With 294 new participants this year, a total of 1,477 schools from 95 countries around the world competed together in the latest UI GreenMetric World University Rankings. On December 12, the winners were announced and an online awards ceremony was broadcast from University of São Paulo, Brazil. Despite the fierce competition, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology (NPUST) managed once again to achieve excellent results, coming 1st in Taiwan for the 11 consecutive year, while also taking the 2nd place in Asia and 23rd place worldwide!
This year’s GreenMetric evaluation considered six major indicators including: (1) infrastructure, (2) energy and climate change, (3) waste treatment, (4) water resources, (5) transportation and (6) education. With a maximum potential score of 10,000 points, NPUST set a new record for itself this year at 9,050 points—175 points higher than last year.
In recent years, NPUST has actively integrated the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into its teaching and research activities. In the 2023 Academic Year, it offered a total of 2,924 courses related to environment and sustainability, which exceeds 50% of the total number of its courses. NPUST also encourages its teachers to engage in environmental and sustainability-related projects and continuously strengthen their capacity to conduct sustainable research.
In terms of “green transportation” and “net-zero transformation”, NPUST has gradually introduced green-energy electric buses and is providing rental services for electric scooters and bicycles to reduce carbon emissions. Aiming to achieve carbon neutrality by 2049 and create a “low-carbon energy-saving campus”, NPUST is also promoting green energy and renewable energy power generation so that it can become energy self-sufficient.
In order to facilitate relevant international exchange, in 2012 NPUST established the University Network for Tropical Agriculture (UNTA). This year (2024), on the school’s 100th anniversary, NPUST also expand its regular UNTA meeting to include an International Conference on Sustainability. Giving focus to “university social responsibility” and “Sustainable Development”, the conference created an opportunity to discuss transformational innovations promoted via USR and technological applications of artificial intelligence in agriculture.
This year, to facilitate with the creation of “value added agriculture” and the cultivation “cross-field talent”, NPUST built a new Center for Technological Agriculture, where it will develop smart agricultural technology and train young farmers and agricultural professional to champion Taiwan’s agricultural transformation.
NPUST’s hard work and remarkable successes on the GreenMetric Rankings for 11 consecutive years are obvious to all. Upholding its commitments to sustainable development and environmental protection, NPUST will continue to integrate sustainable culture and social responsibility as it works to become a world class comprehensive university of agricultural science and technology in the years ahead.
