In Venice first meeting of the Universities for Sustainable Development

51 Universities met in Venice today for the first meeting of the Network of Universities for Sustainable Development held at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice at the Santa Margherita Auditorium.

Valeria Fedeli, Minister of Education, University and Research, and Gaetano Manfredi, president of the CRUI, intervened.

During the day the sustainable best practices of six universities were introduced to best define common initiatives to develop a sustainable culture.

The RUS - network of universities for sustainable development - was established by the CRUI as the first experience of shared coordination between all the involved Italian Universities on the topics of sustainability and social responsibility. 51 universities are currently involve and were invited to Ca’ Foscari University of Venice for the first annual reunion.

Michele Bugliesi, Rector of Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, said: “This reunion is a great opportunity to take stock, to align our approaches and to take actions to increase our impact. Today is also an opportunity to promote sustainability, a key feature of higher education institutions. Promoting sustainability is fundamental as part of our ethical values and of scientific literacy efforts because we need to analyse facts on the basis of how they emerge. This approach must enter all fields of education and we must therefore adapt our methods and use multi-disciplinary methods with an interactive and inclusive approach. Adapted incentives for sustainability are key. Networks are essential and not only for universities.”

The six best practices introduced today:

Ca' Foscari University of Venice: Active Learning Lab-Urban Innovation
University of Siena: "Sustainability" course for all enroled students
Politecnico di Torino: Master's Degree in Systemic Design “Aurelio Peccei”
Politecnico Milano: Mapping and coordinating courses on sustainability - Polimi4SDGs
Parma: Research, education and training on sustainability
Turin: Leadership Training for Education for Sustainable Development

Furthermore Ca’ Foscari introduced the seventh edition of the Sustainability Report, with the environmental and social responsibility of Ca’ Foscari through its activities in 2016:

Value attracted: 150 million EUR
Staff training: 340 persons trained for 17.433,5 hours and an index of general well-being of 3,43 out of 4.
Teleworking: in 2016 62 persons benefitted from teleworking, 51 female and 11 male workers representing 10,9% of current employees.
Financial aid: scholarships and other study incentives for 27 million EUR
Active tutoring service for students with disabilities and learning disabilities: 61
University credits (CFU) on sustainability: 36,6%
Active Spin-offs: 10
Publications on sustainability: 351