Sustainability and sustainable practices are a priority of policy guidelines for the future period and require the involvement and contribution of all stakeholders through operations in the domain. This paper focuses on the analysis of existing literature with the aim of synthesizing and defining research and development initiatives for key domains within higher education institutions for the integration of sustainability. Those domains are: Study Programs and Curricula; Operations, Student Life and Campus; Research, Science, Networks and Partnerships; and Projects. Identifying research and development initiatives contributed to the understanding of how higher education institutions can contribute to sustainable development. In addition, the research is the basis for creating a framework for implementing, developing and evaluating sustainable practices in higher education institutions.