The Bloomsbury Handbook of Sustainability in Higher Education: An Agenda for Transformational Change

This Handbook illustrates that universities per se and higher education in general are essential to catalyze and action the transformative change needed for sustainability and delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals. Part One shows how sustainability can be adopted as a driver of change within higher education institutions (HEIs), as they react and respond to influencing factors outside the academy. Part Two examines how a university working with and for sustainability can influence, effect and amplify change beyond the institution, working with and through others.

International contributors explore regional, national and international perspectives, presenting a variety of critically assessed accounts case studies that reflect different local and national contexts, institutional archetypes and academic missions. Frameworks of sustainability-led transformation are illustrated at the level of the institution (executive/administrative), organization, culture, place-based (anchor) and student in various countries including Aruba, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, Lebanon, Nepal, New Zealand, Nigeria, South Africa, Spain, Uganda, United Kingdom and the United States of America.

The book concludes with a manifesto for change and a call to action. It identifies that the sustainability journey of a HEI is influenced by context and place, with mission, leadership and strategy playing a vital role and change agency by students a key ingredient. Recognizing the patience and resolve to effect change, communication, dialogue and inclusion were central to community building and partnership.

Wendy Purcell is an Academic Research Scholar at Harvard University, USA. She is an Emeritus Professor and was President Vice-Chancellor of Plymouth University, UK. Wendy is a Council Member of the United Nations University, on the Governing Board of EELISA European University and a Fellow of EAUC: The Alliance for Sustainability Education and Chair of its Leadership Academy. Wendy is a strategic advisor to a range of global universities, companies, and charitable organizations.

Janet Haddock-Fraser is Emeritus Professor of Sustainability and Leadership at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. She was Chair of Trustees for the EAUC: The Alliance for Sustainability Leadership in Education between 2016-2020 and is a Board Member for both the Land Trust and the Peak District National Park Authority, UK.