As a University, we have a special responsibility to resolutely live out sustainability in practice across all levels and to harness it for society’s gain. The pandemic has made it further abundantly clear: our future will depend on how sustainably we choose to live going forward.
We take our social responsibility very seriously in this point: we actively instill in our students the principles of sustainability so that they can embody it in their professional lives. We carry out sustainable research projects for the betterment and enrichment of society. To succeed in our mission, we as a University are committed to systematically promoting sustainable action: both in our mobility behavior and in our use of resources.
Our main objective is to provide young people with an academic education, and we take this responsibility to heart when, to begin with, we embed social awareness for the importance of sustainability early on in our curricula. This enables us to lay the foundations for young graduates to actively incorporate the principles of sustainability in their future professional lives. Still, that in itself is not enough. As institutions in their own right, universities and their staff fulfill an important role model function in this regard: sustainability has to become highly visible. And it must be lived out in practice.
Research is another key area for systemically advancing the concept of sustainability. Research projects with a clear focus on sustainability serve two key function: they raise awareness among researchers and students; and they actively contribute to making society more sustainable. Not only renewable energies and mobility (“cycling professorship”) but also planning and construction, as well as computer science, are areas in which Frankfurt UAS conducts extensive research with a particular focus on sustainable aspects – and with high academic repute.
Our Sustainability Strategy – reproduced in full below – sets the framework and priorities both for our actions and for our goals. Our Sustainability Strategy was developed and completed last year under less-than-favorable conditions and with the broad participation of the members of Frankfurt UAS. It gives me particular pleasure to report that our students provided pivotal impetus here: they not only campaigned for greater sustainability but also demonstrated exemplary commitment in designing the Strategy. The broad anchoring within our University indicates that a large majority of University members care strongly about sustainability and evoke an active sense of deeply felt individual commitment and responsibility. It is vital to have a comprehensive strategy not only as a source of self-reminder but also as a form of self-measure while motivating people to change their course of action.
To be sure, sustainability is not a topic that we happened to discover just this year. Indeed, our commitment to sustainable thought and action at this University goes way back – in a multitude of areas and on many different levels. All of these activities are summarized here, for the first time, in this report. Looking ahead, we can – and want to – interlink these multifaceted activities more closely and actively drive them forward; our actions to this end are guided by our Strategy.
We used the 6th Hessian Sustainability Day in September as an opportunity – in spite of Corona – to feature the topic prominently at Frankfurt UAS. We got the message!
I hope you have an insightful and instructive read. Stay sustainable!
With best regards, Prof. Dr. Martina Klärle
Vice President