The UGREENS (University for the GREEN and Sustainable transition”) project aims to advance knowledge of the extent to which universities contribute to building a climate-neutral society and economy through education and research. The project will focus on the Italian university system and on examining its contribution to the green and sustainable transition. Universities’ education and research activities are conceived as pivotal for the development of skills and knowledge needed for such a transition. Our knowledge of the universities’ contribution to the above transition challenge remains scant, however. UGREENS aims to fill this gap by addressing the following overarching research question: How do Italian universities’ education and research activities contribute to the green and sustainable transition?
UGREENS is expected to make three major contributions. First, the project will examine the extent to which ‘green’ knowledge has been integrated into Italian universities’ teaching offerings, thus providing longitudinal evidence of universities’ contributions to the development of green skills. In doing so, UGREENS will also investigate whether the diffusion of green knowledge into education has had an impact on the promotion of green-friendly attitudes among students with a specific reference to prospective jobs. Second, UGREENS will examine how the research focus of Italian universities on green-related topics has evolved and affected teaching activities so as to identify universities that have contributed more substantially towards the production of green knowledge. Finally, UGREENS will investigate the impact of Italian universities’ green education and research on local economic industrial activities. This will include an investigation of whether the level of integration of green research into teaching mediates the transfer of universities’ green knowledge to production systems.
UGREENS will advance the theory on the role of universities in supporting societal transitions and develop an open data infrastructure for further research. From the policy perspective, the findings of the project are expected to inform the development of policy initiatives and instruments that can augment the contribution of universities to the greening of the economy and society.