Sustainable development is a high priority goal for the University of Konstanz and a topic that it deals with intensively, both institutionally and academically. In 2015, it was the first university in Germany that established a student-led Green Office, and a continuous working group “Sustainable Development” was founded in 2020. More recently, in April 2021, the university’s new Vice Rector for Sustainability, Information and Communication Technology, Professor Christine Peter, took office, anchoring sustainable development goals (SDGs) at the highest level of leadership at the university.
The topic of sustainability will continue to decisively shape the University of Konstanz’s future development. In order to support this process, the University Senate initiated the working group Sustainable Development that began its work in spring 2020. The working group has defined six initial fields of action in line with the United Nations’ SDGs: (1) teaching and science communication, (2) nutrition, (3) student and university engagement, (4) mobility, (5) buildings and energy, as well as (6) the monitoring and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. In this year’s Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, which measure global universities’ success in delivering the United Nations’ SDGs, the University of Konstanz has been ranked within the top 100 in the categories “peace, justice, and strong institutions”, “reduced inequalities”, and “life below water”.
As for the working group Sustainable Development: it represents all university status groups. The student-led Green Office, which also regularly publishes the university’s Sustainability Report, is explicitly involved in the working group’s activities. Starting this month, additional support is provided by the university’s new Vice Rector for Sustainability, Information and Communication Technology, Professor Christine Peter. This vice rectorate was established at the suggestion of the university’s rector, Professor Katharina Holzinger, to make sustainability even more visible as an essential cross-sectional topic within the university and to foster the university’s strategic orientation towards sustainable development.
Contact information: Dr. Hilmar Hofmann, Coordinator of the working group Sustainable Development and Strategic Project Management Officer at the University of Konstanz; email: hilmar.hofmann@uni-konstanz.de
