Sustainable development is a challenge being faced by higher education institutions. In higher education, being sustainable does not just mean aligning business goals with regulatory requirements. It also reflects how the institution is perceived. Potential students and staff actively seek out and prioritise higher education institutions leading on sustainability, with almost half (45 percent) of students being influenced by the action their place of study takes on environmental issues.
Not only this, higher education is playing a key role in influencing the sustainability development of future generations; 36 percent of students say (when thinking about their time in education as a whole) university has been the place of study that has encouraged them the most to think and act to support the environment and help other people. Ultimately this is helping shape who they are — their values and beliefs.
Furthermore, according to the NUS report “Student perceptions of sustainability in higher education,” the majority of respondents agree that their university and college should be taking action on sustainable development, with 91 percent saying they agree their place of study should actively incorporate and promote sustainable development. Additionally,
- 91 percent of students are “fairly or very concerned” about the climate.
- 80 percent of students want their institution to be doing more on sustainable development.
- 83 percent of students took action to address environmental concerns in 2018.
How Can Higher Education Achieve Better Sustainability?
Shift to efficient, sustainable public cloud providers
By adopting a remote-ready campus, powered by Citrix Workspace and Microsoft Azure, datacentre energy can be significantly reduced. By shifting from inefficient, unsustainable on-premises datacentres and hosting their data in Microsoft Azure, higher education institutions are not only cutting their direct impact on the environment, they also further reduce the impact on the environment by utilising a sustainable public cloud platform.
Microsoft’s Azure datacentres will be powered by 100 percent renewable energy by 2025.
Use modern, energy-efficient endpoint devices
Moving to a remote-ready campus model also provides higher education institutions with the ability to drastically reduce endpoint device energy by switching legacy laptops and desktop devices with low-powered, highly efficient endpoint devices with low UPE and TEC values. As an added benefit, these low powered, highly efficient endpoint devices normally have a longer lifespan, thus extending device lifecycles, reducing manufacturing and e-waste impact on the environment.
In some cases, endpoint device energy consumption has been cut by up to 90 percent.
Reduce greenhouse gas emissions
Citrix and Microsoft provide higher education institutions with the technology necessary for new ways of remote-enabled learning and working. This means that students and staff will be able to access data and applications anywhere, using any device. This new capability reduces the need for students and staff to be on campus, which in turn equates to a lot less commuting. Not only does this further cut the higher education institutions environmental impact, but it also improves the overall productivity of students and staff.
Transport accounts for 28 percent of UK greenhouse gas emissions, so reducing our reliance on commuting to and from campus is beneficial to the environment — we have seen massive benefits to the environment already with the 2020 lock-down. However, it is predicted that the proportion of traffic traveling in very congested conditions will more than double by 2035, further increasing emissions. Reducing our commute to just three days per week would mean emissions could be reduced by as much as 40 percent!
Business Continuity
The Sustainability Movement
Many higher education institutions experience regular student or campus activism and the sustainability agenda is one area where students are increasingly keen to make their voices heard.
Some of these campaigns involve days or even weeks of large-scale takeovers, often targeting administrative centres. As a result, during these campaigns, entire departments are unable to access their applications and data. Sometimes, they are forced to shut down entirely. All of this can have a significant financial impact on higher education institutions.
By adopting a more sustainable delivery model with Citrix and Microsoft, your infrastructure will not only match more closely the evolving green agenda, but administrative staff and students can securely access all their apps and data any time, from any device, any location.
With apps and data decoupled from their endpoint devices and being delivered by Citrix Workspace from sustainable Microsoft Azure datacentres, the reliance on access to specific locations to work or study no longer exists.
Check out our whitepaper and infographic to learn how Citrix and Microsoft technologies are helping higher education institutions to create a more sustainable future.
