5 March 2015. To conclude the English-language conference day at the University of St.Gallen, Presidents Thomas Bieger (HSG), Dominique Arlettaz (University of Lausanne) and Sascha Spoun (Leuphana University of Lüneburg), as well as ETH President Lino Guzzella, will be discussing suggestions and results against the background of their universities’ sustainability strategies:

• What are universities doing to integrate responsibility and sustainability into their teaching, research and strategy?

• What does the public expect from universities to effectively deal with societal and global challenges?

• What are the difficulties and limitations the different actors within the universities are facing, and how can they be overcome?

Dieter Euler, HSG Professor of Educational Management, will open the conference with a lecture on “Responsibility and sustainability – a demanding challenge for higher education”. The topic of “University contributions to responsible leadership: Stakeholder expectations” will be dealt with by Uwe Schneidewind, President of the Wuppertal Institute, and Gabriele Zedlmayer, Chief Progress Officer of Hewlett Packard.

Sustainability in teaching and research
Leaders from the private and public sectors are confronted with increasing criticism from society. In the face of global challenges such as the 2008 financial and economic crisis, calls are being made for responsible leadership which brings societal success into line with social justice and the protection of the environment. This appeal must be seized upon by universities in order to make a contribution towards sustainable development. Participants in the Sustainable University Day will be looking for ways in which responsibility and sustainability can be more effectively integrated into university teaching.

Sustainable University Day

The Sustainable University Day is the annual conference of the Sustainable Development at Universities Programme, which is run by the Network for Transdisciplinary Research (td-net) of the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences at the behest of the Swiss University Conference. This four-year programme aims to strengthen the Swiss universities in their role as drivers of sustainable development. As a central platform for ongoing projects in research and teaching, as well as for student initiatives, the Sustainable University Day encourages the development and exchange of ideas between universities.

Besides the lectures and the panel discussion of the university presidents, participants will work out proposals for the solution to problems in sustainable development in nine parallel workshops. Researchers, teachers, students and any other interested parties are invited. Media representatives are also cordially welcome. Everyone is kindly asked to register.