Research and policy increasingly recognize the essential role that higher education plays in driving the green transition toward sustainable societies and economies.
To address this challenge, the GET-AHED project (Green Education & Transition – A Higher Education online Digital Buddy) was launched in February 2023 (https://get-ahed.eu), co-funded by the European Commission under the Erasmus+ programme.
The project’s main goal is to support HEIs in embedding sustainability and resilience across all levels of their operations and missions. You can learn more about the methodological approach here.
Over three years, GET-AHED developed the University Greening Toolbox, an integrated online platform that offers:
The Green Self-Assessment Toolkit
– An interactive learning system for staff and students to build sustainability and green transition competences.
– A practical tool to improve sustainable operations in HEIs, especially in the field of energy and resource management.
Each of these tools is evidence-based, designed through rigorous research, partner collaboration, and stakeholder consultation. Together, they provide a holistic framework for universities to assess, learn, and act—helping the higher education sector become a driving force in Europe’s transition to a greener, more resilient future.
The Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF) creates the best possible environment for schools, universities and research institutions, and represents the interests of Austria as a location for science, research and business on the international stage.
The members of the Alliance for Sustainable Universities actively contribute to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the areas of teaching, research, university management and cooperation, thereby fulfilling their social responsibility as universities.
The Ministry of Education and Science of Bulgaria is the ministry charged with regulating and promoting the educational and scientific work in the country.
EURASHE’s mission is to strengthen the impact of innovative, high-quality Professional Higher Education (PHE) and related user-oriented research in Europe by representing PHE institutions and facilitating their multi-stakeholder cooperation and dialogue.
With almost 4,000 students, Fachhochschule St. Pölten is a major player in the local university landscape. As a European University, they lead the European University Alliance E³UDRES² (Engaged and Entrepreneurial European University as Driver for European Smart and Sustainable Regions) and work together with universities from Portugal, Romania, Hungary, Belgium, Latvia, Finland, Germany and the Netherlands on the creation of future-proof teaching formats and the development of smart and sustainable regions.
The HEA leads the strategic development of the Irish higher education and research system with the objective of creating a coherent system of diverse institutions with distinct missions, which is responsive to the social, cultural and economic development of Ireland and its people and supports the achievement of national objectives.
Support the internationalisation of education and training, in particular to promote the creation of and participation in European networks of education and training institutions and to strengthen the international attractiveness of education and training institutions, in line with the objectives of the "European Universities" initiative.
RUN-EU is an alliance of seven like-minded higher education institutions drawn from all regions of Europe.