Higher Education Institutions (HEI) play a strategically important role in the multidimensional transformations needed to achieve more sustainable ways of living in this world. By applying a holistic or “whole institution approach,” they can promote and implement sustainability in research, teaching, campus management, and carry out the “third mission” of universities to generate trans-disciplinary knowledge useful for society.

This publication showcases various projects and initiatives developed by universities from Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Germany, Israel, Mexico, Peru, and Russia to promote the topic of sustainability in governance, teaching, research, and campus management.

By presenting the key issues, recommendations, and lessons learned from these initiatives, it outlines innovative and diverse approaches that contribute to fostering sustainability at HEIs. These cases highlight experiences from all over the world that can be adopted by interested HEIs anywhere, in particular those HEIs forced to operate under conditions of serious resource scarcity and in contexts where sustainability is not yet a major part of academic activities. We also hope that this publication will be the start for closer exchanges on sustainability initiatives among universities all over the world.

“Universities as Change Makers: Sustainability Initiatives from Across the Globe” is the result of a cooperative effort of two HEI-focused international projects based at Freie Universität Berlin: trAndeS – Postgraduate Program on Sustainable Development and Social Inequalities in the Andean Region and UAS – University Alliance for Sustainability.