News
Sustainability in Latin American universities
Professor Iscte Business School
Researcher BRU‑Iscte
Universities in Mexico have huge campuses, with more than 100,000 students each. Because the cities do not have the capacity for that, they must guarantee their own water supply, wastewater treatment, and solid waste management within the university campus.
This is an Erasmus+ project carried out with several universities in Latin America. What was the purpose?
The goal was to leverage the sustainability components in Latin American universities. A European team composed of three universities with experience in this area was created, and we looked for universities in Latin America that wanted to work on these aspects and exchange ideas with us to improve their performance. The QualEnv project was created here at Iscte and involved two research centres: BRU-Iscte and ISTAR-Iscte. Naturally, Iscte coordinated the project internationally.
What are the concrete objectives of the project?
The project had three specific objectives: the first was to strengthen sustainability education policies, recognising that one of the main roles of the university is to transmit knowledge and mobilise the skills of the academic community to improve the different aspects of sustainability.
The second aspect was to reduce the environmental impact of universities. Initially, this was difficult to prove because we experienced two atypical years (2020 and 2021). The idea was to compare data on water consumption, energy, waste production, and carbon footprint throughout the project, but after 2019, the data was no longer comparable. We evaluated the data from 2022, the year of return to campus, compared to 2019. It was found that the effort on the part of the universities during the project resulted in a reduction in their environmental impact. The third focus was to strengthen ecological quality management skills at each campus. At Iscte, since 2008, we have had a certified quality system and, since 2018, a certified environmental management system. This is especially important because it helps to ensure that there is a process that, year after year, is being improved. After all, there is a structure set up that follows the process. We supported our partners in setting up their environmental management systems. This process went very well; many of our Latin American partners are preparing their ecological certification.
How did this meeting between Iscte and the other universities involved take place?
The story is interesting. From an institutional point of view, Iscte had not developed this aspect of sustainability until, in 2016, the rector proposed hiring external support to develop this aspect. We had a workshop organised by an Iscte alumnus, Pedro Norton de Matos, who helped us start developing some projects, but we felt that we needed something more structured. It was then that the University of Gothenburg was hired to support us. The consultancy of this University lasted a year, and, in the end, we had an environmental management system that we could immediately certify with the ISO 14001 standard.
Do Iscte and this Swedish university then start working together?
Yes, in partnership with the Columbus Association, which helped set up the project with the University of Gothenburg in 2017. Vasco Rato was then our director of sustainability. After our successful experience, we met with some partners from Latin America, created a network, applied for European funds, and won.
We applied because we understood this would be a good project for transmitting our experiences. We brought together 14 universities: three European universities and 11 from Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Peru.
The third European university to participate, the Polytechnic of Turin, had been working on the sustainable development goals for some time, and it was understood that it was an important part to add to the project to give it a broader vision. The main focus of Erasmus+ is capacity building and providing skills, which was done throughout the project.
How did the project unfold with very different realities?
We learned a lot in this process, even with existing projects. Some partner universities have much better buildings than ours in terms of environmental management. These are younger buildings, completed in recent years, with the best efficiency certifications, such as LEED verification, which neither we nor the University of Gothenburg have. On the other hand, the partners were already volunteering with the students regarding interventions in poor neighbourhoods, cleaning the beaches, and holding sustainability events.
Another example: universities in Mexico are huge, with more than 100,000 students each, and they have to guarantee their own water supply, wastewater treatment, and solid waste management, and they have to do it within the university campus because the cities don't have the capacity for that. Waste is collected, sorted, and managed on the university campuses of our partners in Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil. If this material were to be used in standard containers, it would be impossible to guarantee proper collection and treatment.
Therefore, South American reality is entirely different from that of Europe. These countries have less support in terms of public services. Another example is transport. Latin American universities end up going further than we do in Europe. There is also a significant concern with energy efficiency, water efficiency, natural ventilation, and health and well-being spaces for students, which universities in Europe still need to have, not least because our campuses are older.
We learned that institutionalising sustainability in campus management is essential. Without a structure in the university itself, it is challenging to maintain the activities and the level of interest.
As a transnational project, how has confinement affected your progression? Initially, this was a project with much interaction; it was designed to learn from each other and visit the campuses. The project starts in January 2020, and then suddenly, we all go home in March. When we did the interim report in 2021, there was a lot we had yet to make progress on due to the pandemic. Fortunately, the year 2022 was very productive. And, we have concluded with great success.
The project's final conference was in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. What remains of this experience that inspired Iscte?
We copied things, for example, the SDG Route (Sustainable Development Goals) that the Sustainability office did at Iscte –an idea we took from our partners at Uninorte (Colombia), who already had this on campus. We thought the idea was so cool and could be achieved at no significant cost because we already have things happening here. There is a place for each SDG on our campuses, and we can go with students through these milestones – I did this in a soft skills course – explaining each SDG. Another Colombian partner (Unisabana) did an excellent job of visualising indicators. The visits to the partners were all very inspiring, especially since many of them have campuses in green areas (some even manage protected natural areas).
To what extent can this line of research be continued here, with possible new partners?
It is an interesting line of research that should be continued. The SocioDigital Lab has a thematic line with several departments, particularly on regenerative territories and neutrality. It is one of the lines that Iscte intends to develop in the coming years.
Transnational projects pose challenges that are also related to the rapport that is achieved between the teams. How was it in this case?
It worked much better than initially thought, and interestingly enough, because of the pandemic. We had planned quarterly coordination meetings online. Still, as we had to move all activities online, we decided that we were going to have monthly, extended meetings – not just between the coordinators. There were two or three members from each partner at that monthly meeting. We did a lot of internal project workshops. Some presented what they were doing, and others gave suggestions. So, between the initial face-to-face meeting here at Iscte and then the Costa Rica meeting in 2022, we felt that we had forged a relationship of friendship that transcended our work. Very positive working and close relationships have developed. The project also resulted in very nice things. In Peru, at the University of Lima, some students have developed an app about the SDGs that guides us around campus and earns us points. At UniSul, in Brazil, "frugal innovation" projects have been created: small innovations that make a difference in the lives of communities.
What recommendations and evidence are produced by QualEnv – Change the Climate: Assuring the Quality of Environmental Strategies in Latin-American Higher Education?
We have prepared an online course on behavioural change for sustainability, which will be offered free of charge on the University of Costa Rica website in Spanish. << https://global.ucr.ac.cr/login/index.php >>
We learned that institutionalising sustainability in campus management is fundamental. Without a structure in the university itself, it's challenging to maintain the activities and the level of interest. Within the project's scope, sustainability committees were created in all universities, and at the moment, all partners have a sustainability policy with responsible reports and an activity plan. This is an impact of the project that is left for the future.
All universities have also created strategic plans for education in sustainability, approved by their highest bodies. We have tried integrating sustainability education into the university's sustainability policy - it's not separate. I believe that the more we integrate sustainability in a university, in terms of teaching, campus, and outreach, the more the result will be reinforced.
Another note is that this was the first time employees and researchers worked directly together on a project. We had three Iscte employees in the project, allowing integration of Iscte services and the research centres. This brings a lot of synergies and is a great lesson on both sides. This also happened in the partner universities and was one of the aspects highlighted as the most positive. Together, we can do more.