A 5 pillars approach to the sustainable development goals performance and reporting in Portuguese higher education institutions. Proposal for an applied framework

Bibliographic Data

ID21720653
AuthorsSónia Monteiro (0000-0003-3835-2637, Polytechnic Institute of Cávado and Ave), Verônica Ribeiro (0000-0002-9653-4116, Polytechnic Institute of Cávado and Ave), Cristiana Molho (0000-0003-0537-9809, Polytechnic Institute of Cávado and Ave)
Year2024
Volume25
Issue1
Pages104-123
Publication date2024-01-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1467-6370 • E-ISSN: 1758-6739
PublisherEmerald (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1108/ijshe-02-2023-0047
OpenAlexW4384069398
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited40

Purpose The implementation and reporting of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) is one of the emerging challenges for higher education institutions (HEIs), but the lack of well-defined reporting structures and topics for this sector makes it difficult to map and evaluate HEI performance in relation to 2030 Agenda. This study aims to assess the SDG performance and reporting by the 13 HEIs that integrate the Times Higher Education Impact Ranking (THE_IR), from the perspective of the five pillars of the 2030 Agenda in the Portuguese context, where research on this topic is quite scarce. Design/methodology/approach Considering the THE_IR methodology, an SDG reporting assessment framework with 85 key topics has been developed to search for in the institutional reports of the 13 studied HEIs. For each topic, depending on the number of institutions that disclose it, a reporting index (RI) has been calculated, which was used to compare the level of reporting between the different SDGs and pillars. Findings Concerning HEIs’ SDG performance in the THE_IR, the People pillar was the one with the most HEIs ranked, followed by the Prosperity pillar. The Planet pillar was less highlighted. SDG reporting varied widely among Portuguese HEIs. The SDG RI presented a mean value of 43.1%. The Kruskal–Wallis test revealed that the RI for the Planet pillar (RI = 23.6%) was statistically and significantly lower than those for the People and Prosperity pillars (RI = 48.6% and 53.5%, respectively). The results thus demonstrated some conformity of the SDG reporting with Portuguese HEI performance in THE_IR. Aside from Goal 5, the SDGs 4 and 3 stood out in the first four positions of the HEIs in the THE_IR. Goals 3 and 4 were also the most disclosed in institutional reports. Originality/value This study proposed and applied a new SDG reporting assessment framework for HEIs, contributing to better evaluation of the inclusion of important SDG-related topics in their institutional reports

Geography · Higher education · Knowledge management · Pillar · Political science · Portuguese · Prosperity · Regional science · Sociology · Sustainability · Sustainable development · Computer Science · Engineering · Environmental Education and Sustainability · Higher Education and Sustainability · Sustainability in Higher Education

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