Skip to main content
Have a personal or library account? Click to login
Teaching Sustainability in Higher Education in the United Arab Emirates: Faculty Perspectives on Challenges and Practice Cover

Teaching Sustainability in Higher Education in the United Arab Emirates: Faculty Perspectives on Challenges and Practice

Open Access
|Jun 2026

References

  1. Abo-Khalil, A. G. (2024). Integrating sustainability into higher education challenges and opportunities for universities worldwide. Heliyon, 10(9), e29946. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e29946
  2. Al Mahameed, M., Riaz, U., Aldoob, M. S., & Halari, A. (2023). The implementation of sustainability practices in Arab higher education institutions. Journal of Financial Reporting and Accounting, 23(3), 1161–1185, https://doi.org/10.1108/JFRA-11-2022-0415
  3. Al-Naqbi, A. K., & Alshannag, Q. (2018). The status of education for sustainable development and sustainability knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of UAE University students. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 19(3), 566–588. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-06-2017-0091
  4. Al-Maamary, H. M., Kazem, H. A., & Chaichan, M. T. (2017). Climate change: The game changer in the Gulf Cooperation Council region. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 76, 555–576. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2017.03.048
  5. Alshuwaikhat, H. M., & Abubakar, I. (2008). An integrated approach to achieving campus sustainability: Assessment of the current campus environmental management practices. Journal of Cleaner Production, 16(16), 1777–1785. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2007.12.002
  6. Baroudi, S. (2023). Exploring teacher education for sustainable development in the UAE. Sustainability, 15(3), 1981. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15031981
  7. Barth, M., & Rieckmann, M. (2016). State of the art in research on higher education for sustainable development. In M. Barth, G. Michelsen, M. Rieckmann & I. Thomas (Eds.), Routledge handbook of higher education for sustainable development (pp. 100–114). Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.
  8. Brandt, J.-O., Bürgener, L., Barth, M., & Redman, A. (2019). Becoming a competent teacher in education for sustainable development. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 20, 630–653. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-10-2018-0183
  9. Bridi, R. M., & Al Hosani, N. (2022). An examination of the status of higher education in the United Arab Emirates: From humble beginnings to future challenges. Eurasian Journal of Educational Research, 99, 26–44. https://doi.org/10.14689/ejer.2022.99.002
  10. Carpendale, S., Knudsen, S., Thudt, A., & Hinrichs, U. (2017, October). Analyzing qualitative data. In Proceedings of the 2017 ACM International Conference on Interactive Surfaces and Spaces (pp. 477–481). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3132272.3135087
  11. Corcoran, P. B., Walker, K., & Wals, A. E. J. (2004). The role of individual commitment in environmental education. Environmental Education Research, 10(4), 377–393.
  12. Chyung, S.Y., Roberts, K., Swanson, I., & Hankinson, A. (2017). Evidence‐based survey design: The use of a midpoint on the Likert scale. Performance improvement, 56(10), 15–23. https://doi.org/10.1002/pfi.21727
  13. Cotton, D., Warren, M., Maiboroda, O., & Bailey, I. (2007). Sustainable development, higher education and pedagogy: A study of lecturers’ beliefs and attitudes. Environmental Education Research, 13(5), 579–597. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504620701659061
  14. Creswell, J. W., & Clark, V. L. P. (2017). Designing and conducting mixed methods research. SAGE Publications.
  15. Disterheft, A., Caeiro, S., Azeiteiro, U. M., & Filho, W. L. (2015). Sustainable universities – a study of critical success factors for participatory approaches. Journal of Cleaner Production, 106, 11–21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.01.030
  16. Emanuel, R., & Adams, J. (2011). College students’ perceptions of campus sustainability. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 12(1), 79–92. https://doi.org/10.1108/14676371111098320
  17. GEMS Education. (2020). Environmental sustainability in UAE schools. https://www.gemseducation.com/en/Our-Promise/Sustainable-Development/Sustainability-Events/Environmental-Sustainability-in-UAE-Schools
  18. Gill, S. L. (2020). Qualitative sampling methods. Journal of Human Lactation, 36(4), 579–581. https://doi.org/10.1177/0890334420949218
  19. Gough, A. (2016). Environmental sustainability in schools: Tensions around teaching a global imperative. In T. Barkatsas & A. Bertram (Eds.), Global education in the 21st century (pp. 83–101). Brill Academic Publishers.
  20. Huckle, J., & Sterling, S. (2014). Education for sustainability: Reorienting education to meet the needs of the 21st century. Routledge.
  21. Hurth, V., & Stewart, I. S. (2022). Re-purposing universities: The path to purpose. Frontiers in Sustainability, 2, Article 762271. https://doi.org/10.3389/frsus.2021.762271
  22. Johnson, R. B., & Onwuegbuzie, A. J. (2004). Mixed methods research: A research paradigm whose time has come. Educational Researcher, 33(7), 14–26. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X033007014
  23. Kaaronen, R. O. (2017). Affording sustainability: Adopting a theory of affordances as a guiding heuristic for environmental policy. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, Article 1974. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01974
  24. Kost, R. G., & de Rosa, J. C. (2018). Impact of survey length and compensation on validity, reliability, and sample characteristics for Ultrashort-, Short-, and Long-Research Participant Perception Surveys. Journal of clinical and translational science, 2(1), 31–37. https://doi.org/10.1017/cts.2018.18
  25. Krzymowski, A. (2020). Sustainable development goals in Arab region–United Arab Emirates’ case study. Problemy Ekorozwoju, 15(1), 211–220.
  26. Leal Filho, W., Sima, M., Sharifi, A., Luetz, J. M., Salvia, A. L., Mifsud, M., Olooto, F. M., Djekic, I., Anholon, R., Rampasso, I., Kwabena Donkor, F., Dinis, M. A. P., Klavins, M., Finnveden, G., Chari, M. M., Molthan-Hill, P., Mifsud, A., Sen, S. K., & Lokupitiya, E. (2021). Handling climate change education at universities: An overview. Environmental Sciences Europe, 33(1), 109. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12302-021-00552-5
  27. Levesque, V. (2019). Sustainability Methods and Perspectives. OER Commons. https://pressbooks.pub/sustainabilitymethods/front-matter/titleandpreface/
  28. Lozano, R., Lukman, R., Lozano, F. J., Huisingh, D., & Lambrechts, W. (2013). Declarations for sustainability in higher education: Becoming better leaders, through addressing the university system. Journal of Cleaner Production, 48, 10–19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2011.10.006
  29. Mezirow, J. (1997). Transformative learning: Theory to practice. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 74, 5–12. https://doi.org/10.1002/ace.7401
  30. Muysken, J., & Nour, S. (2006). Deficiencies in education and poor prospects for economic growth in the Gulf countries: The case of the UAE. The Journal of Development Studies, 42(6), 957–980. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220380600774756
  31. National Committee on Sustainable Development Goals. (2017). UAE and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/20161UAE_SDGs_Report_Full_English.pdf
  32. Nhamo, G. (2014). Reviewing some implications of the green economy for higher and further education institutions. Southern African Journal of Environmental Education, 30, 79–95.
  33. Omona, J. (2013). Sampling in qualitative research: Improving the quality of research outcomes in higher education. Makerere Journal of Higher Education, 4(2), 169–185.
  34. Parry, S., & Metzger, E. (2023). Barriers to learning for sustainability: A teacher perspective. Sustainable Earth Reviews, 6(1), 2. https://doi.org/10.1186/s42055-022-00050-3
  35. Pervin, N., & Mokhtar, M. (2022). The interpretivist research paradigm: A subjective notion of a social context. International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and Development, 11(2), 419–428.
  36. Plano Clark, V. L. (2017). Mixed methods research. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 12(3), 305–306. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2016.1262613
  37. Popescu, A. I. (2018). How universities can contribute to sustainable development: A new conceptual framework. In EDULEARN18 Proceedings (pp. 9867–9874). IATED.
  38. Radwan, A. F., & Khalil, E. (2021). Knowledge, attitude and practice toward sustainability among university students in UAE. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 22(5), 964–981. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-06-2020-0229
  39. Rieckmann, M. (2012). Future-oriented higher education: Which key competencies should be fostered through university teaching and learning? Futures, 44(2), 127–135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2011.09.005
  40. Rieckmann, M. (2018). Learning to transform the world: Key competencies in Education for Sustainable Development. In A. Leicht, J. Heiss, & W. J. Byun (Eds.), Issues and Trends in Education for Sustainable Development (pp. 39–59). UNESCO.
  41. Sachs, J. D. (2015). The age of sustainable development. Columbia University Press.
  42. Serafini, P. G., De Moura, J. M., De Almeida, M. R., & De Rezende, J. F. D. (2022). Sustainable Development Goals in higher education institutions: A systematic literature review. Journal of Cleaner Production, 370, 133473. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.133473
  43. Sammalisto, K., Sundström, A., & Holm, T. (2015). Implementation of sustainability in universities as perceived by faculty and staff – a model from a Swedish university. Journal of Cleaner Production, 106, 45–54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.10.015
  44. Shiel, C., Williams, A. (2015). Working together, driven apart: Reflecting on a joint endeavour to address sustainable development within a university. In Leal Filho, W., Brandli, L., Kuznetsova, O., Paço, A. (Eds.), Integrative Approaches to Sustainable Development at University Level. World Sustainability Series. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10690-8_30
  45. Singh, A., & Blessinger, P. (2023). Examining the role and challenges of sustainable development goals for the universities in the United Arab Emirates. Sustainability, 15(20), 15123. https://doi.org/10.3390/su152015123
  46. Sullivan, G. M., & Artino, Jr., A. R. (2013). Analyzing and interpreting data from Likert-type scales. Journal Of Graduate Medical Education, 5(4), 541–542 https://doi.org/10.4300/JGME-5-4-18
  47. Tilbury, D. (2011). Higher education for sustainability: A global overview of commitment and progress. Higher Education in the World 4, 18–28.
  48. Toyon, J. (2021). Exploring the use of mixed methods research in educational settings. Journal of Educational Research, 45(3), 210–225.
  49. UAE and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2016). https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/20161UAE_SDGs_Report_Full_English.pdf
  50. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. (2022). Education for sustainable development: A roadmap. UNESCO Publishing. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000381300
  51. Vukelić, J., & Rončević, B. (2021). Empowering students to adopt eco-friendly practices and contribute to a more sustainable future. Journal of Environmental Education and Sustainability, 15(2), 120–135.
  52. Wals, A. E. (2014). Sustainability in higher education in the context of the UN DESD: A review of learning and institutionalization processes. Journal of Cleaner Production, 62, 8–15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.06.007
  53. Warburton, K. (2003). Deep learning and education for sustainability. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 4(1), 44–56. https://doi.org/10.1108/14676370310455332
  54. Will, M. (2023). U.S. teachers lag behind global peers in teaching about sustainability. here’s why. Education week. https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/u-s-teacherslag-behind-global-peers-in-teaching-about-sustainability-heres-why/2023/09
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jtes-2026-0010 | Journal eISSN: 1691-5534 | Journal ISSN: 1691-4147
Language: English
Page range: 168 - 189
Published on: Jun 29, 2026
Published by: Daugavpils University
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

© 2026 Jonathan Fiteni, Jumana Tarazi, Nicole Shammas, published by Daugavpils University
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.