RECORDER REPORT

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is facing acute water shortage which will be intensified in the coming years and there is a need to sensitize university leaders about the emerging threats.

This was the consensus among the speakers at a ‘National Workshop on GreenMetric Ranking’ held here on Tuesday.

While addressing at the workshop, Chairman Higher Education Commission (HEC), Professor Dr Tariq Banuri said that the universities must prepare their students for a world in which they will have to face threats from climate change, water and energy scarcity, food insecurity and waste accumulation. The chairman further said that universities must ensure that sustainability is fully incorporated in their teaching and research as well as campus operations.

The GreenMetric World University Ranking is an initiative of Universitas (University) of Indonesia, and has been adopted in several Asian universities. The current year’s ranking is focused on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The purpose of the workshop was to sensitize representatives of the higher education institutes of Pakistan about emerging environmental challenges and introduce them to the GreenMetric Ranking.

The workshop was also addressed by Prof Riri Fitri Sari, Chairperson UI GreenMetric, Junaidi, Expert Member UI GreenMetric, and Dr Arshad Ali, Executive Director HEC. Representatives of over 90 universities, including vice chancellors, rectors, registrars, and faculty members attended the event.

Professor Riri Fitri Sari presented an overview of the ranking system, which is the only international ranking on sustainability in universities. In 2017, 619 universities from 76 countries were ranked. The ranking results are compiled on the basis of a number of sustainability indicators, including infrastructure (15%), energy consumption (21%), waste generation (18%), water consumption (10%), transport (18%), and educational programs (18%).

Junaidi provided additional details about the UI GreenMetric Indicators as well as the data submission process. This was followed by presentations by university representatives on their major sustainability initiatives.

Dr Arshad Ali observed that Pakistan is facing acute water scarcity, which will intensify in the coming years. He said that the HEC senior management has a consensus on the need to sensitize university leaders about the emerging threats. “There is no better platform than universities to start this campaign, as by focusing on universities we can sensitize youth,” he underlined.

He said the presence of a large number of university representatives show their understanding of the sensitivity of this issue. He informed the audience that six Pakistani universities participated in the UI GreenMetric World University Ranking 2017.

Universitas Indonesia initiated a world university ranking in 2010, later known as UI GreenMetric World University Rankings, to measure campus sustainability efforts.

It was intended to create an online survey to portray sustainability policies and programmes in universities around the world.