Organisation

No longer the most sustainable university

Eindhoven: Gold. Wageningen: Silver. Hard to swallow, maybe, but Wageningen is no longer the most sustainable university in the Netherlands.
Roelof Kleis

© Shutterstock After topping the ranking by Studenten voor Morgen (Students for tomorrow) for five years in a row, this year Wageningen University saw the SustainaBul 2018 award go elsewhere. Wageningen came in behind Eindhoven University of Technology (TUe) by a margin of six points (392 and 386). And that’s bad news, says Erna Maters of Facilities and Services. ‘But Eindhoven deserved to win.’

TUe came in for a lot of praise for its student teams. These groups of students take up projects which often lead to start-ups. The Solar Team, for example, is making a solar-powered family car. Blue Jay is developing an indoor drone that could provide health care assistance.

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According to Maters, Wageningen was less successful this year in putting appealing sustainable projects in the limelight. ‘We put forward our activities related to modern slavery. But apparently Studenten voor Morgendidn’t see those as an example of sustainability.’

Only 13 universities, including four universities of applied sciences, competed in the ranking this year, as opposed to 20 last year. The organization plans to simplify the questionnaire so that it is less of a job to participate.

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