An international forum on sustainability seeking sustainable development solutions for universities was launched in HCM City on Thursday (December 8). — Photo courtesy of UEH

HCM CITY — An international forum on sustainability (IFS) seeking sustainable development solutions for universities was officially launched in HCM City on Thursday (December 8).

IFS, an initiative of the University of Economics HCM City (UEH), was jointly organised by UEH and its partners, the South Korea Kwangwoon University, Handong Global University, UN Academic Impact Korea University, and Italian Trieste University.

The launching ceremony was organised both online and offline at the UEH’s Campus A, attracting the attention of many domestic and international universities, businesses and organisations.

Nguyễn Đông Phong, chairman of the council of UEH, said IFS is an annual network connecting domestic and international higher education institutions that are interested in sustainable transformation in organisations' operating models in Việt Nam and other developing countries in the world.

“This is a place for sharing, exchanging and seeking suitable solutions to a sustainable development model for universities,” he said.

The forum has three main functions, including supportive programmes, research and development (R&D), and sharing knowledge.

Accordingly, it will organise workshops, seminars, conferences, discussions, exchanges and short courses for sustainable education, operation, and governance for universities that consider the implementation of the people-centred approach.

Building sustainable guidelines, indicators, and key performance measures to help universities of emerging countries reach sustainability, while also doing R&D that integrate sustainable topics to solve social issues will be included.

It will gather, exhibit and introduce successful sustainable development cases, activities, programmes and campaigns.

Building, developing and managing the forum’s Open Library on sustainable development, where parties can consult and learn about sustainable development cases, activities, programmes and campaigns is free of charge.

IFS’s operation includes an advisory board, a steering committee, and an operations team, with local and foreign experts in sustainable development from UEH and its partners, such as Dr. Park Young June, former deputy minister of Knowledge Economy, Korea, and honorary rector of UEH’s College of Technology and Design (CTD)  and Elena Marchigiani, vice director of the Department of Engineering and Architecture of the Italian Trieste University.

By 2025, the forum aims to build a sustainable universities network, implement supportive programmes, train the trainees, support universities to be more sustainable, and build sustainable indicators for universities.

Established in 1976, UEH is one of the key national universities in Vệt Nam.

It is the first university in the country to implement a comprehensive autonomy mechanism, a smart library and smart campuses with a green model.

Around 98 per cent of its students have a good job after one year of graduation.

In the context of sustainable development becoming the guiding principle of global organisations and businesses, UEH seeks to become a sustainable and multidisciplinary university by 2030. — VNS