Ecologically Sustainable, Socially Equitable and Economical

Separating rubbish, switching off the lights when no one is in the room, and leaving the car at home more often – in private life, an awareness of resource-saving and environmentally compatible behaviour is gradually gaining ground. But what does sustainability mean for an institution such as the University of Bamberg?

A steering group managed by the Head of Administration, Human Resources and Finance discusses possible areas requiring action and examines measures. It is made up of members from various university groups and addresses not only the opportunities for organisational sustainability, most of which are subject to very strict legal regulations, but also sustainability as a topic of university research and of teaching and studying activities.

This website accompanies the process and describes the various activities.

Goals and decision criteria

First, the steering group drew up a definition paper establishing the foundations of a shared understanding of sustainability. This is to serve as a basis for defining further goals and decision-making criteria for the university’s sustainable practices. Accordingly, measures must meet three requirements:

• They must be ecologically sustainable
• as well as socially equitable.
• They must not interfere with efficiency.

Based on this definition, a survey was carried out within the university to assess the understanding of sustainability in the context of key concepts. You can read the results here (german only).

Fairtrade University

The University of Bamberg holds Fairtrade University status as awarded by Fairtrade Germany in recognition of the university’s commitment to promoting fair practices in global trade.

Sustainability as part of the 2019-2022 objective agreement

The University of Bamberg is the only university in Bavaria to also set itself sustainability goals in the new objective agreement!

Key objectives, which the University of Bamberg is to achieve by 2022, were officially agreed upon on Monday, 8 July 2019. President Prof. Godehard Ruppert ThD PhD and the Bavarian Minister of Science and the Arts, Bernd Sibler, signed the objective agreement at a formal ceremony in Munich. In the coming years, the University of Bamberg will focus on strengthening its research profile and will promote it more intensively, expand its digital infrastructure, and implement sustainability projects.