Systematic review reveals an absence of real-time digital and AI analytics in university sustainability assessments, highlighting the need for dynamic framework integration.
Key Points
To evaluate research advancements from 2021 to 2025 in sustainability assessment for higher education institutions, focusing on indicator frameworks, smart campus technologies, AI analytics, and governance.
Conducted a PRISMA-informed systematic synthesis spanning 2021 to 2025 across five sustainability domains.
Combined qualitative thematic synthesis, quantitative evaluation, and structural evaluation of institutional assessment tools.
Current higher education sustainability assessments rely predominantly on static indicators that lack real-time operational data and advanced analytics.
Digital smart campus tools and artificial intelligence demonstrate clear utility for sustainability tracking but remain unintegrated into traditional reporting metrics.
Identified critical gaps in linking institutional sustainability assessments with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) standards.