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September 2, 2026International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education

From participation to transformation: mapping collaborative pathways to sustainability in UK higher education

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Authors

EREmma Ransome

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Overview

Qualitative study reveals consultative rather than shared sustainability governance in UK universities, highlighting the need for formal co-creation to achieve institutional transformation.

Key Points

  • Examine how collaboration is operationalized within sustainability agendas across UK higher education institutions and identify the gap between policy rhetoric and institutional governance.
  • Applied critical discourse analysis to 8 institutional sustainability policy documents purposively sampled across diverse UK higher education institutions.
  • Conducted semi-structured interviews with university staff across various institutional missions and organizational structures.
  • Analyzed policy texts and interview data iteratively using thematic coding and constant comparison to construct the Collaboration Continuum framework.
  • Collaboration is largely confined to consultative, voluntary, or advisory levels rather than shared governance, leaving power and resource distribution largely unchanged.
  • Higher stages of sustainability integration occur when collaboration is formalized via co-governance, staff–student curriculum co-design, and cross-boundary living labs.
  • Institutional transition toward whole-institution sustainability requires formalizing relational labor, establishing shared authority, and resourcing cross-boundary coordination roles.

Cite This Study

Emma Ransome (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a97e29ec562ede874ec6d14https://doi.org/10.1108/ijshe-11-2025-1430
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Also Consider

Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context:

  1. 1The sustainability integration framework: a new model for embedding sustainability in UK universities2025
  2. 2Sustainability for the modern campus: curriculum, governance and community impact through systemic change in higher education2026 · 1 citations
  3. 3Institutionalising Sustainability in Higher Education: From Fragmented Initiatives to Embedded Strategic Capability2026 · 2 citations
  4. 4The Sustainability Change Laboratory2026
  5. 5Systemic sustainability in action: a qualitative multi-case study of organizational routines and stakeholder engagement in higher education institutions2026