Towards a Social Ontology on Sustainable Development in CUT: Understanding Stakeholder Perceptions

Abstract

Successful implementation of Sustainable Development (SD) in Higher Education cannot be achieved through distinct knowledge and operational silos. Rather, the storyboard of success shows the importance of stakeholder contributions. However, achieving a consensus among stakeholders has proven to be a herculean task when power relations are uncertain. Such lack of consensus accentuates a need for the evolution of an SD based social ontology within a University system. As a first step towards achieving such ontology, it is imperative that the perceptions of these stakeholders are gauged and understood. This is the central objective of this study. In this study, the Central University of Technology, Free State (CUT) is used as an exemplar to explore the existence of diverse stakeholder perceptions and the impact of such on the attainment of expected implementation outcomes. This study obtains data through semistructured interviews from identified stakeholders within the CUT. Observations from the data confirmed the prevalence of diverse perceptions on the definition of sustainability and the components of SD as well as its expected outcomes. The findings from this study would assist in the evolution of an SD based social ontology within the University by harnessing the identified perceptions of the various stakeholders.