Study Tour on University Sustainability by SDSN Thailand and SDSN Malaysia
In December 2023, the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) Thailand brought together 32 administrators from 16 public and private universities in Thailand for a study tour focusing on sustainability at Sunway University in Malaysia, with collaboration from SDSN Malaysia as co-hosts for this event.
This study tour featured close knowledge exchange processes between the leadership of Sunway University and the Thai university representatives. Additionally, SDSN Malaysia shared insights on various projects such as the Science Panel for Southeast Asia Biodiversity Protection, Mission 4.7, ASEAN Green Future, SDG Academy, poverty eradication, and designing institutions for good governance.
The group also gained in-depth knowledge about educational management and student engagement through diverse sustainability courses. They visited various sustainability innovation programs at Sunway University, including entrepreneurship promotion, sustainable environmental management, food security initiatives, and educational opportunity enhancement.
Participants have also learned deeply from Professor Woo’s advice as he said we must first consider what the university’s strengths are, what kind of personnel the university has, and which fields of study are the strongest ones. Then we focus on those areas to achieve initial success and gain momentum to expand operations and create impact in other areas.
On the one hand, the participants learned that analyzing data using UL Green Metrics will reveal problems and opportunities, leading to thinking and seeking technological and social innovations while spotting more opportunities. The participants agree that seeing data clearly shows how to move forward.
Regarding SDGs in universities, the study has produced a number of interesting recommendations; for example, teamwork is necessary as it involves all parties. A committee should serve as a platform for all those who actually implement these matters to discuss and exchange ideas. The committee should not just be composed of people in official positions, but rather be a community of practice.
Moreover, there is no fixed formula for starting SDG work; one cannot simply follow what others do because each place has a different context. Assigning responsibility to a single person often lacks the power to move the entire organization forward. Therefore, driving the university’s sustainable development goals should involve integrating SDGs into every aspect of the university, while enabling personnel to speak the same language and communicate in the same way as the President or other high-ranking staff members.
Communicating the vision and policies from administrators to students and staff through physical management to create an environment or ecosystem conducive to driving SDGs, such as using infographics, images, and signs in various places to create repetitive awareness is of equal importance.
Challenges thus remain. It is how to naturally turn the top-down vision and policy from administrators into passion, so that practitioners don’t see it as extra work but as a common practice necessary for the university to strive for excellence rather than mere survival.
Participants from the study tour also learned how to design the environment and integrate the university’s physical development with SDGs but in order to do this harmoniously without conflicting with the character of Thai universities, which often have an image of being academic, solemn, prestigious, and orderly remains another challenge to be tapped into.
On the final day, before concluding the study tour, the delegation had the honor of meeting Tan Sri Sir Dr. Jeffrey Cheah, the founder of the Sunway Group and chairman of the Jeffrey Cheah Foundation, who engaged in a friendly discussion with the group, sharing profound and beneficial insights before their return to Thailand.
