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Higher Education Institutions as Transformative Agents for a Sustainable Society

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Book cover Chancen und Grenzen der Nachhaltigkeitstransformation

Zusammenfassung

Higher education institutions (HEIs) are transformative societal agents that can contribute decisively to the development of sustainable societies. A variety of global initiatives, such as the United Nation’s (UN) Higher Education and Research for Sustainable Development (HESD), already recognize the important role HEIs can play in this transformation and aim to embed sustainable development (SD) as an integral part of HEIs. Decision- makers in HEIs acknowledge these initiatives and make use of the provided guidelines or frameworks. So far, a variety of HEIs have adopted such measures. However, due to disciplinary boundaries and a traditional orientation, they tend to integrate SD only partially instead of systematically throughout the entire institution. This chapter describes the requirements for overcoming these barriers and for making SD an integral part of an HEI in a way that it can guide the transformation into a sustainable society. It also highlights the necessity of transdisciplinarity in research and education, as well as discusses the potential of impact orientation in sustainability assessment and reporting to support transdisciplinary approaches.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    These steps cannot be interpreted in terms of a hierarchy. Transdisciplinary approaches do not supersede disciplinary or inter-disciplinary approaches (Lang et al. 2012, p. 40). All approaches have their advantages and can be seen as complementary instead of contradictory (Godemann et al. 2014, p. 228).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Managing Sustainability, Wirtschaftschaftsuniversität Wien, Wien, Österreich

    Florian Findler, Norma Schönherr & André Martinuzzi

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  1. Florian Findler
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  2. Norma Schönherr
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  3. André Martinuzzi
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Correspondence to Florian Findler .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien, Wien, Austria

    Fred Luks

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Findler, F., Schönherr, N., Martinuzzi, A. (2019). Higher Education Institutions as Transformative Agents for a Sustainable Society. In: Luks, F. (eds) Chancen und Grenzen der Nachhaltigkeitstransformation . Springer Gabler, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-22438-7_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-22438-7_6

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  • Publisher Name: Springer Gabler, Wiesbaden

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-658-22437-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-658-22438-7

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