“Our good performance in this ranking is the result of several key factors. A deeply rooted culture of responsibility for society and the environmental awareness that is connected with this shapes everything we do at our university. We have been committed to creating a green campus for many years. However, our success extends well beyond operational practice; it is based on a clear strategy that unites ecological responsibility with scientific excellence. This vision has made it possible to develop a broad portfolio of sustainability-orientated educational programmes,” said Prof Sabine Doering-Manteuffel, president of the University of Augsburg.

A lot has already happened at the university this year. The newly established Green Office is a central point of contact that coordinates all activities concerned with sustainability. The university has developed a sustainability strategy on the basis of a participative process, and important measures to promote biodiversity on campus have also been implemented.

“All measures connected with the Green Transformation are aimed at strengthening our commitment to sustainable research, developing innovative learning formats, and continuing to improve the sustainability of our campus. But we are building on a very strong foundation. I am particularly pleased to see the result for research work in the ranking. From the over 3,400 high-ranking academic publications over the last three years, more than a third directly deal with one or more of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals defined by the United Nations,” said Prof Axel Tuma at the awards ceremony, who is responsible for steering the implementation of the Green Transformation on behalf of the university executive.

“Today’s prize motivates us to continue to press ahead along this path in order to make our university even more attractive for excellent researchers and interested students and employees,” Tuma added.

About the ranking

The UI GreenMetric World University Ranking was first established as an international sustainability ranking in 2010. It now assesses 1,477 universities in 95 countries. Alongside research performance and teaching programmes, it takes into account sustainable design and resource efficiency on campus. The main categories of assessment are infrastructure, energy and climate protection, water and waste management, as well as transport. Example questions include the availability of intelligent building technology, the use of renewable energy, the increase of biodiversity on campus, strategies for waste reduction and recycling, as well as support for emissions-free transport and access to public transport.

The results of the ranking can be viewed on the official website of the UI GreenMetric Ranking (greenmetric.ui.ac.id).

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