Abstract
To paraphraseReimagining Armitage et al. (Front Ecol Environ 7:95–102, 2009)Reimagining management, efforts to resolve multi-scale environment–society dilemmas require innovative universityUniversity governance. While adaptive and ecologically informed models of managementManagement have drawn attention to this need, much of the emphasis has been embedded in the dominant epistemology of scienceEpistemology of science. As a result, translating epistemologically plural ecosystemic managementManagement principles into practice remains a challenge, creating frailty within the system as it challenges the neoliberal status quo (Deem, Int Stud Sociol Educ 8:47–70, 1998). Flexible social arrangements are necessary to develop the rules, institutions, and incentives that influenceSustainability in higher education ecosystem managementManagement outcomes in a complex and uncertain world dominated by wicked problems. These arrangements need to recognize the need for epistemological pluralityEpistemological plurality and epistemological humilityHumility to align with the central themes of the ecological universityEcological university (as outlined by Kinchin in Teach High Educ 28:918–932, 2023, and Kinchin in How to mend a university: towards a sustainable learning environment in higher education, Bloomsbury, London, 2024a), and the role of academic developersAcademic developers in curating the epistemic interface between groups within the universityUniversity ecosystem. The paradigmatic shift away from the neoliberal mindset of academic leaders requires overcoming threshold conceptsThreshold concepts that can pave the way for the ecological universityEcological university. Some of these threshold conceptsThreshold concepts are outlined at the end to highlight certain difficulties that are not perceived by managers and academics.