A Comparative Analysis between Global University Rankings and Environmental Sustainability of Universities

A New Model for Ranking Schools of Public Health: The Public Health Academic Ranking

Objectives: As there is no ranking designed for schools of Public Health, the aim of this project was to create one. Methods: To design the Public Health Academic Ranking (PHAR), we used the InCites Benchmarking and Analytics™ software and the Web Of Science™ Core Collection database. We collected bibliometric data on 26 schools of Public Health from each continent, between August and September 2022. We included 11 research indicators/scores, covering four criteria (productivity, quality, accessibility for readers, international collaboration), for the period 2017-2021. For the Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), a network gathering faculties across different universities, a specific methodology was used, with member-specific research queries. Results: The five top schools of the PHAR were: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Public Health Foundation of India, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, SSPH+, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Conclusion: The PHAR allows worldwide bibliometric ordering of schools of Public Health. As this is a pilot project, the results must be taken with caution. This article aims to critically discuss its methodology and future improvements.

Sustainability as an Emerging Paradigm in Universities

This article aims to review the perspective of sustainability adoption in universities through two dimensions: firstly, from the educational and research process, and second, from their global positioning in terms of the performance of their university campus. For this purpose, a bibliometric analysis was carried out, referring to publications dating from 2006 to 2020, using the terms “Sustainability, green universities and curricular sustainability” as search keywords. In addition, an analysis of eight global university rankings was made, gathering information from their official websites on their evaluation fields, indicators, and volume of Ibero–American universities cataloged. The result is that, since 2007, the number of publications on this topic has increased, showing that the participation of Latin American in publications is very low (3.69%). Furthermore, only 12% of Latin American universities are included in world rankings. Sustainability has hardly been integrated into university academic programs; likewise, it is observed that the traditional world ranking of universities mainly take into account factors related to teaching and research, without considering criteria related to sustainability. Moreover, it is essential to develop policies that encourage universities to develop sustainability strategies in their academic and institutional processes in general, as well as in the global university evaluation systems, in order to value sustainability adequately in both in academics, research and institutional performance.

Challenges of Uncertainty in Sustainable Strategy Development: Reconsidering the Key Performance Indicators

The planning and development of the university strategy is closely linked to the university’s current performance, key priorities, and capabilities. A systematic literature review of factors that influence decision-making for strategy development has been applied in this research. To determine the external factors that influence strategic decision-making for universities nowadays there has been chosen a structure from the PESTLE analysis. The systematic literature review was limited to only higher education factor analysis. Based on the literature review, the authors have developed an approach for strategic direction evaluation and ongoing key performance indicator analysis. The approach is based on the Importance-Performance Matrix–IPA and developed further to include a comprehensive analysis of the strategic directions, organizational sources, and capabilities. An assessment of the university’s main strategic priorities with influencing factor analysis can be done using the developed approach adapted by the authors. It integrates the principles of resource-based strategy, key stakeholder engagement and creating shared value in the strategy development process. The adapted method was used in the 3rd generation university strategy development. The research contributes to the literature on a systematic approach development in the strategy evaluation process. This article puts emphasis on the resource-based view and key stakeholder involvement in the evaluation process.

Ranking the Performance of Universities: The Role of Sustainability

University rankings assess the performance of universities in various fields and aggregate that performance into a single value. In this way, the aggregate performance of universities can be easily compared. The importance of rankings is evident, as they often guide the policy of Higher Education Institutions. The most prestigious multi-criteria rankings use indicators related to teaching and research. However, many stakeholders are now demanding a greater commitment to sustainable development from universities, and it is therefore necessary to include sustainability criteria in university rankings. The development of multi-criteria rankings is subject to numerous criticisms, including the subjectivity of the decision makers when assigning weights to the criteria. In this paper we propose a methodology based on goal programming that allows objective, transparent and reproducible weighting of the criteria. Moreover, it avoids the problems associated with the existence of correlated criteria. The methodology is applied to a sample of 718 universities, using 11 criteria obtained from two prestigious university rankings covering sustainability, teaching and research. A sensitivity analysis is carried out to assess the robustness of the results obtained. This analysis shows how the weights of the criteria and the universities’ rank change depending on the λ parameter of the goal programming model, which is the only parameter set by the decision maker.

Predicting the Reputation of Pharmaceutical Firms with Financing and Geographical Location Data

Reputation is a strategic asset for firms, but has been poorly studied in the pharmaceutical industry, particularly in relation to their financial and stock-market performance. This work aimed to predict the probability of a firm being included in a pharmaceutical reputation index (Merco and PatientView), and the position it occupies, according to its economic–financial and stock-market outcomes and its geographical location. Fifty firms with excellent sales in 2019 and their rankings in 2017–2019 were employed. The methodology followed was logistic regression. Their research and development (R&D) expenditures and dividends strongly influenced them being included in both rankings. Non-Asian pharmaceutical companies were more likely to belong to the two reputation indices than Asian ones, and to occupy the best positions in the Merco ranking. Although no large differences appeared in the firms in both indices, differences were found in the position that pharmaceutical companies occupied in rankings and in the variables that contribute to them occupying these positions. Being in PatientView influenced dividends, sales, and income, while appearing in Merco showed accounting aspects like value in books and debt ratio.

Environmental Assessment of University Campuses: The Case of the University of Navarra in Pamplona (Spain)

Current European environmental sustainability standards call for achieving a reduction in energy consumption and CO2 emissions for a horizon set in the year 2050. It has been verified that buildings and cities have a higher incidence in this regard. It is necessary to have tools for initial assessment that can quickly analyse whether the improvement scenarios put forward by different organisations and governments will be able to meet the goals set at European level. Universities are an important factor for the intended change and therefore offer an excellent environment for testing such tools. A case study focusing on a university in northern Spain is presented, through an evaluation tool using 3D models including life-cycle assessment. Different reform scenarios are evaluated for two key years, 2030 and 2050. The novelty lies in considering, not only the impact of the operational phase but also the impact of the different stages of the life cycle and processes, obtaining an impact value closer to reality. The results indicate that, even with major retrofitting and adaptation efforts, the European targets are difficult to achieve by 2050. Moreover, solutions such as biomass help to achieve greenhouse gas reductions but not to improve energy efficiency.

Towards Sustainability in Higher-Education Institutions: Analysis of Contributing Factors and Appropriate Strategies

To depict detailed sustainability efforts that have been implemented in campus environments, research was conducted at the Universitas Diponegoro (UNDIP), a leading green campus in Indonesia. The aim of the current study was to explore how sustainable development has been conducted by UNDIP and to identify factors that may indicate the existence of sustainability activity in higher-education institutions (HEIs). Factors affecting sustainability implementation in HEIs were derived using bibliometric analysis. Information on the implemented strategies to maintain the sustainability of HEIs was obtained via a closed questionnaire to 40 relevant experts, and analyzed using strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis, and quantitative strategic-planning matrix (QSPM) analysis. Institutional commitment to sustainability and guidance to implement sustainability in HEIs were found to have the highest scores with regard to internal and external factors. The respondents selected more aggressive strategies for the enhancement of sustainability implementation at UNDIP. Fostering external collaboration should be a priority for UNDIP since this can provide mutual benefits and significant improvement towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The current study provides a robust self-assessment method for selecting appropriate strategies to maintain HEI sustainability.

Universities’ Reporting on SDGs: Using THE Impact Rankings to Model and Measure Their Contribution to Sustainability

Higher education institutions (HEIs) have voiced growing concerns about sustainability issues since Agenda 2030 was approved, but this is not enough for societal stakeholders seeking and delivering innovation and excellence. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by all UN Member States in 2015 as a universal call to action, and pose a challenge for HEIs as for the efforts made to fulfill them and knowing how to assess their performance. However, the metric management system implemented by HEIs quickly led to rankings emerging, which compare HEIs to metrics not related to the sustainability dimensions of the 17 SDGs. The main aim of the paper is to assess the level of reporting and alignment of SDG achievements with the overall the Times Higher Education (THE) ranking score. For this purpose, our study (i) models and quantifies the impact of HEIs’ disclosure of SDG information on HEIs’ overall THE Impact Rankings score, (ii) analyzes whether the best ranked universities are indeed significantly related to different SDGs than other not-so-well-ranked ones, and (iii) models the differences in the overall score and its alignment with distinct SDGs by dimensions, subjects, and geographical regions. In order to do so, a descriptive analysis, non-parametric tests, and linear and logistic regression analyses were performed. Our results reveal that the overall ranking is related to the reporting of HEIs’ SDG achievements. Moreover, the more positive actions related to health, education, industry, responsible consumption and production, climate action, and partnerships there were, the higher the position of HEIs in the general ranking was. However, we found differences between top-ranking universities and others in geographical location, disclosed information, and impact. Thus, the best-ranked universities are more committed to transferring knowledge to industry to satisfy its needs (SDG9), support strong institutions in their countries, and promote peace and justice (SDG16). Finally, SDG9 and SDG17 are the most relevant and constant SDGs when modeling the alignment of SDGs with HEIs’ dimensions (teaching, research, citations, industry income, international outlook) and subjects (technological and social sciences and humanities). HEIs integrating SDG actions into the strategic management of universities and, consequently, reporting their SDG performance to promote sustainability and contribute to sustainable development, is advisable.

Toward Energy Savings in Campus Buildings under a Life Cycle Thinking Approach

Recent studies have identified that buildings all over the world are great contributors to energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The relationship between the building industry and environmental pollution is continuously discussed. The building industry includes many phases: extraction of raw materials, manufacturing, construction, use, and demolition. Each phase consumes a large amount of energy, and subsequent emissions are released. The life cycle energy assessment (LCEA) is a simplified version of the life cycle assessment (LCA) that focuses only on the evaluation of energy inputs for different phases of the life cycle. Operational energy is the energy required for day-to-day operation processes of buildings, such as heating, cooling and ventilation systems, lighting, as well as appliances. This use phase accounts for the largest portion of energy consumption of the life cycle of conventional buildings. In addition, energy performance certification of buildings is an obligation under current European legislation, which promotes efficient energy use, so it is necessary to ensure that the energy performance of the building is upgraded to meet minimum requirements. For this purpose, this work proposes the consideration of the energy impacts and material resources used in the operation phase of a building to calculate the contribution of these energy impacts as new variables for the energy performance certification. The application of this new approach to the evaluation of university buildings has been selected as a case study. From a methodological point of view, the approach relied on the energy consumption records obtained from energy and materials audit exercises with the aid of LCA databases. Taking into practice the proposed methodology, the primary energy impact and the related emissions were assessed to simplify the decision-making process for the energy certification of buildings. From the results obtained, it was concluded that the consumption of water and other consumable items (paper) are important from energy and environmental perspectives.