\nFindings – The paper discusses the challenges

The gap

Evidence profile

Sourced from the recommendations and abstract and inline gaps and future-work section of the source papers, classified as general, drawn from work published between 2011 and 2026, spanning 7 journals. Those papers have been cited 33 times in total.

Supporting evidence — 8 representative gaps

• Integrating Sustainable Development Goals Into Quality Management Practices: Basis For Proposed Framework and Strategic Plan (2026) · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · doi

  In this note, to strengthen the institutionalization of sustainability, the study puts forward key strategic recommendations grounded in its empirical findings. It advocates for the formal adoption of the IMPACT–SDG Framework and the implementation of the Five-Year Strategic Plan (2026–2030) to systematically embed SDG integration within the QMS. Central actions include aligning VMGO and institutional policies with priority SDGs, establishing a robust monitoring and evaluation system, and integrating sustainability into curriculum and faculty development. The study further highlights the need to enhance documentation, reporting, and quality control mechanisms, ensure sustained resource allocation, and invest in technological systems to support data-driven decision-making. Strengthening alignment with accreditation and ISO processes, expanding partnerships and internationalization efforts, and promoting longitudinal and comparative research are likewise emphasized to advance institutional coherence, global competitiveness, and long-term sustainability integration. 1486 REFERENCES Volume 2 Issue 5 (2026) Adipat, S., & Chotikapanich, R. (2022). Sustainable Development Goal 4: An Education Goal to Achieve Equitable Quality Education. Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, 11(6), 174. https://doi.org/10.36941/ajis-2022-0159 Agenda 2030: Factors of Innovation Activity and Socio-Economic Impact. Alcántara-Rubio, L., Valderrama-Hernández, R., Solís-Espallargas, C., & Ruiz-Morales, J. (2022). The implementation of the SDGs in universities: a systematic review.

  generalrecommendationsevidence 5/5
  Keywords: sustainability strategic impact implementation integration institutional sdgs development quality goal education note strengthen institutionalization puts
• Community engagement ecosystems in South African higher education: A bibliometric analysis of scholarship advancing social justice, inclusion, and institutional strategy (2026) · International Journal of Business Ecosystem & Strategy (2687-2293) · doi

  The section below proposes strategic levers to strengthen community engagement in higher education, focusing on the need for greater institutionalisation, collaboration and methodological innovation. Furthermore, it points to major study limitations and recalls future research lines that can reinforce how community engagement contributes to positively changing academic and social systems. The first lever is the institutionalisation of community engagement for ecosystem sustainability The journey to sustainable community engagement (CE) requires meaningful institutionalisation into formal policies, strategic plans and governance frameworks, underpinned by adequate funding and aligned mechanisms for reward. Legitimising CE as a core academic function, rather than an optional activity, also requires its integration into promotion and performance criteria. Institutional commitment: Integration could allow engagement efforts of the campus to be sustained (and enhanced) long after institutional sponsorship ends by ensuring continuity, providing a staff umbrella that enables greater participation in outreach (as described before), and alignment more effectively with teaching and research, ultimately demanding stronger overall sustainability for the ecosystem for such engagements. A second lever is building multidisciplinary and cross-institutional networks for innovation and social impact. There is already too much fragmentation and concentration that call for more collaboration across disciplines and universities. Through inclusive networks, institutions should exchange expertise, share resources and co-produce knowledge that is more attuned to societal challenges. This not only amplifies innovation but also enables aligned, sector-wide responses to enhance the community value of CE efforts. The third strategic lever is promoting methodological innovation through participatory and decolonial lenses. By employing anti-colonial research methods which highlight local knowledge systems as well as following consideration for marginal voices, universities must be mindful of how to carry out ethical engagements. By ensuring that knowledge production is contextually anchored and socially responsive, thereby adding legitimacy, relevance and transformative validity to CE. Despite these strengths, this paper does have several limitations. However, this dependence on bibliometric analysis inherently prioritises indexed and peer-reviewed resources, which risks marginalising potentially valuable insights from non-indexed publications. This carries the risk of Anglo-centric bias, as global databases have been argued to underrepresent scholarship from the Global South. The exclusion of grey literature, for example, policy reports, and community-based research outputs or even institutional documents, is another limitation in the comprehensiveness of this analysis; particularly relevant in a relatively new but effective field like community engagement, where practice-based knowledge is substantial. These limitations indicate that the results ought to be viewed as an incomplete but significant snapshot of the CE knowledge landscape. Future studies should build upon these findings and conduct longitudinal impact studies, assessing the real-world outcomes of community engagement initiatives over time, particularly regarding justice and institutionalisation. There is also a need for studies comparing African contexts to better explain how various socio-political and institutional environments influence CE practices and 388 Makhanya, International Journal of Business Ecosystem & Strategy, 8(2), (2026) 380-391 scholarship. Making methodological approaches broader than bibliometrics, by including qualitative, participative and mixed methods research, would yield a more complete picture of the field.

  generalrecommendationsevidence 5/5
  Keywords: community engagement institutional knowledge institutionalisation innovation strategic methodological limitations lever ecosystem need greater collaboration future
• Promotion of sustainability in postgraduate education in the Asia Pacific region (2011) · International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education · cited 33× · doi

  
\nFindings – The paper discusses the challenges confronting higher education institutions in the context of the decade of education for sustainable development (DESD) and finds that whilst many local actions within universities are being initiated in relation to ESD, there is insufficient cross institutional collaboration occurring to achieve the transformative agenda of ESD.

  generalabstractevidence 5/5
  Keywords: education nfindings discusses challenges confronting higher institutions context decade sustainable development desd finds whilst local
• Revisiting the Civic University in Europe: Comparative Insights from Poland, Portugal, and Sweden (2026) · INSTED Interdisciplinary Studies in Education & Society · doi

  Furthermore, the focus on external stakeholders means that internal university perspectives, such as those of leadership, academic staff, or students, remain underexplored. Further investigation into the institutional mechanisms that sustain long-term partnerships, the systematization of participatory methodologies, and the development of evaluation frameworks for civic engagement would also contribute to advancing the understanding of the civic university within regional knowledge ecosystems.

  generalinline gapsevidence 5/5
  Keywords: university civic focus external stakeholders means internal perspectives leadership academic staff students remain underexplored further
• INTEGRATING SDG 4 AND THE ACHIEVEMENT OF QUALITY HIGHER EDUCATION IN NIGERIA (2026) · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · doi

  Based on the findings and conclusions of the study, the following recommendations were made: 1) Since curriculum learning has the strongest effect on prospects, higher education institutions should deliberately include lifelong learning principles in courses, teaching methods, and assessments, ensuring that SDG 4 objectives are embedded across all academic programmes. 2) Universities should organise regular workshops, seminars, and awareness campaigns to increase students’ and staff’s knowledge of lifelong learning, leveraging digital platforms and social media to bridge the awareness gap. 3) Institutional practices must be improved through formal policies supporting lifelong learning, adequate resource provision, staff training, and monitoring systems to track progress towards SDG 4 targets. 4) Student involvement should be strengthened through structured opportunities for in curriculum development, SDG advocacy, and community participation development projects, supported by institutional funding and recognition. 5) The challenges of funding lifelong learning should be addressed through increased government budget allocations to meet the UNESCO-recommended threshold of 15– 20%, supplemented by public-private partnerships that attract private sector investment in educational infrastructure.

  generalrecommendationsevidence 5/5
  Keywords: learning lifelong curriculum awareness staff institutional development funding private based conclusions following recommendations made strongest
• Academic Development in Sustainability-Oriented Learning Environments: A Qualitative Case Study of the Ocean i3 Project (2026) · International Journal of Educational Methodology · doi

  These recommendations provide specific guidance on how to strengthen academic development processes within sustainability-oriented environments. They translate the study’s findings into concrete actions designed to reinforce sustainable, collaborative, and educational innovation ecosystems. For researchers: - To conduct in-depth studies analysing academic development from an ecological perspective, exploring how individual, collective, and institutional factors interact in different educational contexts. - To design research incorporating longitudinal and participatory methodologies to capture how the tensions between opportunities and challenges evolve throughout innovation processes. 160  REKALDE-RODRÍGUEZ / Academic Development of Teachers - To examine in detail the role of students as active agents in educational transformation by systematically incorporating their voices into the analysis. - To develop theoretical frameworks that integrate the concept of a learning ecosystem and enable an understanding of teaching innovation in sustainability contexts as a non-linear, relational, and situated phenomenon. - To conduct comparative studies of transdisciplinary projects carried out in ESD contexts in order to identify common patterns and conditions that promote teachers’ academic development. For practitioners and institutional leaders: - To create flexible structures that recognise and support the interaction between individual motivations and institutional policies, fostering spaces where these two dimensions can interact constructively. - To promote complex, open, and transdisciplinary teaching projects that serve simultaneously as contexts for training, practice, and professional transformation. - To integrate the management of tensions—between opportunity and challenge—as a strategic component of teacher support, recognising conflict as a driver of learning. - To foster stable collaborative processes that link communities of practice with institutional structures, strengthening the coherence of the innovation ecosystem. - To ensure that sustainability initiatives are aligned with the actual conditions of the context (timing, resources and recognition), avoiding innovations that rely solely on individual effort. - To establish mechanisms for systematic reflection (practice logbooks, mentoring, seminars, etc.) that help teaching staff interpret and make the most of the inherent complexity of innovation processes.

  generalrecommendationsevidence 5/5
  Keywords: innovation academic development processes institutional contexts sustainability educational individual teaching practice collaborative conduct interact incorporating
• SoTL cultures in South African Higher Education and future directions: Insights from a multi-Institutional benchmarking study (2026) · Journal of Education and Learning Technology · doi

  Strengthening SoTL institutionalisation requires integrated strategies. Centralised units should anchor programmes for coherence and resource support, complemented by faculty-level coordinators or disciplinary CoP to promote local ownership. Clearly articulated goals aligned with institutional missions and local teaching cultures can embed evidence-based SoTL practice while advancing transformative student outcomes. Flexible, inclusive pathways such as mentorship and collaborative projects enable reflective inquiry and foster the scholarship of teaching and learning properly. Embedding resources in core budgets, rather than relying solely on cyclical external grants, is critical for sustainability and a robust SoTL culture.

  generalrecommendationsevidence 5/5
  Keywords: sotl faculty practice reflective institutional student agency teaching mentorship culture structural engagement strategies units support
• The Possibilities and Limits of Institutionalizing Community Engagement (2026) · Metropolitan Universities · doi

  Future research should explore the potential for community engagement to advance epistemic equity and shift campus culture. Studies should examine the role of resource power and staffing in determining influence within universities. Research should investigate the impact of shifting institutional priorities, neoliberal pressures, and political volatility on community engagement efforts.

  generalfuture-work sectionevidence 5/5
  Keywords: future research explore potential community engagement advance epistemic

Questions about this gap