Sustainable Assessment Tools for Higher Education Institutions: Developing Two-Hierarchy Tools for China

Sustainable Assessment Tools for Higher Education Institutions: Developing Two-Hierarchy Tools for China

Du, Yawei Du (Chinese Academy of Sciences)
Ye, Qing (Hebei University of Technology)
Liu, Hongjiang (Tianjin University)
Wu, Yuting (Tianjin University)
Wang, F. (TU Delft Network Architectures and Services)

2023

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) play an increasingly significant role in the practice of sustainability. For HEIs in their early stages of sustainability, they are still in need of sustainable assessment tools (SATs) that are suitable for their local context and also lead international sustainable development. The purpose of this paper is to develop a two-hierarchy sustainability assessment tool (THSus) for Chinese higher education institutions, including a quick analysis tool (QAT) and an in-depth benchmarking tool (IBT). The QAT provided a general overview of campus sustainability for HEIs to initiate initial actions and screen cases for the IBT. The IBT then provides more targeted analysis to plan long-term strategic changes. Based on the analysis of HEI cases, a 34-person Chinese research team was enlisted to discuss and select characteristics to formulate THSus. Indicators and weightings were developed according to the tool’s purpose and applied to 15 cases to test its effectiveness. Results showed that THSus is suitable for systematically analyzing campus issues, particularly in research areas. It offers a regional solution for Chinese campuses that is adaptable and considers the comprehensive core of sustainability.

campus sustainability
green campuses
higher education institution
sustainable assessment tools
two-hierarchy tools

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:afcc74cd-ab52-403b-af02-c6315dcefed4

https://doi.org/10.3390/su151511551

2071-1050

Sustainability, 15 (15)

Institutional Repository

journal article

© 2023 Yawei Du Du, Qing Ye, Hongjiang Liu, Yuting Wu, F. Wang