Journal of Natural Environment

Green University component modeling for higher education (Case study: Mohaghegh Ardabili University)

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Humanities, Faculty of Accounting and Management, University of Allameh Tabatabai, Tehran, Iran.

2 Department of Social Sciences, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran.

10.22059/jne.2023.358668.2550

Abstract

Nowadays, issues related to climate change and environmental degradation have almost impacted all human activities, especially in commercial, industrial, and academic sectors. In this regard, universities, as responsible parties for education, play an important role in institutionalizing the value of the environment. Therefore, the aim of this research is to model the components of a green university, which has been carried out within the framework of a mixed approach and using qualitative content analysis and structural equation modeling between the years 2021-2022. In this research, to extract the factors and indicators of a green university, interviews were conducted with 15 entrepreneurs, experts, and professors using snowball sampling. After identifying the factors and indicators of a green university, the researcher-designed questionnaire was distributed among 186 managers, deputies, and staff of the university in Ardabil. The results of data analysis showed that the factors and indicators of a green university consist of 5 main categories, 13 sub-categories, and 77 concepts, including green buildings, green research, policies, resource management, and green education, which are the main building blocks of a green university. Among them, green building, green research, policies, resource management, and green education had the highest and lowest importance with factor loads of 1, 0.98, 0.94, 0.85, and 0.73, respectively. According to the findings of this research, to manage green areas in the University of Ardabil, all sections of the university need to participate. Therefore, coordination and synergy between the functional units of the university and the responsible authorities in the field of the environment are recommended to achieve the goals of green management.

Keywords

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Journal of Natural Environment
Volume 76, Issue 4
March 2024
Pages 715-729