2020 Student Engagement Highly Commended: University of Graz - Austria

University of Graz - How “Greta” is our University? - Sustainability Days of the University of Graz 

Since 2016, the Sustainability Days of the University of Graz has been the biggest sustainability event of the year. For this year’s topic, How “Greta” is our University?, the focus will be on creating awareness among students, employees and university stakeholders on sustainability topics with the addition of encouraging the university to become a carbon-neutral institution by 2040. The event takes place in December on campus and all activities are provided for free. The programme offers a large variety of activities including a panel debate, a poetry slam, a “sustainable campus” guided tour and workshops. An additional highlight is the Sustainability Design Thinking Challenge. The Sustainability Days were initiated five years ago by proactive students and its organization is now strongly supported by the university. The mission is to inspire other organizations to support student initiatives, empower future leaders, and be a role model for a more participatory campus life! 

Top three learnings: 

1. We experienced how to communicate sustainability attractively to larger groups of students and academics 
2. We learned to transform academic capacities into applicable sustainable innovations 
3. We formed interdisciplinary teams that were able to realize their potential in creating sustainable innovations