Many universities abroad are trying to make their campuses green and achieve their sustainability goals. Here are some examples of the most sustainable universities across the world.

Preserving Biodiversity: Birmingham City University, U.K.

Birmingham City University (BCU) installed beehives on the roof of the bridge between Millennium Point and Parkside Building on City Centre Campus in 2019 to encourage biodiversity. This initiative started as a colony of 8,000 Buckfast bees. Bees have a positive ecological impact as they play a vital role in the pollination process. By keeping hives, BCU can contribute to bee conservation and protect their habitat. The roof area is partially sheltered from the weather, and the BCU bees also make honey. In 2022, profits from honey sales in campus cafes were donated to the charity ‘Bees Abroad’ to help the organization work to enable communities to empower themselves through sustainable beekeeping.

Making a Green Campus: University of California-Merced, U.S.

The University of California-Merced (UC Merced) is a showcase campus of sustainability being named “The Greenest College Campus” by EcoWatch, an Ohio-based environmental newspaper. Sustainability was embedded into the campus by aiming to have Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified under the U.S. Green Building Council’s green building program. Under the LEED, which is the most prominent green building rating and certification system used throughout the world, UC Merced has created a living laboratory for a campus, giving students the opportunity to learn more about sustainable and environmental design Students continue to can get real project experience of managing and implementing sustainable operations and features.

Promoting Sustainable Agriculture: Siam University, Thailand

Siam University (SU) contributes to realize the importance of local farmers and food producers, initiating many projects related to urban farming, the Bio-Circular-Green economy model, eco-farming and food security in local communities. The Department of Food Science and the Faculty of Science have been researching food technology to encourage food producers to move toward a sustainable farming system. Many research projects have been undergone with partners, including More Meat Innotech Co., Ltd. Currently, SU has managed to produce plant-based products that can be cooked in various ways, such as minced pork, chicken, and pork belly from plants and it also has introduced sweet condensed milk from plants.

By Oh Hyun-ju, Reporter