Assessment Tools and Performance
Indicators for HEI Environmental
and Sustainable Development Education
Andressa Schlickmann, Edson Pinheiro de Lima,
and Sandro César Bortoluzzi
1 Introduction
Underlying the inspiring objective of the United Nations Decade of Education for
Sustainable Development (2005–2014) to promote education as the basis for a more
sustainable human society is the recognition that the world cannot achieve sustainability without a broad education on sustainability (Koehn and Uitto 2014). This
importance, confirmed at Rio + 20, which established a second United Nations
Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2015–2024) and positioned
education, and particularly universities, as a key factor in achieving sustainable
development (Trencher et al. 2016).
While the letters and policy statements on sustainability in higher education
contain important guidelines for education, none of them offer concrete operationallevel prescriptions for what higher education must do exactly to make the most of
sustainable development (Roorda 2000). Thus, the implementation of sustainability
in higher education has brought sustainability assessment to the research agenda of
education for sustainable development and science of sustainability (Disterheft et al.
2016).
Sustainability indicators and assessment tools have been highlighted as priorities
for the sector. Universities need to understand if they are effectively contributing to
A. Schlickmann (B) · E. P. de Lima · S. C. Bortoluzzi
Programa de Pós-Graduação Em Engenharia de Produção e Sistemas (PPGEPS), Universidade
Tecnológica Federal do Paraná (UTFPR), Via do Conhecimento, Km 1 CEP, Pato Branco, PR
85503-390, Brasil
e-mail: setac.andressa@gmail.com
E. P. de Lima
e-mail: pinheiro@utfpr.edu.br
S. C. Bortoluzzi
e-mail: sandro@utfpr.edu.br
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
W. Leal Filho et al. (eds.), Integrating Social Responsibility and Sustainable Development,
World Sustainability Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59975-1_31
463
Indicators for HEI Environmental
and Sustainable Development Education
Andressa Schlickmann, Edson Pinheiro de Lima,
and Sandro César Bortoluzzi
1 Introduction
Underlying the inspiring objective of the United Nations Decade of Education for
Sustainable Development (2005–2014) to promote education as the basis for a more
sustainable human society is the recognition that the world cannot achieve sustainability without a broad education on sustainability (Koehn and Uitto 2014). This
importance, confirmed at Rio + 20, which established a second United Nations
Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2015–2024) and positioned
education, and particularly universities, as a key factor in achieving sustainable
development (Trencher et al. 2016).
While the letters and policy statements on sustainability in higher education
contain important guidelines for education, none of them offer concrete operationallevel prescriptions for what higher education must do exactly to make the most of
sustainable development (Roorda 2000). Thus, the implementation of sustainability
in higher education has brought sustainability assessment to the research agenda of
education for sustainable development and science of sustainability (Disterheft et al.
2016).
Sustainability indicators and assessment tools have been highlighted as priorities
for the sector. Universities need to understand if they are effectively contributing to
A. Schlickmann (B) · E. P. de Lima · S. C. Bortoluzzi
Programa de Pós-Graduação Em Engenharia de Produção e Sistemas (PPGEPS), Universidade
Tecnológica Federal do Paraná (UTFPR), Via do Conhecimento, Km 1 CEP, Pato Branco, PR
85503-390, Brasil
e-mail: setac.andressa@gmail.com
E. P. de Lima
e-mail: pinheiro@utfpr.edu.br
S. C. Bortoluzzi
e-mail: sandro@utfpr.edu.br
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
W. Leal Filho et al. (eds.), Integrating Social Responsibility and Sustainable Development,
World Sustainability Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59975-1_31
463