IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i4p1955-d497826.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

University Teachers’ Conceptions of the University and the Place of Sustainability

Author

Listed:
  • Elisa Chaleta

    (Department of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, University of Évora, 7000-803 Évora, Portugal
    CIEP—Center for Research in Education and Psychology, University of Évora, 7000-803 Évora, Portugal)

  • Margarida Saraiva

    (Management Department, School of Social Sciences, University of Évora, 7000-803 Évora, Portugal
    BRU-UNIDE/ISCTE-IUL, 1649-026 Lisboa, Portugal)

  • Luís Sebastião

    (CIEP—Center for Research in Education and Psychology, University of Évora, 7000-803 Évora, Portugal
    Department of Pedagogy and Education, School of Social Sciences, University of Évora, 7000-803 Évora, Portugal)

  • Marília Cid

    (CIEP—Center for Research in Education and Psychology, University of Évora, 7000-803 Évora, Portugal
    Department of Pedagogy and Education, School of Social Sciences, University of Évora, 7000-803 Évora, Portugal)

  • António M. Diniz

    (Department of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, University of Évora, 7000-803 Évora, Portugal
    CIEP—Center for Research in Education and Psychology, University of Évora, 7000-803 Évora, Portugal)

  • Fátima Leal

    (CIEP—Center for Research in Education and Psychology, University of Évora, 7000-803 Évora, Portugal)

  • Paulo Quaresma

    (Department of Informatics, School of School of Sciences and Technology, University of Évora, 7000-803 Évora, Portugal
    NOVALINCS—NOVA Laboratory for Computer Science and Informatics, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal)

  • Luís Rato

    (Department of Informatics, School of School of Sciences and Technology, University of Évora, 7000-803 Évora, Portugal
    CIMA—Center for Research in Mathematics and Applications, Universidade of Évora, 7000-803 Évora, Portugal)

Abstract

In this phenomenographic qualitative research, the aim is to learn about the conceptions of university professors about the university. The study was carried out with 20 university professors: 10 from the School of Social Sciences and 10 from the School of Science and Technology of University of Évora with an average age of 54 years and over 20 years of professional activity. The data were collected through open questionnaires and then submitted to thematic and categorical content analysis. The conceptions of the university appear, in the voice of the teachers, centered on two main aspects. The first and more mentioned concerns the conception of the university as a space of production and diffusion of scientific knowledge, which refers to quality factors of higher education. The second brings out the conception of the university as a space of relationship with society together with underlying concerns for human development, cooperation, and the design of a more sustainable world.

Suggested Citation

  • Elisa Chaleta & Margarida Saraiva & Luís Sebastião & Marília Cid & António M. Diniz & Fátima Leal & Paulo Quaresma & Luís Rato, 2021. "University Teachers’ Conceptions of the University and the Place of Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-10, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:4:p:1955-:d:497826
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/4/1955/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/4/1955/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Thomas P. Seager, 2008. "The sustainability spectrum and the sciences of sustainability," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(7), pages 444-453, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Eliana Villa-Enciso & Walter Ruiz-Castañeda & Jorge Robledo Velásquez, 2023. "Agent-Based Model to Analyze the Role of the University in Reducing Social Exclusion," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-29, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. J. Park & T. P. Seager & P. S. C. Rao & M. Convertino & I. Linkov, 2013. "Integrating Risk and Resilience Approaches to Catastrophe Management in Engineering Systems," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 33(3), pages 356-367, March.
    2. Ozgur Isil & Michael T. Hernke, 2017. "The Triple Bottom Line: A Critical Review from a Transdisciplinary Perspective," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(8), pages 1235-1251, December.
    3. Elisa Chaleta & Margarida Saraiva & Fátima Leal & Isabel Fialho & António Borralho, 2021. "Higher Education and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)—Potential Contribution of the Undergraduate Courses of the School of Social Sciences of the University of Évora," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-10, February.
    4. Anette Hallin & Tina Karrbom‐Gustavsson & Peter Dobers, 2021. "Transition towards and of sustainability—Understanding sustainability as performative," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 1948-1957, May.
    5. Derk Loorbach & Janneke C. van Bakel & Gail Whiteman & Jan Rotmans, 2010. "Business strategies for transitions towards sustainable systems," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(2), pages 133-146, February.
    6. Amer Ait Sidhoum & K Hervé Dakpo & Laure Latruffe, 2022. "Trade-offs between economic, environmental and social sustainability on farms using a latent class frontier efficiency model: Evidence for Spanish crop farms," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(1), pages 1-17, January.
    7. Marko Keskinen & Suvi Sojamo & Olli Varis, 2019. "Enhancing Security, Sustainability and Resilience in Energy, Food and Water," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(24), pages 1-8, December.
    8. Susan T. Jackson, 2021. "Risking Sustainability: Political Risk Culture as Inhibiting Ecology-Centered Sustainability," Risks, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-15, October.
    9. Michael D. Gerst & Melissa A. Kenney & Brett E. Howard & Robert J. Giraud, 2020. "A decision‐analytic approach to screening in chemical alternatives assessment," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 1597-1604, March.
    10. Yeowon Kim & Daniel A. Eisenberg & Emily N. Bondank & Mikhail V. Chester & Giuseppe Mascaro & B. Shane Underwood, 2017. "Fail-safe and safe-to-fail adaptation: decision-making for urban flooding under climate change," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 145(3), pages 397-412, December.
    11. Paul Shrivastava & Silvester Ivanaj & Sybil Persson, 2013. "Transdisciplinary Study of Sustainable Enterprise," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(4), pages 230-244, May.
    12. Gail Whiteman & D. René de Vos & F. Stuart Chapin & Vesa Yli‐Pelkonen & Jari Niemelä & Bruce C. Forbes, 2011. "Business strategies and the transition to low‐carbon cities," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(4), pages 251-265, May.
    13. Thomas P. Seager & Zachary A. Collier & Igor Linkov & James H. Lambert, 2013. "Environmental sustainability, complex systems, and the disruptive imagination," Environment Systems and Decisions, Springer, vol. 33(2), pages 181-183, June.
    14. Steven Cooke & Jesse Vermaire, 2015. "Environmental studies and environmental science today: inevitable mission creep and integration in action-oriented transdisciplinary areas of inquiry, training and practice," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 5(1), pages 70-78, March.
    15. Jan Vespermann & Andreas Wittmer, 2011. "Financial, ecological and managerial impacts of emission trading schemes: the case of Lufthansa," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(3), pages 174-191, March.
    16. Therese Fagerlind & Martin Stefanicki & Andreas Feldmann & Jouni Korhonen, 2019. "The Distribution of Sustainable Decision-Making in Multinational Manufacturing Enterprises," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-17, September.
    17. Giovanna Andrea Pinilla‐De La Cruz & Rodrigo Rabetino & Jussi Kantola, 2022. "Unveiling the shades of partnerships for the energy transition and sustainable development: Connecting public–private partnerships and emerging hybrid schemes," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(5), pages 1370-1386, October.
    18. Jiarong Xie, 2023. "Identifying and Ranking the Dimensions of Urban Resilience and Its Effect on Sustainable Urban Development in Tongdejie, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-16, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:4:p:1955-:d:497826. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.