UAlberta named to Sustainable Campus Index

The University of Alberta has earned a coveted spot in the international Sustainable Campus Index, thanks to the innovative success of Sustainability Scholars.

Trevor Chow-Fraser, Office of Sustainability - 07 November 2017

The University of Alberta has earned a coveted spot in the international Sustainable Campus Index, thanks to the innovative success of Sustainability Scholars. This 3-year-old initiative pairs graduate students with professional mentors to conduct applied research over the summer. As the research addresses real world sustainability problems, Sustainability Scholars gives students the chance to make genuinely transformative change in Edmonton.

The Sustainable Campus Index is released annually by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, of which the University of Alberta has been a member since 2006. The index highlights the best performing schools under the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System™. Known as STARS®, it is the world's most widely recognized framework for sustainability reporting in higher education. While over 420 institutions have been rated, and over 800 from six continents have used the reporting tool, only the top 5 in each category are recognized in the Sustainable Campus Index.

Sustainability Scholars is highlighted in the public engagement category for "helping students develop leadership skills while deepening their understandings of practical, real-world problems and the process of creating solutions."

The University of Alberta is also named to the top 5 in two categories. The university is tied for top spot in coordination & planning, which shows that the university has clarified its vision for a sustainable future, established priorities, and made sustainability a guiding principle for budgeting and decision making. The university is also tied for top spot in research, which recognizes the breadth and depth of faculty research into understanding sustainability challenges, developing new technologies, and innovating approaches to these problems.

Read more about the university's successes in the Sustainable Campus Index.