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Sustainability in Governance and Administration

Ahlia University

Sustainability in governance and administration addresses how we run the university in terms of human resources, finance, decision-making and process implementation. The way we function as an institution and a community supports our commitment to sustainability and all decisions at AU are made and implemented with a sustainable future in mind. The commitment of the University to sustainability is demonstrated through the following policies: the Sustainability Policy, Environmental Policy, and Paper Use Policy, all of which have helped to change the way the University is governed and administered.

University Policy on Sustainability

The University Mission will be attained responsibly by carrying out its activities in a manner that achieves a balance between the social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainability. Ahlia University works towards the advancement of learning through teaching, scholarship and service to society. This is accomplished by offering the best education to our outstanding students, by carrying out excellent scholarly activities based on international standards, and by providing service to society in all possible ways for which we are well-suited by virtue of our academic strengths.
Ahlia University aspires to achieve the highest possible standards of sustainability on its campus and in its day-to-day academic activities, practices and operations, and by its outreach to the broader community. The University strives to be a leader in education and research that creates and communicates the knowledge required for humans to live sustainably at the local, regional and global community. Our goal is to become an institutional model of sustainability for society in the GCC as we pursue our academic mission and play a positive and proactive role in communicating the rationale and need to develop and implement sustainable practices in the broader community.
For this purpose, the University will:

  • Encourage economic efficiencies in the University’s operations that are consistent with social equity and respect for the environment;
  • Undertake its activities and operations in a manner that strikes an appropriate balance between the needs and aspirations of current and future generations;
  • Minimize the use and consumption of energy and material resources in recognition of the finite capacity of the biosphere to accommodate human activities.
  • Promote a healthy, safe and productive work and learning environment for the AU community;
  • Advance individual and collective efforts and accountabilities throughout the AU community to make sustainability a priority in the life of the University;
  • Share knowledge to stimulate innovation, raise awareness and ensure effective participation of the AU community in the implementation of sustainable practices;
  • Identify and conserve the cultural and natural heritage of AU, including properties, traditions and knowledge;

 

University Policy on Healthy Environmental

Ahlia University is committed to fulfilling its academic mission and managing all resources in harmony with our natural environment as well as to meeting our social, scientific, ethical and educational leadership responsibility in actively promoting the restoration and preservation of a healthy environment for the future and in contributing to building an equitable world.
The University recognizes the importance of rethinking and correcting if necessary the heavy reliance on and the wasteful habits in the use of resources we take for granted. The commitment of the University to raising environmental awareness is demonstrated in its daily teaching and research activities, in the services the University provides to the community and society at large, and in the individual and collective decisions the University takes to offset the negative impact of the University’s operation and activities on the Environment. Moreover, the University is committed to increasing the University community’s awareness of environmental issues, by fostering the appropriate values, knowledge, and skills to enable us to work towards the restoration and preservation of the Environment.
AU shall strive to be recognized as an environmentally safe and responsible institution of learning, and as a model of environmentally responsible living. For this purpose, AU community shall make every reasonable effort to:

  • Encourage all members of the AU community to be environmentally aware and the University Policy on Healthy Environment Policy to be well publicized;
  • Encourage all members of the AU community to Re-think/Reduce/Re-use/Recycle. Given the costs that recycling entails, reduce and re-use options shall always be considered first; and
  • Prevent the over-consumption of energy and other resource and reduce the production of waste, and the release of substances harmful to the biosphere;
  • Maintain purchasing practices that are environmentally safe and responsible whenever possible;
  • Seek additional ways of achieving our goal of being environmentally safe and responsible.

 

University Policy on Efficient Use of Paper

All academic and administrative units of the University shall abide by the commitments made under the University Policy on Healthy Environment Policy in order to implement the principle of “rethink – reduce – reuse – recycle” in its paper usage by:

  • Encouraging the use of electronic-based instead of paper-based versions of communication (of documents, memorandums, exams, handouts, etc.) whenever possible;
  • Printing and copying double-sided, when appropriate;
  • Allowing and encouraging students to submit double-sided assignments.
  • Purchasing paper with greater recycled and post-consumer content, when economically feasible;

 
For this purpose, academic and administrative units shall make every reasonable effort to:

  • Encourage the use of electronic and web-based communications, documents, assignments, etc.
  • Set the default on printers and copiers as double-sided;
  • Encourage students to submit assignments double-sided;
  • Print and copy double-sided (documents, memorandums, exams, handouts, etc.);
  • Use effectively the Moodle System to post syllabi, notes and notices in a way that reduce the over consumption of paper (e.g. post PowerPoint slides six to a page);

 
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