Sustainability in higher education: perspectives and challenges

Higher education institution’s (HEIs) sustainability develop a mindset that promotes the SDGs' guiding principles. ABC strategy is adopted for sustainability. The majority of sustainable development policy is developed at the faculty and university levels. Two types of sustainability exist, namely, internal sustainability and external sustainability at the university. Integration of competencies in sustainable development takes place at three levels – vertically, horizontally or through a combination of both. Interdisciplinary research is necessary in the various domains of knowledge in order to properly execute and adopt the SDGs. The challenges for sustainability are lack of guidelines for identifying and training ESD and lack of standards for evaluating ESD proficiency among others. Thus, it is now widely understood that higher education can hasten the shift to a well-grounded present and future.