Sustainability at Universities: Degrees of Institutionalization for Sustainability at German Higher Education Institutions—A Categorization Pattern

Abstract

Fostering sustainability at universities, and especially its institutional implementation has increased worldwide in recent years due to the global challenges that come along with climate change, the growing consumption of natural resources, and the transformation of science as well as educational systems. In Germany, different approaches of implementing the notion of sustainability at higher education institutions (HEIs) can be observed: Some HEIs focus on topics of sustainability in their curricula and study programs and conduct corresponding research projects, others relate to sustainability as an overall governance concept and define their organizational profiles accordingly. Some HEIs use a systematic Whole Institution Approach to implement Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) while some others have redesigned single parts of their institutional structures, e.g. to reduce their universities’ ecological footprint. How can the various activities for sustainability at HEIs be typologized and evaluated? Based on a screening of sustainability reports and websites of German HEIs, this paper will identify four different degrees of sustainability-institutionalization in order to offer a categorization pattern that can be used for a rough estimation as well as a self-assessment-tool. This paper also specifies related prototypical examples to showcase various approaches to institutionalize sustainability at German HEIs. Limitations and further research perspectives are discussed. Additional questions that may be considered in order to enhance HEI’s internal sustainability actions are posed.