An Indicator-Based Approach to Sustainability Monitoring and Mainstreaming at Universiti Sains Malaysia

This chapter presents the results of the research we have been doing to develop a new methodology to monitor and mainstream sustainability throughout Universiti Sains Malaysia, in keeping with our new vision of “Transforming Higher Education for a Sustainable Tomorrow.” We have focused both on global sustainability challenges and on campus sustainability. In the first part of our research we developed a new tool, a Sustainability Assessment Methodology (SAM), to assess the sustainability content of courses and projects. This method involves a screening step, consisting of three generic questions; an identification step, with 24 more specific questions; and a classification step, in which the results of steps 1 and 2 are used to classify courses and projects as either Green (High), Yellow (Medium), or Red (Low) in terms of sustainability. When we used SAM to do a USM Sustainability Audit, out of 2671 courses examined, 44 % were found to have elements of at least one pillar of the “Triple Bottom Line” sustainability model, 27 % had elements of two pillars, and 9 % had elements of all three pillars. In the second part of our research, we developed a Framework with Four Worksheets that presented targets, tasks, and timelines for sustainability infusion at all levels of USM’s activities. The outcomes of this part of our research provide feedback and guidance to all practitioners to build sustainability content in their mission activities. This may include reorienting existing courses or designing and managing new research and community-oriented projects. Together, the results may be used either for rating or ranking sustainability performance, though we have used them only for rating at this stage.