Addressing environmental, financial and social sustainability in the management of higher education quality

Abstract

In a competitive world where building new business models for success through innovation, competitiveness and sustainability is on the agenda, higher education institutions should improve their performance without neglecting quality and sustainability issues. The aim of this study is to develop a framework using critical success factors and integrating quality and sustainability in higher education institutions. Previous studies regard quality and sustainability as separate issues, and those who deal with sustainability tend to be restricted to environmental aspects. Building on an extensive and systematic literature review on sustainability, quality and higher education themes we identify seven critical success factors for quality in higher education. The proposed framework can be a starting point to help top managers and course directors in higher education institutions, to create and manage their courses and respective institutions toward high standards of quality and sustainability.