Sustainable University Transformation Through Student Engagement? Organizational Theoretical Considerations

The path to sustainable higher education transformation is shaped by higher education policy requirements that meet higher education practice and related challenges. A Whole Institution Approach is needed to achieve the goal of overall institutional change at universities in the sense of sustainable development, involving all key stakeholder groups. Students and student initiatives are seen to play a central role as pioneers of change. Based on political demands, committed students want to help shape change processes at universities. Within the discourse on sustainable higher education transformation, the student perspective therefore represents an important but so far little studied group of actors. This article describes sustainable higher education transformation in Germany from the perspective of organizational theory and explores the possibilities of student participation. Fundamental to sustainable higher education transformation is the high complexity of higher education as an organization, which also determines the potential for change.