At the end of last year, Universitas Indonesia (UI) released the result of UI GreenMetric World University Rankings 2020. The University of Warwick was awarded 4th in the UK, ranking 29th of the 912 participating universities across 84 countries.

What is the UI GreenMetric?

The UI GreenMetric is the first world university rankings on sustainability. Since 2010, UI GreenMetric World University Rankings has ranked universities worldwide according to six indicators: setting and infrastructure, energy and climate change, waste management, water, transportation, and education.

The metric aims to recognise universities taking steps to manage and improve their sustainability. The results help university leaders to put in place policies and manage behavioural change among the academic community at their respective institutions.

Education and research

We’re pleased to see that one of the six indicators of the UI GreenMetric is education and research. The criteria for this indicator is based on the thought that universities have an important role in creating the new generation’s concern with sustainability issues, strongly aligning with our views in the GSD Department. This indicator looks at criteria such as the ratio of sustainability courses to total courses/subjects, the ratio of sustainability research funding towards total research funding, and the number of student organisations related to the environment and sustainability.

"We are very pleased to see that the work that Warwick has been doing to improve its sustainability has been recognised by the UI GreenMetric. We have been engaging in many ways to make our university a more sustainable campus as well as in the inclusion of sustainability in the curriculum, with our successful undergraduate programmes in GSD, as well as with our recently launched MASc and MPhil/PhD in GSD.

"Both our students and staff play an active role in contributing to sustainability on campus. For example, our students initiated the petition that led to the University declaring a Climate Emergency. They are also involved in many projects such as Warwick Cup, a reusable cup system on campus set up by three of our undergraduate students. It is also important to highlight the research carried out by our colleagues, tackling major problems the world is facing through transdisciplinary projects. All of us in the GSD Department and in the Institute for Global Sustainable Development are looking forward to continuing to make our community and the University more sustainable."

Dr Stéphanie Panichelli-Batalla, Head of the School for Cross-faculty Studies

How is the data collected?

The UI GreenMetric ranking is conducted through an online questionnaire system. Universities provide data about sustainability indicators in their respective universities which is then processed into a ranking. Rankings allow for easy comparison between universities, encouraging institutions to share best practices and learn from each other.