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This doctoral study explores higher education institutions and their role in fostering sustainability by assessing the perceptions of stakeholders, namely organization leaders. The aims of this research are to assess the importance and responsibility of higher education institutions in the fostering of sustainable development, to identify the barriers faced and challenges to overcome as these also affect their sustainability as teaching institutions, and to analyze the current state of the implementation of sustainability in Portuguese higher education institutions. The empirical study was undertaken in three studies (and organized in four papers). The first analyzed sustainability practices with information collected from the institutions' websites; the second continued the study with a qualitative approach by interviewing the organization leaders and stakeholders, at four Portuguese higher education institutions; and the last took a quantitative approach by examining the implementation of sustainability practice using data obtained from a questionnaire sent to all the Portuguese public higher education institutions. The research demonstrates that sustainability studies in Portuguese public higher education institutions are still scarce, and that higher education institutions are in an embryonic phase of implementing, incorporating and institutionalizing sustainability strategies, measures and policies in all their activities and dimensions. There is clear evidence that higher education institutions play an important role in the promotion of sustainability. However, the lack of financial resources is perceived as the main barriers to sustainability in these institutions. This study clearly demonstrates that although sustainable development is recognized as being very important to higher education institutions and society, it is not yet embedded in the system's strategies, activities, and policies. It is essential to identify sustainability strategies and to introduce sustainable development in all activities, through a “top down” process and involving all stakeholders. Finally, not only does the research identify the importance of a conceptual and organizational change in higher education institutions, but it also contributes to the literature on sustainable higher education institutions, as well as to how higher education for sustainable development is understood and can be improved, namely in the Portuguese higher education system.

With the growing concern for the state of the environment, countless organizations are adopting new processes and materials for the production of sustainable products. Portuguese organizations are no exception, and there are already many brands created by young entrepreneurs who intend not only to enhance the Portuguese swimwear market but also to offer something exclusive created from recycled materials that has a positive impact on the environment. To this extent, the main objective of this dissertation is to evaluate and understand the major perceptions and drivers/motivations that lead consumers to opt for Portuguese sustainable swimwear brands, besides the analysis of the consumer profile of such type of product. In order to reach valuable insights, a qualitative method (in­depth interviews) and a quantitative method (online survey) were adopted. After collecting information from existing literature and the analysis of the overall data, it was possible to conclude that psychographic factors, which implicate knowledge of environmental status, behaviours towards a sustainable lifestyle, and attitudes of each individual about sustainability, are the ones that have a higher impact on purchase intentions towards Portuguese sustainable swimwear products. Along with this, individuals with higher educational levels are more aware of ecological problems, especially rising from the fashion industry. In addition, individuals who feel observed and evaluated have higher tendencies toward sustainable purchases. Hence, it is possible to state that this study contains theoretical and practical advice for (sustainable) brands that seek to incorporate sustainability into their operations in order to convert non­sustainable users into sustainable ones. Com a crescente preocupação pelo estado do ambiente, inúmeras organizações encontram­se a adotar novos processos e materiais para a produção de produtos sustentáveis. Organizações portuguesas não são exceção, e são já muitas as marcas criadas por jovens empreendedores que pretendem não só potenciar o mercado português de swimwear como oferecer algo exclusivo criado a partir de materiais reciclados com um impacto positivo no ambiente. Assim, o principal objetivo desta dissertação é avaliar e compreender as principais perceções e drivers/motivações que levam os consumidores a optar por marcas portuguesas de roupa de banho sustentável, para além da análise do perfil do consumidor deste tipo de produto. Para obter dados relevantes, um método qualitativo (entrevistas) e um método quantitativo (questionário online) foram adotados. Após a recolha de informação de literatura existente e da análise dos dados, foi possível concluir que os fatores psicográficos, que implicam o conhecimento do estado ambiental, os comportamentos para um estilo de vida sustentável e as atitudes de cada indivíduo em relação à sustentabilidade, são os fatores que maior impacto têm nas intenções de compra de produtos de banho sustentáveis portugueses. Adicionalmente, indivíduos com níveis de escolaridade mais elevados estão mais atentos aos problemas ecológicos, principalmente oriundos da indústria da moda. Para além disto, indivíduos que se sentem observados e avaliados têm maior tendência para compras sustentáveis. Assim é possível afirmar que este estudo contém orientações teóricas e práticas para marcas (sustentáveis) que procuram incorporar sustentabilidade nas suas operações, a fim de converter indivíduos não sustentáveis em sustentáveis.

The aim of this dissertation is to study how an innovative system, the hybrid model, has the potential to solve the severe health issues that are present in today’s developing world. The problem statement is based on understanding how can this type of model be sustainable and how great of an impact it can achieve; while also realizing if it presents itself as a scalable solution. In order to do so, a teaching case was developed, based on LG, an American based social enterprise that created a personalized hybrid model to tackle the health issues in the developing world, with the ultimate goal of improving health status of entire populations. A pioneer user of this model in the healthcare industry, LG is now a fully established organization, operating in Uganda, Kenya, Myanmar and Zambia and having improved the lives of millions. In the following pages the dissertation’s entire outline is introduced and there is a methodology section to explain how the data was collected. After that, we the present an overview of the existing literature on the relevant topics that influence what is being studied. The next section presents the case study, which focuses on LG as a social enterprise and goes deeply into the organization’s disruptive model; followed by teaching notes to debate the case during class. In the end, important conclusions are presented alongside some guidelines and topics for possible future researches. Esta dissertação tem como principal objectivo estudar o sistema inovador dos modelos híbridos de forma a entender se estes têm o potêncial para resolver os problemas e ineficiências na área da saúde que se sentem no mundo em desenvolvimento. O problema a investigar baseia-se em perceber como é que este tipo de modelo pode ser sustentável, o impacto que pode gerar e se há possibilidade de o tornar numa solução de grande escala. Para isso, desenvolveu-se um caso-de-estudo, baseado na LG, uma empresa social que criou um modelo híbrido personalizado, capaz de combater os problemas do mundo em desenvolvimento, com o objectivo de melhorar a saúde e a qualidade de vida da população mais desfavorecida. Pioneira no uso deste modelo, a LG é hoje uma empresa estabelecida, com operações em Uganda, Kenya, Myanmar e Zâmbia, e que já melhorou a vida a milhões de pessoas. Nas páginas seguintes apresentamos a estrutura da dissertação e a metodologia usada para recolher os dados utilizados. Seguidamente o leitor terá oportunidade de examinar uma revisão sobre a literatura relevante para o problema em estudo. A secção seguinte apresenta o caso-de-estudo em si, focado na história da LG como uma empresa social, e analisando detalhadamente o modelo inovador da organização; seguido de algumas notas explicativas para orientar a discussão do caso durante a aula. No fim, importantes conclusões são apresentadas, assim como directrizes e tópicos para investigações futuras.

Higher education institutions play a fundamental role and have great responsibility in promoting sustainability and achieving sustainable development goals. It is therefore essential to study the teacher's perceptions of incorporating sustainability since they are responsible for promoting competences and preparing citizens to respond with solutions to future challenges. The aim of this research is to analyse the perceptions of sustainability held by teachers at Portuguese public higher education institutions. A descriptive and exploratory study was conducted by administering an online questionnaire. The sample is made up of 444 teachers from different Portuguese public higher education institutions (54.1% women and 45.9% men). The results show that while most teachers believe higher education institutions promote the integration of sustainability in their activities, only 16% consider that sustainable development is holistically integrated in the institutions' different activities. About 30% of the teachers report that they largely or extensively integrate sustainable development in their curricular units, but only 20% of them state that higher education institutions provide regular or systematic training in SD. Teachers prefer to increase students' sustainable development education through conferences, seminars, or research projects. Almost 90% of teachers are concerned about climate change or the environment, but only 40% or less engage in sustainable development-related activities. Four clusters are also identified, representing teachers' different perceptions of the higher education institutions' promotion of sustainability, teachers' participation in sustainable development issues and concerns about climate change. Although teachers feel that sustainability is starting to be integrated in higher education institutions, this is not done holistically; moreover, differences are found between teachers in polytechnics and universities and between different scientific areas.

Climate Change has been identified as one of the greatest environmental, social and economic threats facing the planet and humanity today. The Middle East is one of the regions most affected by climate change, with Jordan and Syria already facing serious problems related to available water resources, and environmental quality. This work aims to describe the process of developing online modules under the EGREEN Project to reinforce/insert themes related to climate change in the environmental engineering courses at Jordanian and Syrian universities. The EGREEN project aims to ensure that universities in Jordan and Syria can offer high quality education that is compatible with European standards and meet the needs of the emerging knowledge society market, and strengthening the environmental area, using distance learning. Following the ADDIE model (Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, Evaluate), online modules were developed within the scope of the EGREEN project. To follow this model, information was collected by: direct observation, consulting internal project documents, conducting interviews with students and teachers, and participating in focus groups. The Moodle learning platform was selected for implementation purposes. Twelve EGREEN modules were developed and implemented in 6 Jordanian and 3 Syrian universities. The development of EGREEN modules allowed environmental engineering students to deepen their knowledge on climate change, preparing to face their future professional challenges.

Our world is facing a time of tremendous social, economic, and environmental challenges. Addressing these requires action of the people, who need to be equipped with the right knowledge and skills to contribute to sustainable development. Education therefore plays a crucial role in this undertaking. Especially the tertiary education sector and therewith the group of tertiary students promise high potential to promote societal change. Due to the difficulty to transform education systems, other ways of providing education in sustainable development need to be investigated. By means of a social marketing approach, the aim of this dissertation is to introduce the Impacton Academy as an add-on learning solution to the existing curriculum to promote sustainable development through education. To control for its viability, the right customer segment profiles by means of a qualitative survey are defined and the competition examined through a benchmark analysis to elaborate the right marketing mix and identify the market position for the Impacton Academy. Results revealed the optimal customer segment for the Impacton Academy that promises the highest potential to promote sustainable development are students in the age between 19-25 years who want to take action in sustainable development. Deriving from the needs of this target group and considering given competitive threats, the Impacton Academy should position itself in the market as a mobile learning and community platform that delivers educational content in micro-learning format and connects students with sustainable development practitioners, such as NGOs, social businesses and entrepreneurs. O nosso mundo enfrenta uma época de tremendos desafios sociais, económicos e ambientais. Abordar estes requer acção das pessoas, que precisam de estar munidas com os conhecimentos e aptidões adequados para contribuir para o desenvolvimento sustentável. A educação desempenha, portanto, um papel crucial neste empreendimento. Especialmente o sector do ensino superior e, com este, o grupo de estudantes terciários promete um elevado potencial de promoção de mudanças societais. Devido à dificuldade de transformar os sistemas de educação, outras formas de proporcionar educação no desenvolvimento sustentável precisam de ser investigadas. Através de uma abordagem de marketing social, o objectivo desta dissertação é introduzir a Impacton Academy (IA) como uma solução de aprendizagem adicional ao currículo existente para promover o desenvolvimento sustentável através da educação. Para perceber a sua viabilidade, são definidos os perfis certos do segmento de clientes através de um inquérito qualitativo e a concorrência é examinada através de uma análise de referência para elaborar o mix de marketing certo e identificar a posição de mercado para a IA. Os resultados revelaram que o segmento de clientes ideal para a IA são os estudantes entre os 19-25 anos de idade que queiram tomar medidas em prol do desenvolvimento sustentável, que promete o maior potencial para promover o desenvolvimento sustentável. Derivando das necessidades deste grupo-alvo e considerando as ameaças competitivas, a IA deveria posicionar-se no mercado como uma plataforma móvel de aprendizagem e comunidade que fornece conteúdos educativos em formato de micro-aprendizagem e liga os estudantes a profissionais do desenvolvimento sustentável.

There were 7032 children in out-of-home care in 2018 in Portugal. Of these, only 2.8% were in foster care, despite this being the recommended response according to legal regulations. It is critical that more families be encouraged to become foster carers and also that experienced carers stay in the system to create a sustainable programme. How is the will to foster a child maintained? What can we learn from foster families’ experiences to improve childcare and the child protection system? The methodology of this study was based on interviews with foster carers. The analysis was inspired by grounded theory. We found three types of foster families, classified according to their will to leave or remain in foster care—unconditional, hesitant, or retired. The results suggest that the key elements for foster carers to remain in the foster care system are (i) their level of satisfaction with how the previous placement concluded, (ii) keeping in touch with the ex-foster child, (iii) the feeling of acknowledgement by all the stakeholders, and (iv) the quality of social services as well as the support of the professional teams.

Sustentabilidade e inovação são dois conceitos cada vez mais importantes em todos os setores de atividade, incluindo o ensino superior. As Instituições de Ensino Superior (IES) têm a responsabilidade de desempenhar um papel líder na promoção de boas práticas de sustentabilidade, não só nas operações diárias, mas também na formação de indivíduos conscientes e responsáveis do meio ambiente. O presente trabalho final de mestrado tem como objetivo principal compreender como a gestão das IES promove boas práticas de sustentabilidade, através de iniciativas inovadoras. Será utilizada uma abordagem qualitativa, de natureza descritiva, assumindo como método principal de recolha de dados a entrevista. Estas foram realizadas a diferentes órgãos de gestão, responsáveis pelo departamento da sustentabilidade de diversas IES. O objetivo proposto neste estudo permitiu concluir que as instituições estão verdadeiramente comprometidas em alcançar a sustentabilidade, com o intuito de construir um futuro melhor para as próximas gerações. Embora as IES já tenham criado equipas específicas para lidar com questões de sustentabilidade e inovação, há ainda alguns desafios a enfrentar, como a falta de indicadores de desempenho claros e a necessidade de melhorar os planos estratégicos para a sustentabilidade. Não obstante, as parcerias com organizações externas e a avaliação positiva do impacto das IES são sinais encorajadores de que se está a progredir na direção certa. Sustainability and innovation are two concepts that are increasingly important in all sectors of activity, including higher education. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have a responsibility to play a leading role in promoting sustainable practices, not only in daily operations, but also in educating individuals who are conscious and responsible towards the environment. The main objective of this final master's project is to understand how HEI management promotes good sustainability practices through innovative initiatives. A descriptive qualitative approach will be used, assuming the interview as the main method of data collection. These were carried out with different management bodies responsible for the sustainability department of various HEIs. The proposed objective of this study allowed us to conclude that institutions are truly committed to achieving sustainability in order to build a better future for the next generations. Although HEIs have already created specific teams to deal with sustainability and innovation issues, there are still some challenges to be faced, such as the lack of clear performance indicators and the need to improve sustainability strategic plans. Nevertheless, partnerships with external organizations and positive evaluation of the impact of HEIs are encouraging signs that progress is being made in the right direction.