ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Higher Education
Sustainability and research in the Colombian-Ecuadorian public higher education system
Provisionally accepted
- Universidad Politécnica Estatal del Carchi, Tulcan, Ecuador
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The main objective of this study was to analyze the sustainability orientation of research models in four public higher education institutions (HEIs) located in the border area between Ecuador and Colombia. Using a previously validated instrument based on the Delphi methodology, data were collected from the heads of the research units of these HEIs. Statistical analysis revealed no significant differences between the research models of the four institutions and the principles of sustainability in general. However, one institution showed significantly superior performance in the environmental and economic dimensions, suggesting a better integration of sustainability criteria into its research model. The main methodological contribution of this study lies in the comprehensive characterization of HEI research models by assessing multiple indicators in four key dimensions: environmental, social, economic and institutional. This pioneering analysis contributes to the understanding of the integration of sustainability in public HEI research models in a frontier context, a topic scarcely addressed in the specialized literature. The findings have practical implications, providing HEIs with empirical evidence to critically evaluate and improve their research models, aligning their priorities with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Keywords: Border region, Public higher education, Research models, sustainability, Sustainable development goals
Received: 03 Oct 2025; Accepted: 10 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Burbano Pulles and Meneses Quelal. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Orlando Meneses Quelal
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