Tomorrow today; 2010 - unesdoc - Unesco

The Austrian SustainabilityAward for UniversitiesAnna Streissler, FORUM Umweltbildung, AustriaThe Austrian Sustainability Award for Universities is anintegral part of the Austrian Strategy for Education forSustainable Development and specifically puts sustainabilityon the agenda of all Austrian universities. The awardhelps to make sustainability not only part of the mission statementbut, more importantly, of everyday university life. It addsvisibility to existing projects by ambitious and committedpioneers, and it fosters internal networking and coordinationof these projects by the university as a whole, thus embeddingsustainability more strongly in the overall university culture.It encourages systematic exchange of good practice betweeninstitutions of higher education and makes them aware thatsustainability is a core dimension of university development allover the world.History and background of the awardThe award is a joint initiative of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture,Forestry, Environment and Water Management and the FederalMinistry of Science and Research and was established in 2007 asa means of promoting and increasing awareness for sustainabilityprocesses within Austrian universities. After an initial phase ofnetworking and communication with the relevant stakeholders, theproject now supports pioneers in this field by organizing the nationwideaward to encourage higher education institutions to practisesustainable higher education.For Austria, the innovation was to link a publicity-relatedapproach with an internal learning process and benchmarking. Theaward was also the first approach to link different (and separate)sustainability initiatives among different universities.Until 2007, many university initiatives for sustainable developmentwere isolated and did not get the necessary support fromtheir administrations. Inviting the whole university (from the vicechancellorand pro-vice-chancellors downwards) to take part inthe award competition led to 42 applications by 13 universities.Two years later, 17 universities submitted projects. The numberof submissions stayed roughly the same (45), due to much moreinternal coordination within the universities.Characteristics of the awardThe award exhibits a whole-institution approach. Thus, it isaddressed to a large target group consisting of students, teachers,staff, administration and regional stakeholders. University-widesustainability is understood as a process of participatory and reflectivelearning, characterized by several alternative routes.It does not target individual or one-time projects, but insteadrecognizes long-term processes and improvements that mirrorthe internal learning and formation processes of theinstitution as a whole, concerning eight very differentaspects of university organization. A project in each ofthe eight categories receives an Austrian SustainabilityAward.The categories are:• Administration and Management• Curriculum and Instruction• Research• Structural Implementation• Communication and Decision-making• Student Initiatives• Regional Integration• International Integration.For each of these categories, a series of guiding questionswas developed to help applicants locate theirinitiatives within these different aspects. Participation,learning and innovation are required to be at the veryheart of these initiatives.An interdisciplinary jury of sustainability experts(from science and research, business, culture and media)decides on the winner in each of the eight categories.The first award ceremony took place in March 2008 andthe second in March 2010. The award is coordinatedby FORUM Umweltbildung, an agency specialising ineducation for sustainable development (ESD).Eight examples of good practice in Austrian universities(2008-2010)Administration and Management: mentoring programmefor women at the University of Vienna (2010)The Center for Gender Equality of the Universityof Vienna developed the mentoring programme inorder to advance the scientific careers of women.Female junior scientists can apply to participate inthe 18-month programme. Groups of four womenare mentored by one scientist to get strategic knowledgeand build networks. The interdisciplinarygroups are also offered seminars on key competences.Another aim of the project is to criticallyexamine traditional mentoring relationships andgendered hierarchies within the university with thegoal of reforming them. One of the next steps is todisseminate the findings of the project in an internationalcontext.[ 149 ]