Verena Régent^[1], Beate Pawle^[2], Verena Liszt-Rohlf^[3], Irem Aksoy²

Abstract

Higher education institutions (HEIs) are increasingly recognised as key actors in the green transition through their roles in research, education, innovation, and societal engagement (Findler et al., 2018; Gutiérrez-Mijares et al., 2023). At the same time, sustainability assessment and reporting practices remain uneven across the sector, while existing sustainability assessment tools (SATs) often lack holistic and process-oriented approaches (Mapar et al., 2020; Stoeber et al., 2021; 2025). In response, the Erasmus+-funded GET-AHED project (2023–2026) developed the University Greening Toolbox, whose core component is the participatory Green Self-Assessment Toolkit.

This paper explores practical applications of the toolkit through two Austrian case studies. The first demonstrates how the toolkit can complement materiality analysis by adding a structured institutional performance perspective to stakeholder-oriented sustainability assessments. The second illustrates how the toolkit can support the participatory revision of a university research strategy through workshop-based application. Together, the cases show that the value of SATs lies not only in assessment outcomes, but also in the organisational learning, dialogue, and cross-departmental coordination triggered through their application. The paper argues that participatory and process-oriented SATs can function as transitional governance instruments supporting HEIs in embedding sustainability more strategically and preparing for increasingly formalised sustainability expectations.

[1] WPZ Research

[2] Fachhochschule Vorarlberg

[3] Hochschule Burgenland