The Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) serves as an important case study for institutional strategy and reorganization around a shared goal. UMT has framed their mission around sustainable oceans, and has undergone institutional restructuring to address sustainability aquatic sciences. This is underpinned via their use of ‘Blue Ocean Strategy’, a growth strategy for organisations aimed at removing any competition-oriented practices or philosophies. UMT tailored this to encompasses community well-being, research support for sustainable oceans, and circular campus goals, and institutional restructuring; based around a strategic action grid of eliminating negative perceptions around marine sciences, raising multi-disciplinary awareness, reducing academic programs not in the niche area, and creating new research, education and innovation. Restructuring involved changes and reorganisations to all faculties and disciplines between 2013-2017 in order to better reflect the university’s growing expertise – as well as focused commitment to – sustainable oceans. Studies conducted during and around the process of restructuring quantified the knowledge surrounding sustainability among students and staff, and found that restructuring lead to increased university performance in their niche area of sustainable oceans. UMT also has a Sustainable Development Initiative specifically aimed at community engagement. Students must spend compulsory credit hours undertaking sustainable development-related community service.