Sustainability survey shows need to engage (all) faculty

Engagement in sustainability among academics worldwide is being challenged by lack of strategic coordination in the higher education sector, too little training and a “critical need for tailored strategies” that target different profiles of academics in different ways, an international faculty survey has found.

Responses from 425 academics worldwide “emphasise a multifaceted approach, combining leadership endorsement, engagement through practical projects, early and continuous education, tailored and diverse training methods, and integration into university operations”.

The survey by the United Nations-linked, Paris-based non-profit Sulitest – the Sustainability Literacy Test – was released alongside the United Nations High Level Political Forum on sustainability, held in New York from 8 to 17 July. Sulitest is part of the UN Higher Education Sustainability Initiative, HESI.

Faculty Engagement in Sustainability: International survey identifying levers of actions and engagement strategies, is authored by Sulitest co-founder and managing director Aurelien Decamps, Sulitest co-founder Jean-Christophe Carteron, researcher Pauline Proboeuf, data scientist Alexander Brewer and content manager Gabriela de Carvalho Bezerra.

The study aims to contribute to the global effort to foster education for the Sustainable Development Goals. Its main objective is to understand how sustainability is being implemented in higher education and to identify obstacles. A secondary objective is to find examples of training levers, tools and successful engagement.

According to the survey: “True transformation requires embedding sustainability throughout entire programmes, not just in specific courses. This necessitates support from both higher education institution leadership and the entire faculty, ensuring faculty efforts are part of a cohesive strategy.”

Decamps told University World News: “Faculty is always a key stakeholder in higher education when you try to embed sustainability into the curriculum.

“We are convinced that universities should engage already-engaged activists. Deniers will always be against, so we don’t spend too much energy on them. But in between, how do we engage the majority of faculty who know sustainability is an issue but don’t really understand it or know how their core expertise is connected to sustainability?”

As a former business school professor, Decamps understands this obstacle very well: “Sustainability is by nature multidisciplinary. It’s going out of your expert zone and connecting your expertise to another topic that you have not necessarily mastered.”

Seven profiles of faculty and sustainability

Supporting faculty with practical tools and training to embed sustainability in curricula is crucial, but to do so, universities must understand that academics vary widely in their interest in, knowledge about and commitment to sustainability, the survey states.

For the past 15 years, Sulitest has observed different profiles of academics in terms of faculty engagement with sustainability. These academic profiles were developed further for the survey. They are:

The Sustainability Deniers who think the urgency of tackling sustainability is overstated, less pressing than portrayed, or too ideologically fraught.

The Orthodox Obstructionists who believe that what they have taught in the past remains just as relevant for the future.

The Well-intentioned, Yet Disconnected who may be aware of the challenges but are oblivious to the connections with the topics they teach.

The Aware, Yet Lost who may be aware of and troubled by sustainability issues but do not know how or where to start.

The Systemic Experts are highly qualified and experienced faculty in sustainability who grasp complex systems and offer interdisciplinary support.

The Topical Experts are recognised as experts in specific topical areas like climate change and provide valuable knowledge and training.

The New Enthusiasts are recently aware and dedicated to curricula reform, “bringing contagious enthusiasm and energy for others”.

The survey asked people for descriptions of training levers, tools and engagement strategies for each profile. A small cluster of engagement strategies for New Enthusiasts was identified, the survey states.

Respondents suggested leveraging their energy and enthusiasm “through targeted training and mentorship to drive systemic change”.

When asked about the presence of training mechanisms that could promote sustainability, “more than 20% of responses underscored the need for customising strategies and frameworks to suit diverse populations,” states the survey.

It found that Sustainability Deniers and Orthodox Obstructionists present “unique challenges, including deeply held beliefs, resistance to change, potential ideological clashes, and susceptibility to conspiracy theories and techno-solutionism.

“In contrast, the cluster of New Enthusiasts faces difficulties in maintaining motivation and focus, the risk of burnout, and the need for guidance to create sustainable change.”

The survey and its results

The Sulitest research targeted people in teaching and research from diverse disciplines, and some administrators. There were programme managers and sustainability officers, professors and instructional designers, coordinators and leaders involved in promoting sustainability reforms.

Thus, the survey results may not represent the broad academic population.

The 30-question survey was distributed between February and April 2024. There were 425 responses from 42 countries, with the highest numbers from Thailand, Georgia, France, the United States and the United Kingdom. Among the 425 responses, 250 were in institutions that participate in a sustainability ranking and 46 were in multiple rankings.

“Almost 70% of the respondents evaluate their institution’s progress in implementing faculty training on sustainability and providing support for faculty members as either being fully in place or partially in place.”

There were interesting lessons from the survey, Decamps told University World News.

For example, sustainability has become more of a topic. “A decade ago sustainability was a niche topic that most faculty were just ignoring. But they can’t ignore it anymore. As it becomes a core topic for higher education, you have more engagement from faculty, as well as sometimes encountering more resistance.”

“A second lesson is that there is a clear demand for training from faculty. They feel they need more resources and more training in order to be able to integrate sustainability in their courses, and to gain support in this,” said Decamps.

Many universities seem to have dropped the sustainability training ball, though Decamps stresses that responses differ between countries.

“But overall, there is a lack of training, and lack of specific training for specific profiles. This is normal, because it’s new as a topic. It’s easy to understand that sustainability is a crucial topic, but how do you implement it concretely in a university?” said Decamps.

“Universities don’t always know where to start. One interesting avenue is to leverage the activists already interested and make them sustainability trainers for their peers,” he added.

There remains some opposition to sustainability in higher education, possibly due to rising polarisation around sustainability issues, indicating a need for continued efforts to foster open dialogue and understanding within academic communities. Open-text responses revealed several themes regarding the nature of resistance. These, the survey states, are:

• Lack of interest or understanding: “Insufficient understanding, misconceptions, or narrow perspectives on sustinability and its importance.”

• Resistance to change and institutional barriers: “Concerns about the disruption caused by changes, fear of new challenges, and general apathy or inaction toward sustainability.”

• Time constraints and knowledge gaps: “Faculty members face challenges due to busy schedules, competing priorities and the need for training and support to enhance understanding of sustainability concepts and teaching methods.”

Academic respondents noted strong progression over the past 10 years in how often they observed other academics who were well qualified in sustainability topics and were “actively incorporating sustainability into their primary areas of expertise”.

Respondents shared “a diverse range of initiatives undertaken by well-qualified and actively engaged individuals to promote sustainability”, states the survey, such as sustainability hackathons, annual conferences on sustainable development, and forging sustainability partnerships with companies, local communities and other stakeholders.

“Over time, there has been a rise in awareness, yet a persistent gap in actionable knowledge and systemic support remains,” the survey states.

“There is a necessity for a holistic approach, combining leadership support, practical engagement, continuous education, and transdisciplinary integration to effectively advance sustainability in higher education,” the survey adds.

Recommendations and conclusions

The Sulitest report offers five recommendations for action around sustainability:

• Comprehensive, interdisciplinary training programmes with both theoretical and practical aspects should be implemented focused on sustainability education.

• Academics from across disciplines should be encouraged to work together on interdisciplinary sustainability research projects, joint teaching initiatives, and workshops.

• Open dialogue should be fostered to tackle resistance and polarisation, for instance via forums where concerns around sustainability may be expressed and perspectives shared.

• Success stories and case studies of sustainability initiatives that show the benefits and relevance of sustainability efforts should be shared, reducing resistance among sceptics.

• An overall weak clustering of responses suggested that the sustainability profiles should be refined, using data-driven approaches.

Institutions have begun establishing structures and tools to support integrating sustainability into curricula and research. “Yet, these efforts vary widely across institutions, highlighting a lack of strategic coordination in the higher education sector,” according to the survey.

“A critical gap identified is the need for tailored strategies to engage different profiles of stakeholders.”

While most efforts have focused on deniers or new enthusiasts, “there is a broad spectrum of individuals with varying degrees of interest and scepticism toward sustainability. Engaging these diverse groups requires a nuanced and strategic approach”, the survey notes.

Email Karen MacGregor: macgregor.karen@gmail.com.