HEC deliberates on implementation of green campus framework in Pakistani universities    

ISLAMABAD: Higher Education Commission (HEC) Tuesday organised a consultative meeting of the working group of 15 universities to deliberate on UI GreenMetric World University Ranking on the World Environment Day 2018 to introduce the concept of Green Campus in Pakistani universities.

The meeting was held to draw attention of the higher education institutions of the country to look and self-assess their policies and direction in relation with efforts to combat global climate change, a press release said.

The initiative of Universitas Indonesia (UI) for ranking of universities across the world on sustainability was highly appreciated and the need to maximize the participation of Pakistani universities was realised in the upcoming rankings.

It was agreed to organise a National Workshop on July 9, 2018 in collaboration with UI GreenMetic World University Ranking and all the universities of Pakistan will be invited to participate.

Dr Arshad Ali, Executive Director, HEC chaired the workshop, while Dr G. Raza Bhatti, Member, Operations and Planning, HEC, Dr Manzoor Soomro, President, Economic Cooperation Organisation Science Foundation (ECOSF) and other senior HEC officers were also present.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Arshad Ali appreciated the concept of Universitas Indonesia with a focus of sustainability at campuses. He stressed the need for adopting the concept in Pakistani higher education institutions.

He said HEC will set up Green Office, the main coordinating unit that will coordinate with the higher education institutions of Pakistan. He maintained that the concept may help sort out solution to water crisis prevailing in Pakistan and other climate change challenges.

In his remarks, Dr G Raza Bhatti highlighted the significance of the theme of World Environment Day 2018 i.e., “Beat the Plastic Pollution”.

He said the hazards of plastic use in daily life need to be disseminated so that the young generation may not only refuse the use of plastics, but can also influence their families to stop the use of plastic for safer and healthier living beings on the planet.

Naveed Shah, Director, Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E), HEC, and National Coordinator for UIGMWUR in Pakistan delivered a detailed presentation on the concept of this ranking system which is based on the indictors like Infrastructure, Energy and Climate Change, Waste, Water, Transportation, and Education.

In the face of global challenges such as climate change, shortage of water and energy, pollution, population, pandemic and public health, the UI GreenMetric World University Ranking is an initiative taken by Universitas Indonesia (UI) to measure campus sustainability efforts.

This step has brought together hundreds of universities across the world in implementing eco-friendly policies and managing behavioral change in academic community at respective institutes.

At initial level in Pakistan, a working group of 15 universities was constituted from all over Pakistan and nominations were received for representation of respective institutions.

The representatives of six universities, including University of Karachi, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Bahauddin Zakaria University, Multan, Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi, University of Lahore, and IBA University Sukkur, which are mainly participating in the ranking delivered presentations on the occasion highlighting their efforts in implementation of Green Campus Framework.