Transforming Universities for a Changing Climate: Qualitative and Quantitative Data, 2021-2023

Higher education has a crucial role to play in responding to the climate crisis, not only through carrying out research, but also through teaching, community engagement and public awareness. The Transforming Universities for a Changing Climate (Climate-U) project aimed to strengthen the contribution of universities to addressing the causes and impacts of climate change in lower-income contexts. In doing so, it contributed to the broader task of understanding the role of education in achieving the full set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). First starting in 2020, it focused on five countries: Brazil, Fiji, Kenya, Mozambique and the UK. The project sought to answer two main research questions in these countries: What are the effects of locally-generated university initiatives on actions and ideas relating to climate change?; and How do they inform our understandings of the role of higher education in sustainable development? The qualitative and quantitative collections of data deposited here contribute to an analysis of that answers these questions.

We start with a description of the qualitative data collection. A case study design was adopted to guide the research. The focus of the case studies was variously on community engagement, curriculum and campus greening activities. The collaborations and partnerships that exist between the university and external organisations on climate action were also examined during the study. Interviews and focus groups were conducted with a range of key informants (community members, academics, students and non-government organisations). The broad aim of the interviews and focus groups was to establish respondents' views on the role of universities in responding to climate change through and beyond the teaching, research, community engagement and public awareness functions. This was in order to determine the extent to which universities can themselves be transformed in order to respond to the climate crisis, as well as transform the marginalised communities surrounding universities.

The qualitative case studies formed part of the broader research method for the project – participatory action research (PAR). Not all of the participating universities made formal data collection of interviews and focus groups as part of the PAR. Qualitative data from four of the participating institutions are included in this dataset.

We now turn to a description of the quantitative data collection. A survey on climate change was conducted in twelve universities in Brazil, Fiji, Kenya and Mozambique. The survey examined the experiences of students, their engagement in climate action and their attitudes towards environmental issues. It responded to the overall aim of the project, which was to generate insights into how to maximise the contribution of universities to the mitigation and adaptation challenges of climate change, and to understand how universities might contribute to climate justice. To this end, the survey aimed to assess students’ perceptions and experiences regarding climate change and their universities, and their environmental attitudes. It was designed to be internationally comparable and to draw on existing work and questions, so a number of previous surveys and studies were reviewed in the process of drafting our questionnaire.