Integrating Sustainability into Quality Assessment for Higher Education Institutions

Abstract

There is a significant discrepancy between initiatives aimed at sustainable development and practical advances that meet environmental and social demands. It is essential to prioritize actions that promote concrete changes in human behavior, with the university environment being a space especially conducive to such transformations. Based on this finding, the main objective of this research is to identify key elements for sustainability that should be incorporated into the instruments for assessing the quality of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Two complementary methods were used to achieve this objective: literature review and document analysis. The main result of the research is the presentation of a list of 18 key elements that should be integrated into the evaluation instruments of HEIs, enabling an evaluation based on indicators capable of measuring the incorporation of sustainability in the teaching, research, outreach, and operational activities of these institutions. As a secondary result, it was found that the approach to sustainability in the higher education evaluation instruments used in Brazil is limited, requiring modifications that allow the evaluation process to promote, in the long term, a more proactive role of HEIs in the training and awareness of students regarding sustainability.