Integrating Sustainability: Kasetsart University's Strategies in Action

In this insightful interview, we speak with Associate Professor Dr. Cheema Soralump, the Assistant to the President for Student Affairs and Sustainable Development at Kasetsart University, Thailand. Dr. Cheema shares his vision for the university’s pivotal role in advancing sustainable development within the nation. She delves into Kasetsart University’s multifaceted approach, from integrating sustainability into academic curricula and fostering impactful research to cultivating environmental consciousness among students through innovative extracurricular activities and community engagement. Join us as we explore the strategies, impactful projects, and challenges that Kasetsart University faces in its commitment to building a more sustainable future for Thailand and beyond.

SDSN Thailand: How do you envision Kasetsart University’s role as a leader in sustainable development within Thailand?

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Cheema: The role of Kasetsart University encompasses multiple dimensions. We address academic instruction by integrating sustainability into curricula, managed by the academic affairs department. On the one hand, our research must accelerate sustainability-focused studies relevant to Thailand, while raising youth awareness about gaps in existing research. Additionally, fostering sustainability consciousness among younger generations is a priority for the student development division I collaborate with. When discussing student development, we view universities as students’ “second homes,” where they engage beyond formal education. The student development office addresses this by implementing extracurricular activities, outdoor programs, and volunteer work to cultivate sustainability awareness and green lifestyles. These initiatives include sports, urban agriculture projects (e.g., hydroponics or cactus cultivation), and nature-based activities that connect students with environmental stewardship. Such efforts extend beyond traditional academic frameworks, demonstrating our institutional capacity to drive meaningful change among them.

SDSN Thailand: What strategies do you believe are essential for integrating sustainability into the university’s core mission and operations?

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Cheema: Strategically speaking, we aim to ensure students feel they have options to engage with extracurricular activities like joining clubs or volunteering in organizations that are aligned with sustainability during their studies. Our core strategy centers on aligning activities with student interests, enabling them to access initiatives promoting sustainability. This approach naturally fosters outcomes like diverse participation—some students derive personal fulfillment from volunteering, so we offer various volunteer opportunities that yield tangible, non-abstract outcomes. For instance, completing volunteer work would earn the student activity points, akin to accumulating rewards for preferred hobbies. While these efforts don’t directly impact academic grades, they become valuable resume-building assets. Many organizations now prioritize candidates who demonstrate commitment to sustainability over mere academic performance. By framing these activities as enjoyable yet professionally advantageous, we provide students with concrete benefits that enhance both their personal growth and career prospects.

SDSN Thailand: What are some of the most impactful research projects or tools developed at Kasetsart University that promote sustainability?

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Cheema: Truth be told, sustainability is quite diverse, isn’t it? If we consider what SDSN does, with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals, it’s not just about making physical improvements. It also looks at mental health preservation and ensuring both physical and mental well-being. This is so that we can have the strength to do good things for the world, right? It involves reducing inequality in society, reducing gender inequality, collaborating with others, and becoming a strong organization. These aspects come together to form sustainability.

For example, if we talk about effective tools developed by Kasetsart University, there are many. One standout example is KU Happy Place, which is a depression support center that creates mechanisms to help students. It provides a place where students can book time to talk with a psychologist or participate in activities, both physical on-site activities and online sessions at agreed times. Through this, students learn about personality and how to heal themselves and support their friends.

This is a mechanism where Kasetsart University currently excels. They also have medical and nursing faculties that will help promote this approach. KU Happy Place is one initiative they’ve expanded, and they’ve started developing mental health assessment tests for students. The fact that Kasetsart University has the largest student population in the country with 70,000 students may feel overwhelming when it comes to monitoring and evaluation though they may not be able to monitor everyone completely. However, they’ve launched a project to provide more comprehensive care. This is one of the tasks of the Student Development Division, which takes care of student development from various perspectives.

SDSN Thailand: In your opinion, how effectively is Kasetsart University aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and can you provide examples of specific initiatives or projects at Kasetsart University that directly contribute to achieving these goals?

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Cheema: We look at it from multiple perspectives. When they divide the 17 SDG goals, they categorize them into different areas. For Planet, it’s about the world and involves developing university infrastructure to reduce electricity usage in order to save the energy and produce less carbon to the planet. We also focus on People which is human development, and Prosperity aka. economic aspects.

If we look at each category separately, for the Planet dimension, we’re trying to reduce electricity consumption. We have a significant project to install solar roofs and collaborate with the Metropolitan Electricity Authority. We’ll gradually complete the installation within the next 2-3 years, which will substantially reduce electricity consumption. This aligns with SDG goals related to innovation and combating climate change.

Many of our students at Bangkhen campus need environmentally-friendly internal university transportation. We’re attempting to convert our internal transport vehicles to Electric Vehicles. It’s not easy – if batteries fail, replacing them costs around a million baht and requires high investment. We’re trying to use our own innovations to address these challenges.

For the People aspect, we encourage more outdoor exercise. A standout current activity is “Wednesday Fun” at 4 PM, where everyone gathers at Intra Field to walk or run. We make it social and enjoyable, with photographers capturing beautiful moments. People can choose their running photos. Initially, few participated, but now many have become runners. We enable this for both staff and students, even encouraging outsiders to run in the university’s campus with its numerous trees and trail paths.

A prominent SDG activity is the KU SDG Contest, now in its 4-5th year. It divides SDGs into sub-topics, allowing students to submit projects from their Senior Projects, clubs, or organizations. We have separate contests for students and staff – and staff isn’t limited to only professors, but includes administrative staff, librarians, and facilities personnel.

The contest grows larger each year. We then invite winners to compete in the Sustainable University Network of Thailand, which now includes over 50 universities. We recently participated in a contest at Valaya Alongkorn Rajabhat University in late February. Winners can then progress to the Asian Sustainable Campus Network (ASCN), involving China, Korea, Thailand, and Japan.

This creates a pathway where students see their projects from various campuses – Sakon Nakhon, Si Racha, Kamphaeng Saen, Suphan Buri – potentially being recognized globally. For instance, electrical engineering students from Sakon Nakhon conduct annual camps to improve electrical systems in remote northeastern schools, ensuring safety from electric shocks.

At Kamphaeng Saen, they’ve demonstrated how climate change affects everyone, even rice farmers. By changing rice cultivation methods from constantly flooded fields to alternating wet and dry techniques, they significantly reduce methane emissions. Their recent project won top prizes and showed excellent productivity. Kasetsart University has numerous such activities, and learning isn’t confined to classrooms.

SDSN Thailand: How does Kasetsart University engage with surrounding communities to promote sustainable practices and what are some of the successful cases?

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Cheema: The university’s name itself indicates a mission. We at Kasetsart University are quite prepared to engage with the backbone of the nation which is farmers or agriculturalists. The Kamphaeng Saen campus is particularly outstanding. Their engineering focuses on agricultural engineering, managing agricultural machinery, developing innovations, exploring crop cultivation for higher yields, dairy cow innovation, veterinary sciences, and conducting excellent projects to support livestock.

Even in Bangkhen campus, we are helping nearby communities comprehensively. We organize student volunteer system that earns them activity points. For example, two years ago, we collaborated with Bangkok Design Week to explore how agricultural separation can improve economic conditions. The following year, we worked on transforming the Bang Khen Canal community to create economic models that resonate with their contemporary lifestyles.

People can explore how the community looked a hundred years ago or examine potentially crowded areas around us. We continuously provide challenges for students to improve these communities. Engineering students periodically examine waste management in areas like Soi 45.

At the Sakon Nakhon campus, they understand that when they conduct activities with local residents, both the community and students are happy. They have ongoing projects like developing effective fish farming in Nong Han, focusing on continuous production of sea bass or shrimp – areas where they provide significant development support, especially in the Northeastern region.

The volunteer system ranges from large-scale to small-scale activities. Even dormitory residents within Kasetsart University periodically engage in volunteer activities like canal cleaning and tree planting during events like Father’s and Mother’s Day. Students are often motivated not just by activity points, but also by the opportunity to meet friends and participate in meaningful community work. Students often find these activities engaging, adapting them to suit their generation’s interests and transforming them into meaningful experiences.

SDSN Thailand: What are the biggest challenges facing Kasetsart University in its pursuit of sustainability and what are the opportunities?

The real challenge is communicating with students, which is not easy. They choose to engage with certain social media platforms, so we’ve had to adjust our public relations process over the past three to four years. Students love their smart devices and spend a lot of screen time, and this is a world we must penetrate.

This is a challenge, but we’ve found that better communication helps them discover more activities. Nowadays, fewer people say they’re completely unaware of these activities, and more are participating effectively.

Another challenge is the generation gap. Students prefer things to be simple – they want clear, concise instructions. For example, with waste separation, they are expecting less explanations; don’t explain too much. Just tell them how to do it in one, two, three steps.

We must adapt accordingly. But once students start implementing something like waste separation, they automatically become greener and more sustainable. They begin to develop their own projects, and we need to provide them space, including budget support. If we don’t have flexible or responsive budgets, we can’t meet student needs.

Now we have open budgets where students can pitch projects. For instance, when students proposed a thrift store project for exchanging second-hand clothes, we discovered other universities like Chiang Mai, Khon Kaen, and Songkhla Pattani had similar ideas. This transformed into a collaborative network.

We also provide them with budget in one of their projects to purchase electric sewing machines to remake old clothes into new ones, and opportunities were also granted to sell these items in the market. The key is that if we can adapt, challenges become opportunities. We can work with younger generations, and they’ll listen if we communicate effectively and concisely. If we just give orders without understanding their perspective, it definitely won’t work.

SDSN Thailand: What motivates your personal commitment to sustainable development, and how does this influence your leadership style?

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Cheema: To be honest, I have many perspectives. As a university professor, I focus exclusively on research and cutting-edge technology. But I believe we shouldn’t close off research, yet we should focus on problems close to us – specifically, people’s lack of awareness about sustainability.

Many people don’t understand how excessive single-use plastic impacts the environment. They get shocked hearing about micro-plastics in breast milk or micro-plastics in mackerel they eat, yet they still go to the cafeteria and order food in foam containers, using plastic utensils every day even though they could easily bring their own reusable utensils.

This has become a personal challenge. I decided to dedicate part of my time to working for the university on these issues. As an engineer, I could focus on technology, but I found it more interesting to explore how we can manage people’s behaviors instead.

When I started talking with people from diverse backgrounds – artists, economists – I realized the world is incredibly vast. If we work together, we can softly and effectively address the problems we complain about. This has become my personal passion, dedicating a portion of my time to this work.