice since 2007. In that time the research has found that, as the market has evolved and more rated buildings are built (or retrofitted), so too has valuers' knowledge and consideration in valuation practices evolved. Valuers are more engaged with industry rating tools such as NABERS. This suggests that the Australian mandatory disclosure policies have contributed to changes in the market, which are then interpreted by valuers and reflected in their perceptions and consideration of energy ratings in valuation practice.

This study aims to identify how literature has addressed sustainability reporting in universities over time and determine traceable patterns and trends.

A comprehensive systematic review protocol of the Emerald Insight, Web of Science, Science Direct, Scopus, Springer Link and Wiley Online Library databases was performed for the studies published during the past decade. The following steps were involved in this study: search and collection of literature, study selection, quality assessment, data extraction and data analysis. A total of 40 articles met the inclusion criteria and the quality assessment.

The results demonstrated that the most used tools to assist sustainability reporting in universities are the global reporting initiative framework and the graphical assessment of sustainability in universities. However, the adoption of the integrated reporting framework is encouraged. The level of reporting is not yet high, and social and educational indicators are being disclosed in the following areas: community, services and transfer; curriculum and teaching; operation; and research.

This study provides a recent overview of sustainability reporting worldwide. By discussing the findings, the authors presented the practical implications of starting a sustainability report at the university and the associated difficulties and benefits.

The integration of sustainability is more matured in the corporate sector. However, the topic received less attention in higher education institutions (HEIs). Therefore, this study aims to conceptualize an integration framework and proposes sustainability integration and implementation index in the HEIs.

The index was developed from previous literature. For the implementation of the index, three universities were selected. The required data collected from websites, internal documents and interviews with the high officials of these universities.

Sample universities have somehow inclination toward the broad agenda of sustainable development, but still, they lack integration, implementation and reporting of their sustainable practices. Moreover, the departments have positive and practical intent toward sustainability especially regarding the environment, designing curriculum, teaching, research activities and volunteerism. However, in assessment, the social and economic contributions of these universities revealed to be somewhat mild. The findings also evidenced heterogeneity among the sample institutions to follow the said agenda which reflects a lack of awareness and policy or a centralized or regulatory push from the top.

The study is limited to three universities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Hence, in the future, the framework and index may be tested in other universities of the country or region. Nevertheless, the study carries theoretical significance in the literature of sustainability.

The study has practical implications for academia, regulatory bodies and universities to integrate, implement and report sustainability in HEIs.

The study proposes and validates the sustainability integration and implementation index in HEIs. The index is unique and has originality or value particularly for HEIs of the developing countries.