The Sustainability group aims for Aurora universities to operate and build sustainable universities that balance the four pillars of sustainability which are governance, environmental management, learning; research and social policy. Next to create a working and learning environment at our universities in which sustainability is valued and measured. And lastly, to capitalize on the ability to generate creativity and solutions from different perspectives both in our practices and education.
As a strategy, it aims to promote good practice, stimulate joint activities, and develop benchmarks to monitor progress at individual institutions and collectively as Aurora.
The Sustainable Development Goals have gained significantly in prominence in Aurora. The network may want to a) transform the “Sustainability” theme into a broad “SDG” theme and b) upgrade this from one of the “other priorities” to an overarching framework for Aurora as a whole.
During the 2017 Dies Natalis celebrations of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the spotlight has been on VU’s profile theme Science for Sustainability.
This year’s celebrations were entitled: Sustainable Minds. Our agenda for change. How can VU Amsterdam contribute to solutions to sustainability issues? How can the way our teaching and research is organised help us?
In his Dies Natalis Lecture, Pieter van Beukering (Associate Professor of Environmental Economics) outlines a strategic vision of sustainability for teaching and research, in which students, researchers and lecturers seek comprehensive answers to these key questions.
His full VU Dies Natalis lecture can be found here: Text Dies Natalis VU Beukering
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