Kim Ceulemans

Integration of sustainable development in higher education's curricula of applied economics: Large-scale assessments, integration strategies and barriers

The attention for sustainable development (SD) is ever growing (Van Poeck, Vandenabeele, & Bruyninckx, 2009). Although the importance of SD integration in higher education (HE), both on strategic and operational level, is often stressed, actual measurements of this integration are less frequent. Therefore, a large scale assessment was set up to assess SD integration within 33 professionally and academically oriented programs of applied economics in a total of 22 Flemish HE institutions. The integration of SD in applied economics programs is crucial for society, among others because business students are our future managers (Ceulemans & De Prins, 2010). The interrelations between different SD integration strategies and the barriers to them were also studied in this research, leading us to a new concept, where two different dimensions of SD integration are combined. From the research we can conclude that an SD integration approach that combines horizontal and vertical integration with bottom-up and top-down seems to be the most beneficial for sustained SD integration efforts.

Sustainability Assessment in Higher Education: Evaluating the use of the Auditing Instrument for Sustainability in Higher Education (AISHE) in Belgium

Assessing the integration of sustainability in higher education can be a powerful lever for organisational change in higher education institutions. When comparing the available tools and instruments for assessment of sustainability in higher education, the Auditing Instrument for Sustainability in Higher Education (AISHE) has proven to be a reliable tool, providing a qualitative approach to sustainability assessment. This article presents the AISHE tool and discusses its use in two higher education institutions in Belgium. Included in this work is an analysis of the audits in several study programs, and an independent evaluation of the instrument based on literature and Belgian good practices. The experiences of the Belgian institutions with sustainability assessment tools can motivate other higher education institutions around the world to start up sustainability assessment in their institution.

Sustainability reporting in public sector organisations: Exploring the relation between the reporting process and organisational change management for sustainability

Sustainability Reporting has become a key element in different organisations. Although there have been a number of academic publications discussing the adoption of sustainability reports in the public sector, their numbers have been quite low when compared to those focussing on corporate reports. Additionally, there has been little research on the link between sustainability reporting in Public Sector Organisations (PSOs) and Organisational Change Management for Sustainability (OCMS). This paper focuses on the contribution of sustainability reporting to OCMS. A survey was sent to all PSOs that have published at least one sustainability report based on the GRI guidelines. The study provides a critical analysis of the relation between sustainability reporting and OCMS in PSOs, including the drivers for reporting, the impacts on organisation change management, and the role of stakeholders in the process. Despite still lagging in sustainability reporting journey, PSOs are starting to use sustainability reporting as a communication tool, and this could drive organisational changes for sustainability.

Pioneering in Sustainability Reporting in Higher Education: Experiences of a Belgian Business Faculty

Sustainability reporting is increasingly perceived as a valuable tool for organizations to communicate and engage with stakeholders on their sustainability activities and performance. While sustainability reporting is mainly a corporate activity, over the last 10 years some pioneering higher education institutions have started engaging in this process. Yet, until today, the higher education sector is still lacking in-depth guidance on how to organize the sustainability reporting process in complex organizations such as higher education institutions. This paper addresses this gap by describing and analyzing the sustainability reporting process in the preparation of four consecutive sustainability reports (2010–2014) for a Belgian university, led by the business faculty’s sustainability office. The study is aimed at broadening the knowledge on the topic of sustainability reporting in higher education institutions, by unfolding elements of the process and some of its main challenges and opportunities through the use of action research. The paper describes (1) how the Global Reporting Initiative’s Sustainability Guidelines were used; (2) how the data collection and analysis were organized; (3) which types of stakeholder engagement took place within the sustainability reporting process; and (4) how students were involved in the reporting process. Afterward, these different elements are reflected upon and the main challenges of the process are identified, such as the organizational structure of higher education institutions linked to the data collection process and the absence of suitable indicators to report on higher education’s core impacts on society. Moreover, the paper specifically highlights the opportunities for higher education institutions and business faculties to engage in this process, including the use of sustainability reporting as an educational tool and the link with accreditation activities.