Sustainability at the University of Freiburg
The University of Freiburg pursues ambitious sustainability goals in all areas: in research and teaching, in operations and governance.
What this means, for example, is that researchers examine sustainability in a broad range of disciplines. And they pass their knowledge on to students in lectures and seminars. All students have the opportunity to be exposed to sustainability issues, whether in a single course, a sustainability-focused degree program, or a cross-disciplinary course of study. And the university itself is of course also making efforts to become more sustainable: by gradually becoming more climate-neutral, but also by creating a healthy environment in which its members can develop freely.
The university maintains contact with society in all these efforts, whether in the form of applied technical or social innovation or in the form of knowledge transfer.
Our Understanding of Sustainability
The University of Freiburg understands sustainable development as a continuous process towards an ecologically viable and socially just society in a liberal democratic basic order, in which the needs of present and future generations are taken into account. As formative actors in the social discourse, universities are called upon to make a contribution to the necessary societal transformation towards responsible stewardship of our planet and a socially just society.
Governance: Interconnecting and Shaping Sustainability
We at the University of Freiburg see it as our core task to generate and impart solid knowledge on environmental issues and societal challenges, to propose and exemplify solutions. As a means of strategically shaping these ambitious goals, the university established a corresponding vice rectorate in April 2021. The newly created Sustainability Council enables exchange between the various university status groups.
Sustainability in Research
The University of Freiburg is one of the most research-intensive institutions for sustainability research in Germany. There are currently more than fifty professorships and numerous collaborative research projects involved in innovative, interdisciplinary, and international sustainability research.
Sustainability in Studies and Teaching
A wide range of degree programs across the faculties at the University of Freiburg bear a direct or indirect relation to sustainability. The Sustainability Certificate enables students from all fields of study to address the sustainability issues of the twenty-first century in an interdisciplinary context as part of their studies.
Sustainability Transfer
Sustainability transfer means creating dialogue platforms on which science can enter into exchange with politics, business, and society. This concerns the transfer of knowledge, technology, and education.
Sustainable Operations
For more than twenty years, the University of Freiburg has repeatedly broken new ground with new ideas on how to expand operational sustainability and fulfill its function of setting an example in society.
Cross-Border Sustainability
Sustainability plays a central role in the University of Freiburg’s university alliances, whether in teaching and reasearch projects, new degree programs, cooperations with cities, and cross-border living labs.
