North-West University’s sustainability programme aims to drive societal change
Plastic litter is a big no-no at North-West University (NWU).
From banning plastic bottles on its three campuses in Mahikeng, Potchefstroom and Vanderbijlpark, to prohibiting the use of noisy poppers (bang snaps) and firecrackers for celebrations– it’s all part of the university’s commitment to sustainability. Plastic debris from firecrackers are known to litter the environment – plus researchers say they pose a safety risk to eyes, skin and hearing.
The NWU policy emanates from the top. Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Bismark Tyobeka, championed the #BeatPlasticPollution and #StopUsingPlasticBottles campaign late in 2023.
Speaking on Sustainability as a guiding principle at universities in the future” at Universities South Africa’s (USAf’s) 3rd Education Conference held in Pretoria in October, Ms Bibi Bouwman (below), Director: Community Engagement at NWU, said the ban aims “to reduce plastic waste, minimise the university’s carbon footprint and foster a culture of reduction, recycling and re-use”. This was during a plenary session on Climate Change, Environmental Issues and the Future of the University.
“Today, I’m wearing the hat for sustainability and community impact, because at North-West University we look at events that are sustainable, but also bring about change in our society,” she said.
The role of universities in climate change mitigation
Ms Bouwman said Dr Phethiwe Matutu, CEO of USAf, had underscored the urgency of response to climate change and environmental challenges in a recent briefing document. “She highlighted that how universities respond to these issues will shape not only the future of the university, but also society and humanity,” said Ms Bouwman.
Bouwman said it is widely recognised that universities have a crucial role to play in leading a response.
“For African universities, this involves educating students for both mitigation and adaptation strategies, promoting climate related research, and fostering collaboration with communities and stakeholders to address the pressing issues. Sustainability, however, is not limited to financial planning and environmental action. It is a multi-dimensional concept that encompasses various elements of a complex, systemic framework.
“Traditional universities have several vital, interconnected roles in society, including research, education, social and cultural enrichment, economic impact, community engagement and the promotion of critical thinking and democracy. These functions position universities as key drivers for societal development and advancement,” she said.
NWU’s strategy
NWU’s draft environmental strategy is guided by the following principles:
- Sustainability
- Transformation
- Digitisation
- Student centricity; and
- Valuing our people.
She said it will be adopted in two parts: “defining our understanding of sustainability and defining our approach to managing our resources”.
One of the key elements of this strategy is adopting green technologies and best environmental practices across the university’s operations, finance or transport supply chain management, as well as integrating sustainability into teaching, research and innovation.
“By embedding our environmental future into the core activities of the university, we develop graduates who embody our vision of sustainability and contribute to a healthier environment – or we hope we do,” she said.
Ms Bouwman went on to say sustainability is not just a buzz word. It is also not limited to environmental challenges but extends to social ones, related to law, urban planning, supply chain management, ethical consumption, and individual lifestyles. “The solutions are also multifaceted,” she said. They range from sustainable architecture to agriculture, and can be seen in green technologies and renewable energies. “They also entail interacting with communities, indigenous knowledge systems, and culture, for the knowledge to remain resilient.”
She said the NWU leadership reflected on its perspective on sustainability and the role each stakeholder plays in the shared responsibility. “We have looked at the social, environmental and economic spheres. We have also linked this to the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and, in this phase, we have reported on our social impacts in sustainability in the recent years.”
NWU has contributed significantly to Goal 3 regarding Health and Wellbeing, also to Goal 4 on Quality Education.
“For us to make a tangible difference, we must include and work in our communities,” said Bouwman. One of the important shifts, she said, is embracing an asset-based community learned development (ABCD) approach, which is about considering local assets as the key building blocks of sustainable community development.
She said communities often bemoan a lack of financial resources to sustain themselves or contribute to a project, yet often have valuable alternative assets such as abundant waste material, “which can be transformed through recycling, repurposing and innovative designs,” she said. She said there are opportunities for universities to collaborate and plan around sustainability to shape new economic opportunities with communities, for communities.
“In addressing complex issues like this in multi, trans and cross-disciplinary collaborations, it is essential to bring together experts in science, policy, economics, technology and humanities to create holistic solutions,” said Ms Bouwman.
Environmental winners
NWU runs an annual entrepreneurial competition, Leopards Lair. Bouwman is exhilarated about its “breakthroughs in environmental entrepreneurship”, she said.
In the most recent competition, pharmaceutical master’s student Carli van der Merwe was on 3 October 2024 announced the winner in the Research-Based Ventures category for her eco-friendly Helioglo Sunscreen. It does not use any harmful chemicals and took eight years to perfect.
And two brothers who work at the university, Associate Professor Byron Bunt from the Faculty of Education and Dr Lance Bunt, a lecturer in Computer Science and Information Systems, launched an educational card game, Prosper, to celebrate World Intellectual Property (IP) Day this year. Aimed at 10 to 22-year-olds, the game teaches young people about the 17 SDGs. It features transparent solutions cards that overlay the problem cards, symbolising how there can be various solutions to these complex problems.
Prosper was nominated for the World Intellectual Property Day Changemakers’ Gallery and will soon be available for downloading on the websites, Merlot and OER Africa. The Bunt brothers are collaborating within NWU Business School to create a commercial version aimed at management and leadership training. And they are working with European partners on a digital version of the game, which will be freely available under a creative commons licence.
NWU’s latest venture
Although Bouwman said she could not share the specific data since they are still awaiting ethical clearance, she provided an overview of the university’s latest initiative.
“As we prepare our graduates for the future world of work, it is essential that we encourage both students and faculty to actively engage in sustainability and environmental advocacy. To support this goal we have initially acquired 500 licences for our students,” she said.
She was referring to Task, The Assessment Sustainability Knowledge — an international certification that measures sustainability knowledge. It is split into four parts that explore:
- Part 1: the basics of sustainability and overview of what TASK entails
- Part 2: the frameworks underpinning the tests including the SDGs
- Part 3: specific topics in these frameworks focusing on earth systems and human welfare; and
- Part 4: transformative actions and solutions that can drive positive change.
“This is not a training programme. It’s just an indicator to provide a framework of an understanding of sustainability,” said Bouwman before playing a two-minute video about it.
“Sustainability: everyone is talking about it now and for good reason,” began the video. “The economic, social and environmental challenges we face today are crucial, urgent and interconnected…. Dear higher education leaders and professors, it is time to make sustainability the new common language…..Let’s mainstream sustainability literacy together.”
Institutional leadership
Ms Bouwman said: “Universities must go beyond teaching and research. But they must also lead by example, integrating sustainability into all aspects of campus life”.
She concluded with a quote by Robert Swan, the polar leader and environmental leader: “The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it”.
Q&A
Question: Dr Sianne Alves (left), Director: Office for Inclusivity and Change at the University of Cape Town and Chairperson of USAf’s Transformation Managers’ Forum: There is a curiosity I have around the definition of community impact, and I’m wondering where or how a community could be involved in defining what impact is.
Ms Bouwman (edited response): Impact is change, as defined by Professor Chris Brink (former vice-chancellor of Newcastle and Stellenbosch universities) at the conference today. But looking at impact, you also have to manage the expectations of the partners you are working with. Funders will want to know about their return on investment. If a community has, say, a drug abuse problem, they will want to see the change in terms of that and alternatives brought in. Students involved in the project will want to know if they are going to get the qualification and the researchers will want to know – because of the commodification of research – if they can publish it and will it improve their ranking.
You normally start by planning the kind of impact you want to engage in and the ultimate outcome of that project, and then back engineer the process in terms of that and inputs and resources. But that’s very linear and we make a lot of assumptions. So you sometimes have to say: ‘How do we engage in our communities?’ Then we get the stories out and decide which are the ones we want more of, and which we want to make less of, because we are working on systems where we often have to manage polarities. And we are also trying to track this, long term, which is a big challenge to universities; long-terms impacts are not easy to track.
Concluding comment: Dr Thelma Louw (right), head of the Sustainability, Monitoring and Evaluation Directorate at the University of South Africa, and Chairperson of the Higher Education Sustainability Community of Practice (HESCoP) at USAf, who chaired the session: We stand on the cusp of the last five years of the sustainable development goals. Research indicates we have not achieved much. Whether we will be achieving more in the five years that remain, only time will tell. But we cannot deny our responsibility as universities to make sure that what we find in our research, we actually implement on our campuses. We hope we have shown you to be aware of your responsibility as a university to make sure that you practice what you preach.
And if your university is not yet part of the sustainability community of practice, please speak to Bibi Bouwman, who is chair of a subcommittee, or to me, so we can get you on board. Our annual meeting is on December 4 in Potchefstroom.
Within Universities South Africa, HESCoP has the mandate to advise universities and develop their capacity in environmental sustainability matters in support of the USAf Board. HESCoP also contributes to the development of policy positions on environmental sustainability in higher education, with the aim to strengthen teaching and learning, research, community engagement and operational activities relating to sustainability nationally and internationally.
One of HESCoP’s goals is to lead the development of a sectoral Environmental Sustainability Framework anchored on universities’ core functions of teaching and learning, research and community engagement. HESCoP will also participate in the embedding of environmental sustainability principles in universities’ facilities and actively participate in the development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of a National Environmental Sustainability Plan for the Higher Education sector. In the context of USAf’s other structures, the HESCoP works closely with, and reports to the Funding Strategy Group which focuses on higher education sustainability on a macro level – including from a funding perspective.
Gillian Anstey is a contract writer for Universities South Africa.
