Common features of sustainable higher education sector according to an international sustainability ranking data

This case study utilized data from an international university ranking (GreenMetric World University Rankings). The data show that in 2015–17, campus greening activities were dominated by sustainable development (SD) oriented education and research, development and innovation (RDI) activity; however, in 2018–19, the dominance outcomes were found to be the opposite. The SD maturity level of higher education institutes (HEI) is negatively correlated with the annual development rate of actions due to saturation in the ranking status. The modeling results indicate that through protective tradition and norm-oriented cultural features, the HEI sector is able to run dynamically and align intellectual academic reforms according to international SD guidance and steering.