Demographic shifts, loss of trust in the value of a college degree and the youth mental health crisis are just a handful of the challenges the higher education sector faces today. Each of these is a complex problem that needs to be addressed separately, but what if there was also a way to address them simultaneously? I argue that there is a way – by greening your university. In other words, making it more sustainable. And while many universities have professed their ambitions to do so, not enough of them are doing enough.
Not surprisingly, universities frequently cite funding and costs as the biggest reasons for a lag in progress towards sustainability. While this is understandable, from the big-picture viewpoint, funding and costs are precisely the reason to aggressively invest in sustainability now rather than later. To start with, it is true that greening your institution requires upfront costs and investment, however, in the long run, this results in significant savings. Fossil fuel prices have surged amid the recent global energy crisis, and prices of oil and natural gas are expected to remain high and increase in the years to come. Renewable energy is positioned to be vastly more cost-efficient and to save universities money through lower operating costs, greater energy efficiency, government incentives and the creation of additional income streams such as through selling surplus energy that is created onsite back to the grid. For instance, here at CETYS University, our Mexicali and Tijuana campuses boast the largest university photovoltaic solar installation (a setup of solar panels and equipment that captures sunlight and converts it directly into electricity, providing renewable energy for various power needs) in Latin America, which results in about £280,000 in annual savings.
Of course, renewable energy is not the only source of potential savings. Investing in other kinds of infrastructure upgrades such as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified buildings; water conservation, recycling and harvesting systems; low-waste or zero-waste initiatives; and outreach programmes designed to influence students and faculty to adopt more sustainable behaviours would all cumulatively contribute to cutting costs. These are all areas that CETYS has heavily invested in and they result in cumulative savings that we can pass down to students. Our lower tuition fees, combined with high visibility as a green institution, result in high enrolment, including many students from the US, and being officially recognised by organisations such as the International Sustainable Campus Network (ISCN) and UI GreenMetric which has ranked us 277th out of 1,050 participating universities and 12th out of all higher education institutions in Mexico for sustainability performance. These kinds of benefits are not limited to our institution. Any college or university can achieve the same by making the same kind of aggressive, multifaceted commitment to sustainability.
Next, it is no secret that Gen Z students continue to grow increasingly aware of and concerned about sustainability and many of them are making this a part of their list of considerations when choosing which universities to apply to and attend. In a poll of more than 10,400 college and university applicants, The Princeton Review found that an overwhelming 77 per cent said that an institution’s commitment to sustainability would influence their decisions for whether or not to apply to and attend that institution. Meanwhile, 37 per cent said that it would “strongly” or “very much” influence their decision. Despite this, less than one-quarter of students rate their higher education institutions as being very sustainable and 16 per cent say that they are not sustainable. With the predicted “enrolment cliff” on the horizon, colleges and universities would therefore be wise to cater to what the primary college- and university-attending generation is looking for.
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Similarly, when institutions invest in sustainability, it not only makes them more appealing to students, it also improves their students’ health and well-being. When students see the institutions they are attending commit to sustainability – especially through highly visible means such as green spaces, increased biodiversity, recycling programmes, eco-friendly transportation options and sustainability integrated into curricula – this boosts student engagement and well-being and makes them feel more empowered and satisfied, which is, in turn, linked to higher enrolment and retention. It also helps to mitigate the climate anxiety that is so common among today’s students. Greener campus infrastructure often results in the provision of environments that improve students’ mental and physical well-being.
With the unprecedented amount of government and non-government support initiatives now available, it is an opportune time for universities to pour their efforts into greening their campuses, infrastructures and curricula. By committing a portion of their efforts into researching these opportunities and taking advantage of them, universities can further reduce the upfront costs associated with greening their campuses and enjoy the savings borne out of their investment later down the line.
Isaac Azuz is the director of the Institute for Sustainability Studies at CETYS University, Mexico.
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