Abstract
The University of Coimbra has been implementing several projects and activities towards sustainability, including advanced educational programmes in the framework of its Energy for Sustainability Initiative. This paper presents a Sustainable Development Management System tailored for the University of Coimbra (UC), to prepare the next institutional step towards a systematic planning and management approach to sustainable campus development. The term sustainable campus is introduced and defined for the UC. A framework to foster sustainability at the campus of UC is proposed and a management system is designed. The management system adapts the existing ISO14001 standard to manage campus environmental issues, in combination with a number of indicators of the STARS assessment system to also cover educational and social aspects of a sustainable campus. 27 STARS indicators of the STARS categories Academic and Engagement are analysed. Thereby, STARS indicators are applied to a “plan, do, check, act” management cycle. Applying the STARS indicators facilitates the recording to submit a STARS report for rating purposes.
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Acknowledgments
This work has been framed under the Initiative Energy for Sustainability of the University of Coimbra and supported by the Energy and Mobility for Sustainable Regions Project (CENTRO-07-0224-FEDER-002004), co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the «Programa Operacional Regional do Centro 2007−2013 (PORC)», in the framework of the «Sistema de Apoio a Entidades do Sistema Científico e Tecnológico Nacional», and by the «Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia» and also partially supported by FCT under project grant PEst-C/EEI/UI0308/2011.
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Appendix 1: Description of the 27 Additional Indicators from the STARS Assessment System and Their Complemented ISO 14001 Clauses (AASHE 2013)
Appendix 1: Description of the 27 Additional Indicators from the STARS Assessment System and Their Complemented ISO 14001 Clauses (AASHE 2013)
Indicator | Description | Evaluation | ISO 14001 clause |
|---|---|---|---|
ACADEMICS (Curriculum) | |||
Academic courses | Evaluates sustainability courses and courses which involve sustainability | Percentage of all courses | |
Learning outcome | Evaluates the number of students that had at least one lesson regarding sustainability | Percentage of all students who graduate | |
Undergrad programs | Evaluates the number of undergrad programmes (major, degree programme) regarding sustainability | Presence of the programme | |
Graduate program | Evaluates the number of graduate programmes (major, degree programme) regarding sustainability | Presence of the programme | |
Immersive experience | Practical experience with sustainability matters, on and off campus | Frequency and duration | |
Sustainability literacy assessment | Evaluation of the success of education in sustainability through surveys or tests | Percentage of students assessed | 4.5.1 |
Incentives for developing courses | Evaluates efforts towards sustainability in curriculum (professional training, funding) | Presence of action | |
Campus as a living laboratory | On-campus engagement in form of thesis projects and research in: air and climate, buildings, dining services, energy, grounds, purchasing, transportation, waste, water, coordination (planning and governance), diversity and affordability, health (wellbeing and work), investment, public engagement, others… | Presence of incentives | |
ACADEMICS (research) | |||
Academic research | Evaluates the number faculty staff engaged in research | Percentage of faculty staff engaged | |
Evaluates number of departments engaged in research | Percentage of departments engaged | ||
Support for research | Evaluates to what content students, faculty and research units are committed to do research in sustainability | Presence of effort | |
Access to research | Evaluates the public access to university research | Percentage of public research results | |
ENGAGEMENT (On campus) | |||
Student educators program | Evaluates the impact of eco-representatives or eco- ambassadors on the students | Percentage of students reached | |
Student orientation | Evaluates the number of new students (freshmen) involved in orientation programmes dealing with sustainability | Percentage of new students | |
Student life | Evaluates co-curricular programmes and initiatives to engage students in sustainability (conferences, student groups, outdoor programmes) | Total number of programmes | |
Outreach materials and publications | Information media (website, newsletter, facebook) to inform about sustainability efforts | Total number of programmes | 4.4.3 |
Outreach campaign | Evaluates programmes to encourage students and staff to save resources (energy, water) | Total number of outreach campaigns | |
Employee educators program | Evaluate education programmes in sustainability for campus staff | Percentage of staff reache | |
Employee orientation | Evaluates orientation programmes for new employees | Percentage of new employees reached | 4.4.2 |
Staff professional development | Recognizes if staff has the opportunity to engage in professional courses regarding sustainability | Presence of initiatives | 4.4.2 |
ENGAGEMENT (public) | |||
Community partnership | Evaluates partnership of the university with local community, including school districts, government agencies, non-profit organizations, business and/or other entities | Form of partnership (Supportive, Collaborative, Transformative) | |
Inter-campus collaboration | Evaluates networking with other educational institutions to exchange knowledge regarding sustainability | Presence of network | 4.4.3 |
Continuing education | Evaluates if courses (certificate) regarding sustainability or involving sustainability are offered | Percentage of continuing education courses (certificate) | |
Community service | Evaluates the number of students and time involved in voluntary community service programmes | Percentage of students involved, and hours spent per year | |
Community stakeholder engagement | Evaluates if a framework exists that identifies and involves community stakeholders in the campus | Presence of action | |
Participation in public policy | Evaluates if the university promotes sustainability through public policy advocacy | Presence of action | |
Trademark licensing | Evaluates the participation in social programmes (Fair trade, fair labour association, worker rights consortium) | Presence of action | |
Hospital network | University hospital is engaged in global networks (Global Green and Healthy Hospital Network, Healthier Hospital Initiative, Practice Green health) | Presence of action |
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Votteler, M.K., Martins, A.G. (2015). A Sustainable Development Management System for the University of Coimbra. In: Leal Filho, W., Azeiteiro, U., Caeiro, S., Alves, F. (eds) Integrating Sustainability Thinking in Science and Engineering Curricula. World Sustainability Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-09474-8_26
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