Assessment Tools and Performance Indicators …
473
et al. (2018) occurred in Portuguese HEIs and Drahein et al. (2019) developed the
SAHTE model in the context of Brazilian HEIs.
Finally, there are the practical studies that used sustainability reports as a data
source for the application of GRI or GASU tools. Lozano (2011) results show that
HEIs tend to focus on economic and environmental dimensions. The findings of
Fonseca et al. (2011) suggest that sustainability assessments emphasize ecoefficiency.
However, Bice and Coates (2016) found that specific social concerns of higher education, such as student involvement, local contributions, facilitation of the intellectual
climate and enrichment of cultural and community life are not captured by GRI.
Search Results for Sassen and Azizi (2018a, b) showed a clear focus on the
environmental dimension and very poor coverage of the social dimension. In the
United States, the results show that all 23 reports analyzed included information on
the environmental and university dimensions, information on the social dimension
was included in only 17 reports, and the economic dimension was covered by only
11 reports.
The University of California has a stronger performance in the environmental and
educational dimensions, while the social and governance dimensions are lagging
behind (Sepasi et al. 2018). A positive point among research on performance evaluation tools for HEIs involves the contributions that the papers suggest and are accepted
by other researchers. GRI, one of the most complete tools for assessing and relating
sustainability in companies, has been modified to include the educational dimension
and to meet the needs of HEIs. The indication of Glover et al. (2011) to consider the
influence of the number of course credits or the number of students enrolled in the
courses was the subject of a new version, STAUNCH 2010.
The indicators for the aspect of environmental education, extracted from the main
assessment tools, are listed in Fig. 8.
According to the structure proposed in Fig. 8, the main assessment tools add up
to 124 indicators for the aspect of environmental education. The major contribution
in terms of indicators was from the AISHE tool. The CSAF tool indicators were not
listed in the framework because the tool framework was not available for access.
5 Conclusion
This research aims to identify the main sustainability assessment tools in higher
education and to develop a framework of indicators for the aspect of environmental
education. With a descriptive character, qualitative approach and making use of
bibliographic research, the research used ProKnow-C as an intervention instrument
for BP selection.
The 58 articles that make up the PB emphasized the STARS and AISHE tools. The
main tools identified were: STARS, AISHE, GASU, GRI, CSAF, SAQ, STAUNCH,
Green Metric and USAT. All tools except CSAF were consulted and indicators for the
aspect of environmental education were collected to build the framework. The articles
were further classified, with the purpose of verifying among the theoretical studies,
473
et al. (2018) occurred in Portuguese HEIs and Drahein et al. (2019) developed the
SAHTE model in the context of Brazilian HEIs.
Finally, there are the practical studies that used sustainability reports as a data
source for the application of GRI or GASU tools. Lozano (2011) results show that
HEIs tend to focus on economic and environmental dimensions. The findings of
Fonseca et al. (2011) suggest that sustainability assessments emphasize ecoefficiency.
However, Bice and Coates (2016) found that specific social concerns of higher education, such as student involvement, local contributions, facilitation of the intellectual
climate and enrichment of cultural and community life are not captured by GRI.
Search Results for Sassen and Azizi (2018a, b) showed a clear focus on the
environmental dimension and very poor coverage of the social dimension. In the
United States, the results show that all 23 reports analyzed included information on
the environmental and university dimensions, information on the social dimension
was included in only 17 reports, and the economic dimension was covered by only
11 reports.
The University of California has a stronger performance in the environmental and
educational dimensions, while the social and governance dimensions are lagging
behind (Sepasi et al. 2018). A positive point among research on performance evaluation tools for HEIs involves the contributions that the papers suggest and are accepted
by other researchers. GRI, one of the most complete tools for assessing and relating
sustainability in companies, has been modified to include the educational dimension
and to meet the needs of HEIs. The indication of Glover et al. (2011) to consider the
influence of the number of course credits or the number of students enrolled in the
courses was the subject of a new version, STAUNCH 2010.
The indicators for the aspect of environmental education, extracted from the main
assessment tools, are listed in Fig. 8.
According to the structure proposed in Fig. 8, the main assessment tools add up
to 124 indicators for the aspect of environmental education. The major contribution
in terms of indicators was from the AISHE tool. The CSAF tool indicators were not
listed in the framework because the tool framework was not available for access.
5 Conclusion
This research aims to identify the main sustainability assessment tools in higher
education and to develop a framework of indicators for the aspect of environmental
education. With a descriptive character, qualitative approach and making use of
bibliographic research, the research used ProKnow-C as an intervention instrument
for BP selection.
The 58 articles that make up the PB emphasized the STARS and AISHE tools. The
main tools identified were: STARS, AISHE, GASU, GRI, CSAF, SAQ, STAUNCH,
Green Metric and USAT. All tools except CSAF were consulted and indicators for the
aspect of environmental education were collected to build the framework. The articles
were further classified, with the purpose of verifying among the theoretical studies,