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This study aims to explore various determinants of university attractiveness and its relationship with sustainable institutes. Further, the study examines the mediating role of perceived student support and sense of belongingness on the relationship between university attractiveness and sustainable institutes.

The data analysis was conducted with 637 responses from the students from private universities located in the northern region of India. Variance based partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was applied in the study to investigate the proposed conceptual model on sustainable higher institutions. Additionally, by applying PLS Predict, the predictive relevance of sustainable institutions with important and performing constructs was found out.

The results of this study indicate that university attractiveness plays a critical role in enhancing perceived student support, and it has a direct and significant impact on developing sustainable institutes. Further, students’ sense of belongingness is expressed as significant mediator between university attractiveness and sustainable institutes. The predictive relevance of the study was reported to be high. Most important indicators of university attractiveness were found to be teaching, research and publications, branding and promotion, and diversity in courses offered by the private universities.

The conceptual model under study can be investigated with a moderating effect of private and government universities in future. Additionally, the role of additional variables in online scenario under current pandemic situation can be assessed through the model used in this study. Future research can be done by using qualitative analysis through thematic analysis and sentiment analysis of students in higher education institutes.

The present study is the first to explore the mediating relationship of perceived student support and sense of belongingness with university attractiveness and sustainable institutes. The conceptual framework can prove to be important for education specialists, administrators of education institutes at university level and policymakers. The study offers effective ideas for policymakers to bring sustainability in education sector in near future especially in emerging economies and attain sustainable development goals.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought tremendous changes in society. Universities were among the few organisations with some previous knowledge of online education, being able to rapidly adapt by transferring already known best practices to the new context. As teaching moved to online, students encountered less sustainable implementation by their universities. This allowed the development of previously planned sustainable strategies so that when face-to-face teaching resumed, universities could be even more sustainable. This paper aims to explore loyalty to the sustainable university during the later COVID-19 pandemic based on the university’s efforts to manage a green campus.

To investigate loyalty towards the sustainable university during the later COVID-19 pandemic, a conceptual model is proposed. This research is grounded in an empirical investigation using a quantitative online survey implemented with online interviews, the relations between all latent constructs being analysed with SmartPLS.

The results show that university sustainability reflects student loyalty, outlining the image developed under the influence of green campus management. The results show that universities must intensify their efforts to support the sustainable agenda and create a sustainable academic brand, inducing student loyalty. The findings may attract the attention of other universities wishing to gain knowledge about the factors that students consider important in generating their loyalty.

As this research was carried out in the later COVID-19 pandemic context from 2021, the students already had experience of online teaching, so their assessment of the sustainability strategies implemented could be quite different from their perceptions in the first months of the pandemic. This research provides a comprehensive insight into the overall strategy that a sustainable university might apply in a crisis context.

Research has shown that green campus management has a positive impact on the sustainability of a university’s image, on how students perceive the university at which they study and on the university’s efforts to ensure efficient campus management. These factors contribute to the development of a strong and sustainable image of the university within the community.

The originality of this paper lies in the research questions designed to conceptualise and operationalise the generation of students' loyalty towards their university by encouraging and implementing sustainable strategies on campus. This paper highlights a structural model that combines strategic practices to determine students' loyalty towards a sustainable university during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study aims to better inform environmental management at universities by applying and validating the policy integration processes theory through a case study of Manchester Metropolitan University.

Social network analyses were used to identify, differentiate and categorise working networks of individuals and departments and the interconnections between them.

In an organisation, networks can be developed and active at departmental level but not at individual level. High numbers of departments can be doing work related to sustainable development whilst having low and medium levels of interconnections between departments. Influence of stakeholders throughout the network suggests levels of sustainable development policy integration at individual and departmental.

New insights provide evidence for universities’ environmental managers of the need of developing and implementing strategies that involve individuals’ work between departments by providing incentives, supporting capacity building and staff empowerment.

This paper applied and validated the theory of policy integration processes, showing that work at individual level and between departments needs more attention.

University students are a unique population with great potential to adopt eating habits that promote positive human and planetary health outcomes. The purpose of this study is to illustrate the current perceptions of sustainable eating behaviours among the students and to examine the determinants of sustainable eating behaviours.

Data were collected from December 2020 to May 2021 through focus group discussions among university students in Ontario, facilitated through synchronous online sessions. There were 21 student participants during the course of five focus group sessions (4–5 participants per session) from various departments within the university. The discussions were transcribed and analyzed for main themes and concepts using open coding; deductive coding based on the framework by Deliens et al. as well as the literature; and inductive coding for emerging themes.

The students had different perceptions about what constituted sustainable eating behaviours, some of which were not based on fact. A variety of individual, environmental (macro, micro and social) and university characteristics were mentioned as factors influencing sustainable food choices, with “food literacy” and “campus food” being the top two factors.

This study presents a novel and holistic overview of how sustainable eating behaviours and sustainable foods are perceived among university students and identifies the perceived determinants of adopting sustainable eating behaviours. This study helps with identifying opportunities to promote sustainable eating behaviours among university students and the design/implementation of informed interventions and policies aimed at improving eating behaviours.

This study aims to identify a sustainable university’s key features. It is an essential step in tracing the topics discussed in the context of a sustainable university and their evolution in the scientific discourse.

This paper relies on a systematic literature review (SLR) conducted using two scholarly databases: Emerald and Scopus. The timeframe selected by the authors for reviewing the available sources spans from 2001 to 2021.

The analysis distinguished seven sustainable university categories, each revealing critical features of sustainable higher education. Each of these categories represents an intriguing area for in-depth analysis. The SLR reveals gaps requiring further scientific exploration.

The performed literature review was determined by the choice of entries (keywords) to identify the scientific papers in the selected databases. Moreover, as the authors aimed to focus on peer-reviewed sources, this SLR did not include books and doctoral dissertations dealing with the studied issues.

The results of the analysis can be used practically by both researchers and practitioners in the field of sustainable development (SD). Identified scientific gaps become a potential research field, and practitioners interested in the transition toward SD may contribute by accompanying universities in this journey. Collaboration and networking with business stakeholders are critical vectors for spreading the idea of SD.

Society’s growing concern for climate change requires accurate and specific actions from institutions. As entities educating future generations, universities have a unique role in transforming toward SD. The findings allow us to get acquainted with the existing main activities undertaken by higher education institutions in this field and understand the importance of this topic for researchers.

SLR is a cornerstone of research synthesis and helps integrate scientific evidence from qualitative and quantitative published studies. Conducted research presents knowledge about university sustainability and can help scientists find research gaps.

According to the importance of higher education institutions (HEIs) in meeting sustainable development goals (SDGs), the purpose of this study is to analyze how sustainability was implemented in Ecuadorian higher education. The case study of the Universidad Técnica del Norte (UTN) process was analyzed to show the advantages of implementing projects with SD approaches.

This study includes an analytic-synthetic method. In the case study, a longitudinal-documentary method was used to analyze the projects implemented in the UTN. The primary source of information corresponds to reports, minutes, publications, interviews and surveys from the academic staff of UTN, which can be found in the Postgraduate Institute of the UTN archives.

Projects implemented at UTN facilitated the development of skills in the participating university community and influenced the general organizational development of the university. Likewise, the potential benefits of the projects in each of the components are highlighted, so that social learning and the development of skills in students and teachers have been facilitated, focusing on internationalization.

The population analyzed corresponds to Ecuadorian universities and technical institutes, however, access to information from all HEIs is limited, due to processing time and economic resources.

This study presents implications for representatives of higher education and policymakers at the national level since the positive aspects can be rescued to promote the sustainable performance of HEIs.

HEIs train ethical professionals capable of transforming the world. The study shows successful experiences that can be used by other HEIs to have a positive impact on society, providing a sustainable future. In addition, UTN has prioritized the initiative of the students in several activities.

The primary information for the case study comes from the experiences obtained during the international cooperation projects of the UTN. Positive findings and limitations have been identified, which are published with the purpose of contributing to the scientific community.

It is very crucial to evaluate the suitability of food services from an environmental and economic point of view to design sustainable food menus. This study aims to analyse the food menus in a Turkish university refectory concerning sustainable nutrition and waste management and compare them with a proposed sustainable food menu.

The study examined lunch menus served in December and February 2021–2022 at Istanbul Medipol University refectory for a total of 20 days, considering the nutrient-rich food index (NRF 9.3), waste amount, food cost, water and carbon footprint parameters of the meals.

Comparing the December menu with the suggested sustainable December menu showed a significant reduction in carbon and water footprint (p = 0.001), food cost (p = 0.001) and NRF 9.3 score (p = 0.001). When February and the suggested sustainable February menu were compared, there was a significant decrease in carbon and water footprint (p = 0.001), food cost (p = 0.005) and NRF 9.3 score (p = 0.001). December and February menus had higher NRF 9.3 score compared to the sample sustainable menus, and the amounts of saturated fat, added sugar and sodium were also high in these menus.

The study revealed that university cafeteria menus are incompatible with sustainable nutrition. The findings can significantly contribute to improving the sustainability of meals and food services by minimizing the water and carbon footprint of menus.

Higher educational institutions, such as universities of applied sciences, have a significant role in promoting progress towards a sustainable future as defined by the United Nations (UN) sustainable development goals (SDGs). This paper aims to identify how the UN SDGs are featured in master’s theses set in work–life contexts.

Using a descriptive review and content analysis, this study identified the number of SDGs appearing in 31 master’s theses. Sustainable development (SD) and corporate social responsibility were reflected using the approaches and models in the literature. Finland’s eight objectives for committing to SD were used to examine the commitments made by the business school of the university of applied sciences to achieve Agenda 2030.

Emphasising the value of higher education for SD, this study found that SDGs three, eight and 12 appeared most frequently in the theses. Sustainable and responsible dimensions reflected several issues concerning both the worlds of business and industry among the firms and organisations investigated by the master’s degree students in the business school at the Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences.

This research holds practical and pedagogical value, serving to encourage master’s and PhD students to further explore research on SDGs and to shape public policy.

Sustainability was looked at in a new way as investigated by the theses. Ways to integrate the SDGs into management degree programmes and conduct research in the fields of business administration, tourism and hospitality management were identified.

Universities of Small Island States (SIS) have the potential to fulfill a crucial role in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) but also face barriers to local capacity building. The University of Aruba partly addresses these challenges through the development of The Academic Foundation Year (AFY), a one-year pre-university program aiming to optimally equip students for higher education. This study aims to assess to what extent the program can foster the local embeddedness of the students in ecology, culture and history and an understanding of opportunities and challenges for sustainable development in SIS.

The authors provide examples of how the program incorporates education for sustainable development and how it emphasizes experiential learning. In addition, quantitative survey data and qualitative analysis of focus group meetings are used to reflect on the program’s achievements and its potential for further development.

The survey results suggest that AFY courses not only increase knowledge but also change students’ perceptions regarding sustainability. Indeed, key impacts emerging from the student focus group related to both academic preparation and engagement with sustainability. Reflections by teachers emphasized the importance of experiential learning, an expansive view of the SDGs and preparing students as citizens.

This study highlights that the program could provide a starting point for the development of similar initiatives in other SIS, the common basis being the fostering of sustainability literacy and social adoption of the SDGs.

Academic institutions have the power to generate positive change by implementing sustainable development initiatives. This study aims to make a holistic assessment of the universities’ sustainability practices by explicitly focusing on equality and communication and by providing a general model for a university sustainability structure. In this context, the following questions were taken as references: How are the sustainability management mechanisms of universities? What are universities’ practices regarding “gender equality and equal opportunities”? How do universities integrate education, training, R&D and community development activities into their systems to be sustainable and how do they manage sustainability communication? This study aims to present an exemplary model for universities planning to develop a sustainability system and integrate the sustainable development goals (SDGs) into their ordinary work structures. It draws an exhaustive picture of what a sustainable structure and equality practices for universities look like by providing data about basic development areas regarding sustainability and social development.

This paper examines universities’ general sustainability system from a holistic standpoint to illustrate the implementation of sustainability practices within the universities’ plans and structure. In this qualitative research, the descriptive case study method is used. For this purpose, purposive sampling method is used where Jaume I University (Universitat Jaume I [UJI]) is selected as the sample due to its higher rankings despite its young age and its commitment to sustainability and equality. UJI is a public higher education and research university established in 1991 and is located in Castellón de la Plana in Valencia region of Spain. Its vision is to be a leading institution contributing to the social, cultural and economic aspects of sustainable development and to promote innovation, entrepreneurism, internationalization and social responsibility. It also has an non-governmental organization (NGO) working on equality. Three main data collection methods of descriptive research are used: (1) analysis of academic literature on sustainability in higher education institutions (HEIs); (2) document review: this review includes the systematic analysis of the case study university’s documents such as strategic plans, workflow charts, procedures and protocols of the related units. These documents were analyzed in a multidimensional way, and all related reports were examined comparatively. (3) Observation and semistructured interview notes: The interviews were conducted with nine unit managers and some academics working on this issue to obtain details surrounding the collected data. With this method, it became possible to obtain detailed data about the strategy and practices of the institution and identify the relationship between them. The research was conducted between April 2022 and September 2022.

According to the data, the main topics within the sustainability structure can be classified as (1) “sustainability in teaching system”, (2) “sustainability in research, development and innovation research, development and innovation (R&D&I) activities”, (3) “sustainability in management structure”, (3.1) governance, (3.2) ethics, (3.3) equality, (3.4) social responsibility and sustainability management and (3.5.) “networks and collaborations”, (4) “sustainability communication” and (5) “community development.” Each main heading includes subitems. In this context, 12 s subheadings and a total of 51 indicators under them have emerged. In addition to these, additional recommendations have been developed as a result of the analysis. This study’s findings reveal that sustainability is related to each unit of the university and that every unit engages in practices for sustainability. However, for holistic sustainability management, all practices should be coordinated and integrated according to a strategic goal. The current situation and strategic goals related to sustainability should also be defined in line with the university’s priority issues and stakeholders. Moreover, to achieve greater success and visibility, effective communication plays an important role. As such, alongside the conventional communication systems of academic units, it is crucial to establish a dedicated sustainability communication system as a distinct department.

This research is based on a case study method and is limited to the case of Jaume I University.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is an original study designed in line with the in-depth analysis of all systems of a university and also the data obtained through face-to-face interview methods.