Nurturing the Seeds of Sustainability Governance …
155
administration should prioritize transparency, honesty and competence to seek good
operational results focused on sustainability.
One of the reasons for the recognition of case study as a research method is
that researchers were becoming more concerned about the limitations of quantitative
methods in providing holistic and in-depth explanations of the social problems in
question. Through case study methods, a researcher is able to go beyond quantitative statistical results and understand the behavioural conditions through the actor’s
perspective (Yin 2009).
Within this context, this chapter presents the case study of a Brazilian Higher
Education Institution, Cefet/RJ, and discusses its relevance as an inducer of changes
for the establishment of a new sustainability model incorporated in the dimensions
of research, teaching and extension.
In methodological terms, “a research investigates the world in which man lives”
(Chizzotti 2006, p. 11), but in order to be robust in its trajectory and in its approach to
its object of study, methodological procedures are required. Considering the objectives, this is an exploratory research, which aims to provide a wider range of information about the phenomenon studied (Carrancho 2005). For its procedures, after a
literature review, this investigation analyzes the case study of Celso Suckow Federal
Center of Technological Education of Fonseca (Cefet/RJ), a Brazilian public Higher
Education Institution (Gil 2012).
Cefet/RJ is a relevant case in the Brazilian context, as in January 2018, it has joined
‘A3P’—the Environmental Agenda in Public Administration (Brasil 2018)—and created its Institutional Environmental Sustainability Committee. This committee is an
advisory collegiate body composed by 25 employees, collaborating with the Environmental Sustainability Institutional Strategy Division (DISAI) for the development
of institutional environmental policies and actions of Cefet/RJ, promoting the awareness of an anti-waste culture and the coherent use of environmental resources and
public goods.
2 Sustainability in Higher Education
Higher Education Institutions (HEI) have a relevant role in the dissemination of
sustainability, especially when incorporating environmental values and practices,
both in the disciplines taught and in the administration of their physical structures
(Feres and Antunes 2007). How students learn to think about sustainability will
influence their actions as local and global citizens (Moore 2005).
Increasingly, higher education institutions are driven to play a leading role in
Education for sustainability:
• High concentration of critical mass, creativity and technological potential that can
be channeled into environmental innovations. The main asset present at universities
is knowledge, and its organization is focused on the production, transmission and
diffusion of it.
155
administration should prioritize transparency, honesty and competence to seek good
operational results focused on sustainability.
One of the reasons for the recognition of case study as a research method is
that researchers were becoming more concerned about the limitations of quantitative
methods in providing holistic and in-depth explanations of the social problems in
question. Through case study methods, a researcher is able to go beyond quantitative statistical results and understand the behavioural conditions through the actor’s
perspective (Yin 2009).
Within this context, this chapter presents the case study of a Brazilian Higher
Education Institution, Cefet/RJ, and discusses its relevance as an inducer of changes
for the establishment of a new sustainability model incorporated in the dimensions
of research, teaching and extension.
In methodological terms, “a research investigates the world in which man lives”
(Chizzotti 2006, p. 11), but in order to be robust in its trajectory and in its approach to
its object of study, methodological procedures are required. Considering the objectives, this is an exploratory research, which aims to provide a wider range of information about the phenomenon studied (Carrancho 2005). For its procedures, after a
literature review, this investigation analyzes the case study of Celso Suckow Federal
Center of Technological Education of Fonseca (Cefet/RJ), a Brazilian public Higher
Education Institution (Gil 2012).
Cefet/RJ is a relevant case in the Brazilian context, as in January 2018, it has joined
‘A3P’—the Environmental Agenda in Public Administration (Brasil 2018)—and created its Institutional Environmental Sustainability Committee. This committee is an
advisory collegiate body composed by 25 employees, collaborating with the Environmental Sustainability Institutional Strategy Division (DISAI) for the development
of institutional environmental policies and actions of Cefet/RJ, promoting the awareness of an anti-waste culture and the coherent use of environmental resources and
public goods.
2 Sustainability in Higher Education
Higher Education Institutions (HEI) have a relevant role in the dissemination of
sustainability, especially when incorporating environmental values and practices,
both in the disciplines taught and in the administration of their physical structures
(Feres and Antunes 2007). How students learn to think about sustainability will
influence their actions as local and global citizens (Moore 2005).
Increasingly, higher education institutions are driven to play a leading role in
Education for sustainability:
• High concentration of critical mass, creativity and technological potential that can
be channeled into environmental innovations. The main asset present at universities
is knowledge, and its organization is focused on the production, transmission and
diffusion of it.