Sustainability trends in higher education: An analysis of the International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education

Author

Jessica Poling, Western Michigan UniversityFollow

Date of Defense

4-23-2020

Date of Graduation

4-2020

Department

Global and International Studies

First Advisor

Thomas Kostrzewa

Second Advisor

Anita Li

Abstract

Since the onset of the Industrial Revolution, human activities have substantially harmed the biosphere and, if continued, pose a substantial risk to life on Earth. Recognizing this, educated people have advocated widespread adoption of sustainable practices and, in particular, have increased the amount of sustainability efforts associated with higher education. The International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, established in 2000, is devoted to such practices. For my honors thesis, I examined articles published in the journal from 2010 through 2019 to determine the countries, and the institutions within those countries, that were the primary contributors to the journal. Results indicate that first authors came from 332 institutions and 59 countries. Multi-authored articles were common and reflected similar diversity. These results show a relatively broad interest in sustainability in higher education, but there is certainly more work that needs to be done to expand these efforts. Most contributions came from the United States of America and Europe, however, and there was relatively little representation of Latin American, Asian, and former Soviet bloc countries. This finding is unfortunate yet understandable given that the journal is published in English.

Recommended Citation

Poling, Jessica, "Sustainability trends in higher education: An analysis of the International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education" (2020). Honors Theses. 3292.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/honors_theses/3292

Access Setting

Honors Thesis-Open Access