July 19, 2022

Are Universities Doing Enough to Solve the Environmental Crisis in the Shadow of Calls for Sustainability?

I In the face of Lord Karan Bilimoria's repeated calls for the UK to set an ambitious new target of hosting one million international students by 2030, university academics are conducting world-leading emissions reduction research while also meeting COP26 sustainability commitments.

While stakeholders discuss and plan environmental sustainability, universities and their staff are struggling to reconcile genuine, far-reaching climate action with the current transactional model for inbound international student recruitment, transnational education, and research.

Teachers and international students have to travel miles for different reasons, and this is causing tremendous damage to the environment. Catriona McCarthy, director of global engagement at Ulster University, stated that the sector faces a "significant inherent challenge." and has called for universities and stakeholders to do more for the environment.

…there’s an awful lot of international travel apart from anything else and I don’t think that’s really the half of the problem... but, all of that work is really in aid of the solution – trying to find solutions to many of the problems the world faces…

Celia Partridge, assistant director of partnerships and strategic insight at UUKi, commented on the industry's predicament, saying, "We are very much part of the problem." She added, "We fly all over the world and we go to international conferences as researchers or as flying faculty."

A clear example of teachers and delegates flying around the world was the recently concluded BUILA conference in Newport, Wales. Many of the delegates had travelled hundreds of miles to be together by planes, trains, and automobiles.

A university staff member who wished to be unnamed said, “There’s an awful lot of international travel apart from anything else and I don’t think that’s really the half of the problem. But, all of that work is really in aid of the solution – trying to find solutions to many of the problems the world faces.” The problem is not just teachers and school officials, international students too add to the problem.

According to Nigel Healy, vice president for global and community engagement at the University of Limerick, "large student numbers from source markets like India and China are problematic due to their proximity to major English speaking study destinations," adding that "flying from Beijing to London costs a tonne of CO2." Although there is still a long way to go, some universities have taken baby steps toward environmental sustainability.

The University of Limerick, for example, has limited travel. When contacted, a senior university official stated, "I've just been handed down a cut in my travel budget from €4 million to €2.5 million." "And the president said, 'that's global responsibility, that's what it looks like, you need to cut back on your travel spending.'" In other good news, organisations have begun to mobilise universities to work together for a better future.

A solution was discussed at a recent conference where many universities were invited to join the CANIE Accord, a new initiative that aims to achieve net zero emissions by 2030 in accordance with the Paris Agreement. The guidelines, developed by international educators, include some compromises, such as emissions trading schemes that acknowledge the importance of essential travel in research and transnational education.

Posted in News and tagged News, COP26, Universities, Environmental Crisis, Transnational Education, Ulster University, UUKi, BUILA Conference
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