The Complexity of Education for Sustainable Development: Insights from South African Higher Education

The complex 21st-century world calls for greater knowledge about sustainable practices and policies to foster sustainable development. As evident in the international scholarly literature, there is an urgent need to reflect on education's role in creating sustainable societies and transforming learning systems and knowledge generation to support a sustainable future. Higher education institutions (HEIs) are in a unique position to nurture teachers, researchers, leaders, and citizens able to address global sustainability challenges and pursue sustainable decisions and actions. This qualitative research study, grounded in a global context, employed document analysis related to publicly funded universities in South Africa, including the universities' mission and vision statements, annual reports, strategic plans, and other relevant reports spanning the past 5 years. The study sought to answer the following two main questions: To what extent is sustainable development (SD) on the agendas of HEIs under investigation? What are the main complexities of implementing Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in HEIs under investigation? Findings derived from systematic content analyses indicate that the investigated South African HEIs are committed to ESD; however, effective implementation of all dimensions of sustainable development is complex and problematic. It is evident that universities focus on three main aspects of sustainable development: sustainable education, sustainable initiatives, and financial sustainability. Although the results of this study cannot be generalised due to a small sample, they can inform other universities and contribute to the body of knowledge about ESD in higher education. As argued in the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, societal problems are territorially blind, meaning that no country has sufficient knowledge or research capacity to solve all challenges. Thus, sharing insights from different contexts is essential.