Are Distance Higher Education Institutions Sustainable Enough? -- A Comparison between Two Distance Learning Universities

Autor/inn/en	Casado-Aranda, Luis-Alberto; Caeiro, Sandra Sofia; Trindade, Jorge; Paço, Arminda; Lizcano Casas, David; Landeta, Ana
Titel	Are Distance Higher Education Institutions Sustainable Enough? -- A Comparison between Two Distance Learning Universities
Quelle	In: International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 22 (2021) 4, S.709-730 (22 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1467-6370
DOI	10.1108/IJSHE-07-2020-0260
Schlagwörter	Distance Education; Open Universities; Public Colleges; Private Colleges; Sustainable Development; Institutional Evaluation; Benchmarking; Energy Conservation; Environmental Education; Foreign Countries; Spain (Madrid); Portugal (Lisbon) + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Distance study; Distance learning; Fernunterricht; Offene Universität; Privathochschule; Nachhaltige Entwicklung; Energieerhaltung; Energiespeicherung; Umweltbildung; Umwelterziehung; Umweltpädagogik; Ausland
Abstract	Purpose: Universities are continually transforming its structure and governance in response to the new social, environmental and economic challenges. Particularly, there has recently been a growing academic interest for measuring sustainable practices of higher education institutions (HEI) aiming to monitor and reduce their carbon emissions, as well as transform them into more sustainable organizations. More recent studies began to focus also on the sustainable performance of distance education Universities. So it became crucial to evaluate their sustainability practices through sustainability assessment tools with the aim of improving their sustainability performance and boosting their role as agents of academic, social and economic change. The purpose of this study is to assess and compare holistically sustainability implementation in two similar distance learning universities and to evaluate their advantages and disadvantages. Design/methodology/approach: One of the most rigorous and internationally used sustainability assessment tools was used -- the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System, to evaluate and compare sustainability implementation in two distance universities, one from Spain and another from Portugal: the Madrid Open University and Universidade Aberta. Indicators of both universities were compared and ways of improvement in both universities were widely discussed. Findings: The results of this research show that there is a similar pattern in both universities. Both have low performance in campus operations and low levels of community participation but good performance in sustainability courses and programmes offer. The results of both institutions were compared and allowed a learning process for improvement. Originality/value: This research hopes to contribute to the continuous research about the usefulness of sustainability assessment tools in particular when applied to distance universities at the time that offers new paths to carry out improved sustainable practices in crucial areas of interest such as research, administration, education and resource-saving. This research also highlights the value of distance learning universities and their ability to be more sustainable after the advent of COVID-19. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01