Communicating Sustainability in Ecuadorian Public Universities: A Content Analysis of Digital Media and a Framework of Educommunicational Strategies

Abstract

Universities play a pivotal role in fostering sustainable practices, yet limited evidence is available on how this commitment is translated into digital communication within Latin American higher education. To address this gap, this study examines how Ecuadorian public universities communicate sustainability through digital media, using a mixed-methods design that integrates content analysis, correlational analysis, and expert-judgment validation to develop educommunicational strategies for university communication offices, sustainability units, and higher-education policymakers. Content analysis was conducted on 733 sustainability-related publications (102 on institutional websites and 631 on social media—Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube, and TikTok) from 34 Ecuadorian public universities. Publications were classified into internal and external institutional-performance categories and assessed in terms of publication frequency and engagement rate; Spearman correlations were used to examine associations between audience size and posting activity. The findings reveal limited visibility of sustainability topics, fragmented communication strategies, and a predominance of Facebook and Instagram; only three universities maintain a dedicated sustainability section on their website. Four educommunicational strategies, validated through expert judgment, are proposed as a framework for transforming university digital communication and aligning it more closely with institutional sustainability commitments.