Abstract
Increasingly, higher education institutions (HEIs) are seeking to assess and report on their sustainability performance. One of the more widely known assessment tools is STARS (Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System). Developed in 2007, STARS has been criticised because of its pressuring characteristic i.e. it has been designed to support external performance reporting. The LiFE (Learning in Future Environments) index is a non-committal assessment tool that allows HEIs to monitor their progress in supporting and embedding sustainability without the need to reveal their performance externally. LiFE has been adopted by members of the Environmental Association of Universities and Colleges (EAUC) and Australasian Campuses Towards Sustainability (ACTS). This paper presents findings from a study of James Cook University’s experiences with LiFE since 2013. Scores suggest JCU has had an inconsistent response to sustainability over the last five years. The paper describes and discusses some of the factors that have influenced JCU’s scores and highlights some of the factors that emerged to support or interfere with the University’s sustainability aspirations. The paper will be of interest to any HEI using or considering using the LiFE index or anyone who is interested or involved with embedding sustainability in HEIs.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
AASHE (2017) STARS technical manual version 2.1, July 2017. Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. http://www.aashe.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/STARS-2.1-Technical-Manual-Administrative-Update-Three.pdf. Accessed 28 Aug 2018
AASHE (2018) Why participate in STARS?. Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. https://stars.aashe.org/pages/about/why-participate.html. Accessed 24 Sept 2018
ACTS (2014) Learning in future environments: about LiFE. Australian Campuses Towards Sustainability. https://life.acts.asn.au/about-LiFE/. Accessed 30 Aug 2018
ACTS (2017) Learning in future environments. Australian Campuses Towards Sustainability. https://www.acts.asn.au/learning-in-future-environments-life/. Accessed 30 Aug 2018
Berks F (2009) Evolution of co-management: role of knowledge generation, bridging organizations and social learning. J Environ Manag 90(5):1692–1702
Berzosa A, Bernaldo MO, Fernandez-Sanchez G (2017) Sustainability assessment tools for higher education: an empirical comparative analysis. J Clean Prod 161:812–820
Boyle C (2004) Considerations on educating engineers in sustainability. Int J Sustain High Educ 5(2):147–155
Cavagnaro E, Curiel G (2012) The three levels of sustainability. Greenleaf Publishing Ltd, Sheffield, UK, 186 pp
Cole L (2003) Assessing sustainability on Canadian university campuses: development of a campus sustainability assessment framework. MA thesis, Environment and Management, Royal Roads University, Canada
Ceulemans K, Molderez I, Van Liedekerke L (2015) Sustainability reporting in higher education: a comprehensive review of the recent literature and paths for further research. J Clean Prod 106:127–143
EAUC (2018) The platform for sustainability performance in education: AISHE. Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges. http://www.eauc.org.uk/theplatform/aishe. Accessed 28 Aug 2018
Fonseca A, Macdonald A, Dandy E, Valenti P (2011) The state of sustainability reporting at Canadian universities. Int J High Educ 12(1):22–40
Galbraith K. (2009) Environmental studies enrollment soars. The New York Times, 24 Feb 2009. https://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/24/environmental-studies-enrollments-soar/. Accessed 28 Aug 2018
Gridsted T (2011) Sustainable universities—from declarations on sustainability in higher education to national law. Environ Econ 2(2):29–36
Hewlett SA, Sherbin L, Sumberg K (2009) How generation Y and boomers will reshape your agenda. Harv Bus Rev 87(7/8):76–84
Hodkinson P, Hodkinson H (2001) The strengths and limitations of case study research. Paper presented to the learning and skills development agency conference making an impact on policy and practice, Cambridge, 5–7 Dec 2001
Hoover E, Harder MK (2015) What lies beneath the surface? The hidden complexities of organizational change for sustainability in higher education. J Clean Prod 106:175–188
Huber S, Bassen A (2018) Towards a sustainability reporting guideline in higher education. Int J Sustain High Educ 19(2):218–232
JCU (2018a) The state of the tropics project. James Cook University. https://www.jcu.edu.au/tropeco-sustainability-in-action/sustainability-champions. Accessed 18 Sept 2018
JCU (2018b) Sustainable office accreditation. James Cook University. https://www.jcu.edu.au/state-of-the-tropics/project. Accessed 12 Sept 2018
Leal Filho W (2000) Dealing with misconceptions on the concept of sustainability. J Sustain High Educ 1(1):9–19
Legget J (2009) Measuring what we treasure or treasuring what we measure? Investigating where community stakeholders locate the value in their museums. Mus Manag Curatorsh 24(3):213–232
Lopatta K, Jaeschke R (2014) Sustainability reporting at German and Austrian universities. Int J Educ Econ Dev 5(1):66–90
Lozano R (2006) A tool for the graphical assessment of sustainability at universities. J Clean Prod 14(9/11):963–972
Lukman R, Glavic P (2007) What are the key elements of a sustainable university? Clean Technol Environ Policy 9(2):103–114
Macgregor CJ (2015) James Cook University’s holistic response to the sustainable development challenge. In: Leal Filho W (ed) Transformative approaches to sustainable development at universities. World sustainability series. Springer, Switzerland, 25 pp
SDSN (2018) University commitment to the sustainable development goals. Sustainable Development Solutions Network. http://ap-unsdsn.org/regional-initiatives/universities-sdgs/university-commitment/. Accessed 19 Sept 2018
Sepasi S, Rahdari A, Rexhepi G (2017) Developing a sustainability reporting assessment tool for higher education institutions: The University of California. Sustain Dev 1–11
Stephens JC, Hernandez ME, Roman M, Graham AC, Scholz RW (2008) Higher education as a change agent for sustainability indifferent cultures and contexts. Int J Sustain High Educ 9(3):317–338
Thomas I (2004) Sustainability in tertiary curricula: what is stopping it happening? Int J Sustain High Educ 5(1):33–47
ULSF (2018) Talloires declaration signatories list. University Leaders for a Sustainable Future. http://ulsf.org/talloires-declaration/. Accessed 21 Aug 2018
Vladimirova K, Le Blanc D (2016) Exploring links between education and sustainable development goals through the lens of UN flagship reports. Sustain Dev 24(4):254–271
Wyness L, Sterling S (2015) Reviewing the incidence and status of sustainability in degree programmes at Plymouth University. Int J Sustain High Educ 16(2):237–250
Yin RK (2012) Applications of case study research, 3rd edn. Sage Publications Inc., USA, 49 pp
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Macgregor, C.J., Connell, A., O’Conor, K., Sagar, M. (2019). Using the Learning in Future Environments (LiFE) Index to Assess James Cook University’s Progress in Supporting and Embedding Sustainability. In: Leal Filho, W., Bardi, U. (eds) Sustainability on University Campuses: Learning, Skills Building and Best Practices. World Sustainability Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15864-4_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15864-4_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-15863-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-15864-4
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)