If Universities want to attract the best students, they must Go Green.
A report by Forum for the Future and UCAS that looks into the views of 'future leaders' on environmental issues was published in January 2007. The 'Future Leaders Survey' reveals that, for many prospective university students, the environmental performance of an institution is an important factor in choosing where to study.
UCAS and Forum for the Future, joint publishers of the ‘Future Leaders Survey’ claim that it is one of the largest ever of its kind, with 54,240 respondents. It surveyed prospective students on a wide range of issues about future society and sustainability.
Of particular relevance to Go Green is the finding that, for many young people, a university’s track record on environmental performance is an important factor in choosing where to study. Additionally, gaining the knowledge and skills to tackle sustainable development issues was also found to be a relevant factor.
To quote the report:
“The track-record of the university or college on sustainable development issues was important for some applicants, with 45% of those intending to study education, social sciences, architecture, and building and planning saying a good track record on sustainable development was important or very important in choosing where to study.”
With increasing competition between universities for the best young students, this comes as a wake-up call to individual institutions - they’ve got to Go Green to stay competetive.
As Rosemary Stamp, a leading HE marketing and management consultant puts it:
“Universities need to keep pace with the sustainability issue not simply because it is the right thing to do, but because, increasingly, their stakeholders will expect them to lead significant change by tangible example. Inevitably, sustainability will become a ‘must-have’ as part of the corporate brand and the environmental agenda will begin to exert a significant impact on how universities market themselves. Universities will need to demonstrate an environmentally-aware ethos that goes beyond rhetoric.”
The competition between Universities to Go Green, then, is hotting up. And it will get even hotter in June when People & Planet will publish the Green League 2007, which will, for the first time ever in the UK, actively rank universities on their environmental performance. Where will your university come?