The journey towards a sustainability strategy for University of Stavanger

Master's thesis in Business InnovationThe world is changing constantly. The most negatively impacting are the climate changes happening to our beautiful planet due to human consumption. Through Norway's commitment to the UN, Agenda 2030, it has become increasingly important to satisfy today's societies needs without destroying future generations' opportunities to meet theirs. Therefore, we need a plan to steer development in a sustainable direction that is beneficial for everyone worldwide. In order to follow the development of society as well as set a good example Norwegian university must adapt. This thesis is therefore dedicated to creating input to our beloved schools' future strategy regarding the sustainability part. There have been conducted a survey that was optional to answer by students and employees at the school, there were also conducted interviews with 8 different individuals in order to obtain primary data for our study. It was also necessary to use secondary sources of data for analysis, such as for instance building reports, area reports, annual reports, Campus development reports, internal employee surveys and statistics from the Norwegian Central Bureau of Statiscs and Database for statistics on higher education. Through internal and external analysis, we defined what sustainability should mean for UiS through new set of goal, values and vision. Secondly, we explored the possibility for UiS to integrate circular economy in their new strategy. Lastly, we assembled and presented the different sustainability measures that have been revealed throughout our analysis. Sustainability is becoming a virtue which more people value higher. Our thesis suggests strongly that adapting the sustainable measures will help rebrand and change the reputation of the school. Eventually this will attract more highly qualified students, and more funding.submittedVersio