well, in case of a university, sustainability can be achieved in three ways I think, one, architectural/planning perspective - where whole campus or all its buildings will be/can be energy efficient along with ‘environmentally friendly’ infrastructure, two, economic perspective - strong self-sufficient and practices green economy and finally academic perspective -  contributing to research and education and its commitment on sustainability or sustainable development. 

One of my thoughts is that the sustainable university needs to adapt to 21st century needs in the workplace - and that is to produce independent, critical thinkers, versed in both divergent and convergent processes, systems thinking, design approaches, and definitely non-dualistic thought.  The basic skills of communication and computation - as well as basic science and the scientific method of inquiry, should be included, along with classic literature and the history of philosophy.  From a human/psychological/sociological and business perspective, it is the only way we could expect that graduates stand a chance of succeeding in this post-modern world.

I think the sustainable university should connect knowladge and practice. The konwladge is necessery but students should know how to use it in practice. Students ought to see that both - konwadge and practice - are important.

A university, just like any other institution, is dependent upon meeting the needs of the marketplace.  So it all depends upon what thse needs are.  Sustainability only viewed from the university point of view, actually is only self-interest, which ultimately is not sustainable over the long run.

I think sustainable university should be solution centered.  This implies that she is designed to understand the critical problems in the immediate environment and attempt to provide solutions to  them. If well positioned to solve these immediate challenges, this will win the trust of the beneficiary to invest their resources of all kinds to sustain till the end ( for a very long time).  

As you know, sustainability is the idea of producing goods & services in ways that do not use up resources (that cannot be replaced) & that do not harm the environment.

In applying the above definition to a university so that it is depicted as "sustainable university'', it has to indicate that the university will set an example for others to follow with respect to reducing its impact on the environment by wise practices & responsible growth.

The wise practices will include many things such as collecting water in underground wells "this is done at our university" for the sake of ensuring the continuous availability of water for drinking, irrigation of plants, and working in laboratories. Also, there will be stress upon eliminating wasteful use of electricity & other energy resources.

A responsible growth will include smart decisions about the number of students to be accepted, the new programs of study, and adding employees to academic departments. I know a department in a university (in our country) which has an actual staff of 5  "Why actual ? Because the other 3 names in their website are fake" & this staff is highly over-loaded but they do not want to add any employee because they have a disease which is "greed for overtime money". How come this department will be sustainable?   Any time, one or more of them will become ill.      

I shall never be content until the beneficent influence of the University

reaches every home in the state. President Charles Van Hise,

University of Wisconsin, 1904

The above statement inspired Sir Eric Ashby, British educator, to

recognize the greatest American contribution to higher education as “dismantling the walls around the campus” and to let society benefit from it

(Bok, 1982). The mission of higher education institutions is closely

related to sustainability and it is widely accepted that universities should

play an active role in sustainability (Lukman & Glavič, 2007; Stephens,

Hernandez, Román, Graham, & Scholz, 2008; Vladimirova & Le Blanc,

2016). They contribute to economic development, social inclusion and

environmental sustainability in society by educating the future workforce

that would constitute the backbone of all businesses and organizations

while, as organizations in their own rights, they develop sustainability-oriented curricula, outreach programs, and research, design sustainable

operations, and exercise sustainability assessment and reporting practices. Moreover, higher education institutions are the fulcrum of raising

sustainability awareness. They play a crucial role in informing and

transforming societies (Barth & Rieckmann, 2012), helping them and

businesses to become more sustainable and responsible by contributing

to social debates and informing economic and environmental policies

(Godemann, Bebbington, Herzig, & Moon, 2014). Nonetheless, higher

education institutions should be the subject of change and not merely

agents of change (Lukman & Glavič, 2007).

More...

Article Developing a sustainability reporting assessment tool for hi...