Sustainable events: a proposal to raise quality in universities

Abstract

Quality management is a topical issue in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), in order to achieve a better integration of university processes. The realization of events as a way for the socialization of knowledge contributes to the diffusion and promotion of the academic community through local, regional and international cooperation. Regardless of their magnitude, events may have negative impacts on the environment, so the incorporation of sustainability criteria throughout their life cycle is of great importance. This is why the objective of the present work is to propose a system of actions for the management of sustainable events at the University of Havana, for which a mixed research was developed, in which theoretical and empirical methods were used. The review and analysis of the main theoretical and methodological foundations allowed us to assume the ISO 20121 standard for the design of a Sustainability Management System for Events at the University of Havana, which, due to its contextual and flexible nature, can be applied in Other HEIs. The partially designed and implemented system will assist in the continuous improvement of event management by establishing criteria for the rational use of all natural and material resources and benchmarks to measure the constant improvement of sustainability in the Management of events.