Higher education institutions (HEIs) are the key to the economic and social development of a country. However, the recent advancements of higher education institutions’ universities in China have become a pivotal factor contributing to their swift growth. Considering the impact of the external environment, applying a three-stage data-envelopment analysis (DEA) and the Malmquist index method, we evaluated the static and dynamic efficiency of input–output data of scientific research produced by universities directly under the Ministry of Education in the period of 2010 to 2017. Results showed that the three stage DEA model is more accurate than the traditional DEA method for measuring the efficiency of scientific research input and universities’ output. The overall efficiency of universities’ scientific research activities increased at an average annual rate of 3.7% from 2010 to 2017. Further analysis showed that the optimization of the scale was the primary internal factor able to promote the efficiency of scientific research in universities. Technological progress slightly diminishes the efficiency of scientific research in universities, which should, therefore, take measures to improve pure technical efficiency to enlarge the scale of their scientific research according to the characteristics of scientific research efficiency. Such steps will strengthen internal motivation towards scientific research efficiency in universities.

The sustainable mobility of the future comes about through sustainable ways of transport, such as walking, cycling, or collective transport. This includes the bus, the underground, and trains in big cities. This article reviews bus-related policies and initiatives worldwide. It also analyses ten cities looking at medium and long-term strategies for the urban bus service. The main ideas are: the forecasts for the use of the urban bus system indicate a significant increase in demand, therefore, there is a need for expanding the offered services; efforts to change the fleets towards Compressed Natural Gas and Electric vehicles; support of technological innovation for communication and accessibility; improving commercial speed and frequencies by infrastructure improvements, operation optimisation and technology; and, the link between these strategies and the air quality of cities. The transition towards a sustainable transport will happen based on the belief that the bus service is no longer the transport of the past or the present, but of the future.

A deep review of the state of the electromobility in urban public transport by bus was conducted from all different charging strategies, types of chargers, and e-buses with a general overview and SWOT analysis. A review of five case studies worldwide was also conducted and a real case study with real data was shown in depth: EMT Madrid, where all chargers and charging systems were developed in a single operation center. Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) from the literature and from the case study for e-buses were shown as compared with different bus technologies.

Madrid Public Transport Company (EMT-Madrid) is a property of the Madrid City Council, and it provides the public buses service in the whole city. Madrid, as most of the big cities in the world, is facing problems related to high levels of urban pollution, which directly affects the health and life quality of their inhabitants. EMT, having a fleet of around 2000 buses, has an impact in the mentioned problem and in the global warming. With the Strategic Plan 2017-2020, many new buses will be acquired, resulting in a fleet of natural gas, hybrid and electric vehicles by the end of 2020. The present study has the goal of being the cornerstone of a future strategic plan of the company. To this end, both external and internal analyses of the company have been conducted, which support that the electrification of the whole fleet is the best option in the long term. Furthermore, a Benchmarking of the state of the public transport in other 25 cities and the technology used in them has been conducted. Last, a model that allows replicability of this strategic assessment is proposed, in order to help other Transport Companies and City Councils to decide which transport fleet is the best to implement in their cities depending on their necessities and resources.

This chapter is a vision of the path followed by EMT of Madrid, during 25 years, towards the sustainability, efficiency, and contribution to the air quality in the city, starting from a diesel fleet, until getting a fleet 100% of clean vehicles, mostly GNC, which is already a reality. It shows the evolution and the use, from the practical perspective of an operator, of all the technologies available at each moment (biodiesel, bioethanol, hydrogen, electricity, natural gas, hybridization, dualisation, start-stop, catalysis, etc.) in Madrid, in a fleet of more than 2000 buses, more than 200 lines, and more than 400 million passengers per year, which makes this case an international benchmark. In addition, EMT is currently at the end of the transition to gas vehicles (CNG) and the implementation of urban electric mobility from the double perspective of the mobile material and the associated infrastructure needed, an essential case study towards sustainable public transport.

Higher Education Institutions (IES) have a very relevant role in the path towards sustainability. The problem of the implementation of curricular sustainability is the disparity of solutions that can be adopted depending on the political and economic situation of each country. The study of a practical case in the south of Honduras allows the student to approach key decisions in a real scenario to bring improvements to a very disadvantaged population, lacking basic services, such as water and electricity, under the premise of sustainability, facing aspects as relevant such as sustainable mobility, water resources management, energy and construction models, in a context where globalization and technological innovation play a very important role. It is essential to know in depth the real context where structural changes will be applied to understand that there is no single reality, that actions are built adapting to specific situations and that the effectiveness of the measures that can be adopted to establish models that prioritize that part of sustainability that best weighs the balance between the environment, society and the economy for each case.