MSU-IIT, XU among most sustainable univs in PH

CAGAYAN DE ORO, PHILIPPINES — Two universities from Northern Mindanao ranked 3^rd and 5^th respectively among the Top 6 sustainable universities in the Philippines published by the GreenMetric World University Rankings last Dec. 7, 2020.

Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology (3rd) and Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan (5th) were the only schools in the region to have been included in the ranking.

The GreenMetric World University Rankings is the first and only worldwide ranking system launched by Universitas Indonesia in 2010 to measure and list down the commitment of participating universities all over the world towards developing an ‘environmentally friendly’ campus. 

“The criteria and indicators provide us a model that we can use to advance our environmental sustainability efforts.  Based on our scores, we can identify our weak points and strategize on how to improve on these indicators on the succeeding year,” said XU Vice-President for Administration Edison Sasoy in an interview with AYEJ.

According to Sasoy, the ranking system also provides the university with a direction of moving forward to create plans and establish targets for higher level achievement the next time around.”

The results were released by Universitas Indonesia and announced online by Prof. Dr. Riri Fitri Sari, Chairperson of the UI GreenMetric.

Northern Mindanao is the only region to have two campuses in the list of participating universities in the country with De La Salle University-Dasmarinas (1st), De La Salle University-Manila (2^nd), Ateneo de Davao University (4^th), and Foundation University (6^th) in different areas. 

This year, 912 participating universities all over the world were assessed in reducing carbon footprint through campus-related indicators such as in setting and infrastructure, energy and climate change, waste, water, transportation, and education and research.

MSU-IIT garnered a total score of 4800 with high scores in the Education and Research indicator (1380) thrusting its previous rank 72 spots from 2018 to the 548^th rank this year. XU also garnered a total of 4050 points with its highest score in the waste indicator category.

Last year, both universities were tied with total scores of 4050, with De La Salle University–Dasmarinas maintaining its position as the most sustainable university in the Philippines based on the rankings.Other participating universities reached the following ranks in the global list: DLSU-Dasmariñas (127^th), DLSU-Manila (191st), ADDU (666th), and FU in Dumaguete (819th). #