| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 65.78 |
| Liaison | Imad Alsyouf |
| Submission Date | March 4, 2022 |
University of Sharjah
EN-6: Assessing Sustainability Culture
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
1.00 / 1.00 |
Does the institution conduct an assessment of sustainability culture?:
Which of the following best describes the cultural assessment? The assessment is administered to::
Which of the following best describes the structure of the cultural assessment? The assessment is administered::
A brief description of how and when the cultural assessment(s) were developed and/or adopted:
The assessment is an electronic survey designed and administered using Google Forms. A link to the assessment was emailed to all students (undergraduate & graduate), faculty and staff at the University of Sharjah, from the sustainability office through the IT department. The targeted recipients accessed the assessment by clicking the link and completing the assessment via Google Forms. The survey duration was around 3 weeks starting from the 12th of March 2018 till the 5th of April 2018.
A copy or sample of the questions related to sustainability culture:
A sample of the questions related to sustainability culture or the website URL where the assessment tool is available:
A brief description of how representative samples were reached (if applicable) and how the cultural assessment is administered:
In the sample design, the targeted population, in this survey, is the campus students, staff members, and faculty members. The total number of students, staff, and faculty was 16,587 in 2018. Assuming a 5% marginal error, the minimum required sample size (using the following equation) is estimated to be 391 respondents. The equation uses the population size (N) and the marginal error (e) to calculate the minimum required sample size (n). The number of respondents at the end of the survey duration was 646, which corresponds to a response rate of 3.89%. Note that the minimum representative sample rate of 2.36% for a marginal error of 5%. This sample size can be seen as a representative sample size as it is greater than the minimum required sample size (391) for this population.
Equation: n=N1+Ne2
A brief summary of results from the cultural assessment:
The analysis revealed that the knowledge level about sustainability is low in the university, the communication college has the least sustainability level with a marginal error of 25%, followed by the college of fine arts and design with a marginal error of 25%, and business administration with a marginal error of 15%. In addition, students have low sustainability levels when compared to other campus populations. Based on the brainstorming sessions with decision-makers and in alignment with the UI GreenMetric Ranking guidelines, and the STARS guidelines, the following recommendations were developed and communicated to the University Sustainability Office:
To increase the knowledge level about sustainability among students by introducing more seminars and workshops about relevant sustainability topics to integrate sustainability in a broader range of courses. To involve students in the sustainability activities by establishing sustainability student clubs, which will increase the students' knowledge about sustainability. To announce more events with a focus on communication with students, staff, and faculty about sustainability to increase the sustainability concern and promote more sustainable behaviors. To provide training sessions and orientation days focusing on sustainability to all campus population and focusing on the new members to improve the sustainability knowledge, awareness, and concern among the campus population. To provide awards and incentives to the campus population for their efforts in creating and obtaining sustainable campuses to increase sustainability behaviors and attitudes. To perform students to students (peers to peers) and students to other campus population sustainable activities and events to increase the knowledge and concern of students. To encourage students to carry out sustainable projects with other campus populations to benefit from their knowledge and experiences in different fields to enhance the sustainability level of students. To hold competitions to reduce energy and water consumption and to minimize waste generation among all campus populations to promote more sustainability behaviors and attitudes among campus populations.
As a result, the following recommendations were initiated:
Announcing 2020 as the year of sustainability. Creating and executing the new concept of sustainability circles that increased the level of engagement of all the university stakeholders, see (Alsyouf, 2020). Establishing two student's sustainability clubs in the university and a sustainability hub in the communication college which had the lowest sustainability level based on the results of this study. New sustainability-related courses have been introduced, and more emphasis has been set on sustainability research. Starting a sustainable garden project inside the campus. More than 30 different sustainability seminars, workshops, forums, and competitions have been conducted in the year 2019.
For more information about these initiatives and improvements, the reader may refer to the Sustainability Office website (https://www.sharjah.ac.ae/sustainabilityoffice)
Website URL where information about the assessment of sustainability culture is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
A post-assessment survey has been prepared of the awareness survey conducted in 2018. Since then, projects, workshops, and campaigns have been implemented and organized based on the results of the survey through the Sustainability Circles of the Sustainability Office for the past three years in order to enhance the level of awareness and develop a sustainability culture within the UOS community.
This survey will be used to define areas of weakness so that a new sustainability action plan could be prepared
(Survey in progress)
A post-assessment survey has been prepared of the awareness survey conducted in 2018. Since then, projects, workshops, and campaigns have been implemented and organized based on the results of the survey through the Sustainability Circles of the Sustainability Office for the past three years in order to enhance the level of awareness and develop a sustainability culture within the UOS community.
This survey will be used to define areas of weakness so that a new sustainability action plan could be prepared
(Survey in progress)
The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.