Institutional Patterns of Sustainability Integration: Evidence from Turkish Higher Education

Abstract

This study examines how sustainability is institutionally integrated into higher education in Türkiye through a whole-institution perspective. Using qualitative document analysis, publicly available institutional documents and official online sources from all public and foundation universities operating in Türkiye during the 2025–2026 academic year (N = 208) were systematically examined. The analysis focused on curriculum and teaching, research activities, campus-based practices, and external collaboration and engagement. The findings indicate variation in the scope and cross-domain coordination of documented sustainability-related practices, with institutions displaying different patterns of integration across the four analytical domains. The quantitative SDG mapping further showed that documented sustainability activities were most frequently aligned with SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production; 73 institutions, 35.1%), SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy; 69 institutions, 33.2%), and SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities; 58 institutions, 27.9%), whereas several socially oriented SDGs showed substantially more limited documented visibility. The analysis further identifies four recurring heuristic configurations of documented sustainability integration: the Campus-Practice-Emphasis Configuration, Cross-Domain Coordination Configuration, Curriculum-Emphasis Configuration, and Discursive-Emphasis Configuration. Rather than representing a validated or universally generalizable taxonomy, this typology provides an analytical lens for interpreting patterns of sustainability integration within the Turkish higher-education context. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of cross-domain coordination and institutional coherence and offer context-sensitive implications for university leaders and policymakers seeking to strengthen sustainability integration in higher education.