Study Examines Sustainability Communications Efforts of 100 Colleges and Universities

n a recent blog post, I discussed a research study that examined how 100 of the nation’s top public and private higher education institutions are defining sustainability and communicating about sustainability initiatives through their websites. Specifically, the study aimed to explore how and to what extent top colleges and universities are integrating sustainability into teaching, research, and service initiatives. The research was conducted as a content analysis of 100 college and university websites that were randomly selected from the Top 200 ranked colleges/universities from U.S. News Top National Universities (Public and Private) 2014 Best Colleges rankings list. The study aimed to address the following questions:

• How are colleges and universities defining sustainability on websites?
• Which sustainability topics are most frequently communicated through college and university websites?
• What features/content are used to communicate sustainability initiatives on websites?
• Are colleges and universities communicating about sustainability initiatives that include employee and/or stakeholder involvement?

Overall, results supported prior research that suggested that institutions are embracing the responsibility to facilitate sustainability into university functions through innovative university and community-based collaborations; creating sustainability policies, strategies, and committees; and supporting an increasing amount of sustainability research. Results also found that efforts to effectively measure and communicate sustainability performance are still in need of further development.

How are colleges and universities defining sustainability on websites?

Among the 100 college and university websites examined, 62 percent did not include a definition for sustainability. Among the 100 pages analyzed, there were seven colleges/universities that did not have a sustainability page. Among the 93 that did, common sustainability page/section titles included “Sustainability at [name of institution],” “Office of Sustainability,” or “Environmental Sustainability.”

Which sustainability topics are most frequently communicated through college and university websites?

The categories examined included curriculum; research; campus engagement; public engagement; air and climate; buildings; dining services/food; energy; grounds; purchasing; transportation; waste; water; diversity and affordability; health, wellbeing, and work; and investment. These categories are used by the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS) by which many campuses have opted to participate. This study found that, in general, sustainability initiatives in the STARS categories are underreported. That is, colleges and universities are not reporting information about their involvement with initiatives in several categories and/or only reporting very general information instead of measurable data. Results for each category are as follows:

• Sustainability Curriculum: 20% had no information; 47% had general information only; 33% provided measurable data about initiatives in this area.
• Sustainability Research: 28% had no information; 43% had general information only; 29% provided measurable data about initiatives in this area.
• Campus Engagement with Sustainability: 17% had no information; 56% had general information only; 27% provided measurable data about initiatives in this area.
• Public Engagement with Sustainability: 54% had no information; 37% had general information only; 9% provided measurable data about initiatives in this area.
• Air and Climate: 45% had no information; 19% had general information only; 36% provided measurable data about initiatives in this area.
• Sustainable Buildings: 24% had no information; 32% had general information only; 44% provided measurable data about initiatives in this area.
• Sustainability and Dining Services/Food: 29% had no information; 28% had general information only; 43% provided measurable data about initiatives in this area.
• Energy: 23% had no information; 17% had general information only; 60% provided measurable data about initiatives in this area.
• Grounds: 47% had no information; 30% had general information only; 23% provided measurable data about initiatives in this area.
• Sustainable Purchasing: 60% had no information; 25% had general information only; 15% provided measurable data about initiatives in this area.
• Transportation: 29% had no information; 33% had general information only; 38% provided measurable data about initiatives in this area.
• Waste: 19% had no information; 31% had general information only; 50% provided measurable data about initiatives in this area.
• Water: 29% had no information; 36% had general information only; 35% provided measurable data about initiatives in this area.
• Diversity and Affordability: 94% had no information; 6% had general information only; 0% provided measurable data about initiatives in this area.
• Health/Wellbeing/Work: 87% had no information; 11% had general information only; 2% provided measurable data about initiatives in this area.
• Investment and Sustainability: 75% had no information; 23% had general information only; 2% provided measurable data about initiatives in this area.

What features/content are used to communicate sustainability initiatives on websites?

The study found that 72% of the websites included a sustainability strategic plan, 60% included a sustainability report, 85% included information about sustainability programming, 79% provided information about sustainability education, 69% included information about sustainability research, 62% included links to news articles and press releases about sustainability, 34% included sustainability videos, and 48% included interactive features to encourage dialogue (e.g., interactive surveys, web chats, wikis social networks, etc.). However, only 16% included a blog, and none included a glossary of sustainability terms.

Are colleges and universities communicating about sustainability initiatives that include employee and/or stakeholder involvement?

Among the 100 websites, 55% provided information about employee involvement in sustainability initiatives and 63% provided information about stakeholder involvement in sustainability initiatives. Initiatives included the development of clubs and organizations, Sustainability month, Recyclemania events, Eco-Reps, Sustainability Awareness Day, community gardening initiatives, sustainability pledges, greening your work events, Sustainability Task Forces, and Sustainability Fellows programs.

Practical Implications

The results suggest that colleges and universities are improving in their efforts to demonstrate a commitment to sustainability and to effectively engage in the communication of these efforts to publics. It can be argued, however, that there is still room for improvement, especially when measuring and reporting sustainability performance. While a definition for sustainability may be implicit through the content that is included on a website, it is interesting that 62% of the websites did not include an actual definition for sustainability. It also appears that institutions’ sustainability websites offer little information in the areas of sustainable purchasing; diversity; health, wellbeing, and work; and investment.

Institutions should strive to report more substantive information about sustainability initiatives above and beyond the basic “here’s what we did on our campus” information that prior research has suggested is a common practice. Furthermore, findings from this study suggest that institutions would benefit from including more interactive features and improving the usability and functional features on websites. A positive finding from the study is the level of employee and stakeholder engagement in sustainability initiatives. Institutions are encouraged to continue with these initiatives as they aim to cultivate an environment that embraces and prioritizes sustainability in the workplace.

The next phase of this study will include an analysis of 100 nonprofit organizations’ websites and 100 corporations’ websites to determine how these entities are communicating sustainability as compared with the efforts of higher education institutions. Additional findings from the full study will be available in spring 2015.