The Partnership of Science and Technology Institutes to an International Regime of Sustainability

Abstract

This chapter seeks to verify the contribution of Science and Technology Institutes (STIs) as partner institutions on formation of an international regime of sustainability, according to goal 17 of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) – Partnerships, proposed by the United Nations. Thus, the work shows the ability to build internationally shared reference frameworks for sustainability in the educational environment. The existence and sharing of networks, rules, and guidelines to follow international practices shows the formation of an international regime of sustainability promoted by Science and Technology Institutes. The research develops and applies a practical-theoretical model of sustainability assessment for STIs that considers the concerns of said regime and combines GRI (Global Reporting Initiative), A3P (from Brazil), and ISCN (International Sustainable Campus Network) guidelines metrics in the construction of a model. In this sense, the following specific objectives were selected to verify conceptual and historical trajectory related to sustainability, to understand the emergence of SDG, with special attention to the Theory of International Regimes and the Constructivist Approach, to combine the guidelines into a single sustainability assessment model (ISAS/STI), and to analyze how sustainability is promoted internationally by Science and Technology Institutes. The methodology, regarding the objectives, is considered descriptive and exploratory. As far as technical procedures are concerned, bibliographic research and multisite study are adopted. Regarding the qualitative-quantitative approach to the problem. The methodological trajectory follows in three phases: theoretical framework and conceptualism approaches; proposition of a practical-theoretical model of sustainability assessment (ISAS/STI) structured in the questionnaire format. With the research it is possible to evidence the formation of an international sustainability regime promoted by Science and Technology Institutes (STIs) in line with ODS, especially related to axis 17 (Partnerships), what is the effective participation of STIs in this regime, and, finally, it is possible to achieve a quali-quanti system organized in questions for the evaluation of sustainability in STIs that can be used in different entities of the educational sector.