Engaging for sustainable development and transformation: exploring the concept of transformative academic institutions

Universities are increasingly being seen as a positive vehicle for territorial development and regional transformation, with an important role in enhancing Social, Economic and Sustainable Development of territories. The world’s sustainability challenges are listed in the United Nation’s Agenda 2030, that includes Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) as actors that can work in partnership with others in collaborative processes leading to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, it can be challenging to balance priorities and resources to actively engage with external actors to address societal challenges. This exploratory research brings together five academic partners (3 in Europe, 1 in North America, and 1 in South America) to understand their experiences of genuine societal engagement and collaborative partnership for sustainable development within their regions. The research followed an iterative process that started with exploratory and sharing workshops, developed case studies and engaged in a collaborative workshop to identify challenges and opportunities. Findings point to a more strategic partnering with external (non-academic) actors in order to contribute to (longer-term) change processes that address regional sustainability challenges. This can take universities beyond their existing roles in collaborative production and dissemination of knowledge towards new roles in curating collective knowledge and catalysing and facilitating change. Future lines of research include further work on embedding and scaling up to wider university structures and overall culture.