Creative tensions in embedding sustainability within higher education: exploring the intersection of sustainability, education and institutional spaces

Purpose This paper aims to explore the integration of sustainability into the higher education (HE) curriculum, identifying and examining the key factors that contribute to its successful embedding in educational practice. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on an institutional case study with a design informed by a systems-based ecological perspective of the university. Case study data includes 19 interviews with educators at varied levels of the university, analysed through thematic coding. Findings The analysis identified three spaces that interact with each other: the sustainability, education and institutional spaces. Discussion is focused on the norms and concepts, processes and structures lying in the intersections between these spaces that are seen as key to the process of embedding sustainability into the curriculum. Originality/value The framing and empirical analysis contribute to discussions of embedding by considering processes beyond curriculum structures, which, whilst important, might be seen as outcomes rather than processes of embedding. The paper considers embedding processes holistically within the university as a system. This adds conceptual depth to the understanding of the embedding of sustainability in the curriculum in HE, as well as providing more practical guidance for those leading on sustainability in the curriculum at an institutional level.