Education for sustainable development creates new challenges for universities expected to prepare students to meet the complexities and take their responsibility in promoting sustainability, which is urgently called for by scientist today. The concept of sustainability and the difficulty in defining it is not just a problem, but also opportunity for the different academic traditions in different disciplines. Environmental management systems like ISO 14001 have been used to institutionalizing the activities for sustainable development in organizations.  

This single empirical case study explores with a survey how faculty and staff have perceive their role in university sustainability work at the University of Gävle in Swede, which was certified according to ISO 14001 in July 2004. In 2010 the faculty and staff were asked in open questions how they in their activities at a university contribute to sustainable development. The answers indicate their perceptions of sustainable development in a university context and show that both faculty and staff perceive that their activities in university contribute to sustainable development in many ways. Examples from the answers reveal that contribution to sustainable development is becoming as a more natural part in academic activities and the institutions are becoming more aware of their role in educating academics to meet the complexities in society.