ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT AND EDUCATION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CORDOBA

Universities are increasingly aware of the environmental consequences arising from their research, teaching and administration activities. Like any other organization, a
university uses a range of resources (energy, fuel, water, materials, etc.) necessary for theimplementation of these activities. These activities generate, in turn, a large amount of waste products in the form of discharges, air emissions or waste. Likewise, transport used by the university community represents another important environmental aspect to take into account as for fuel consumption, gas and noise emission and associated waste generation.
The universities also are aware of their responsibility as Higher Education Institutions
to transmit and extend environmental knowledge and values at a personal, social and
professional level. If a framework of study that integrates environmental considerations is
created, students will be more permeable and receptive to acquire environmental friendly
values and habits and will be prepared to incorporate this responsible attitude in their future
jobs. Therefore, the environmental protection in the university has two values: management
and education.

THE UNIVERSITY OF CÓRDOBA AND THE ENVIRONMENT

The University of Córdoba is aware of this dual responsibility and is committed to act
accordingly. In addition, the continued rise of interest groups that influence and put
pressure in this area (companies, administration, financial institutions, media, society ...)
facilitates and promotes a. suitable framework for sustainability.
In its Strategic Plan 2006-2015, the University is projected as a "Centre committed to
the environment, advocate for its preservation, for its quality and for the sustainable use of
natural resources as a means of improving the welfare of society and quality of life of its
environment’. In order to achieve this, the University provides specific guidelines and
strategies, such as the ‘Declaration of Environmental Policy’, a public document in which
the chancellor as chief executive of the Institution expresses the commitment of respect and
environmental responsibility in the sphere of the university. To implement actions that
provide compliance with these commitments, the Environmental Protection Service
(SEPA), a central organ of the university, was created. The SEPA, aiming to introduce the
environmental factor in university management and to establish a culture of respect for the
environment among its members, develops and promotes activities related to the
environment and the sustainability in all areas and universitary units. These activities are
aimed, firstly to identify and assess compliance with legal environmental requirements of
the institution, and secondly, with the environmental improvement of the university activity
within the various fields of competence of the SEPA.

MAIN ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITMENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CÓRDOBA: SOME EXAMPLES OF HOW TO MAKE THEM EFFECTIVE

1. Studying and analysing the activities in the area of the University that are

generating environmental impacts.

Any academic activity (teaching, research or administration) may be generating
impacts of varying magnitude. For measuring and monitoring, the SEPA has established a system of environmental indicators that provide regular information on resource
consumption, waste production and mobility rates, among others.

2. Raising awareness, educating and informing members of the university

community on environmental issues and management.

It is important to provide students with the necessary academic training and
environmental awareness that will allow them to develop their future work and guarantee
the support of a sustainable future of our society. In this sense, the University represents an
area of great interest to develop tools to measure and analyze students' environmental
awareness through various indicators relating to knowledge, attitudes, perceptions and
behaviour, which in turn help to identify the main social groups present around this
concept. An example of one of these measures is a study to design an instrument for
measuring and monitoring the environmental awareness of the students of the University of
Córdoba, which reflects the four dimensions that define this term and its relations:

• -Cognitive dimension: the degree of information and knowledge on issues related to
• the environment.
• - Affective dimension: perception of the environment, values and beliefs of students in
• environmental matters.
• - Attitudinal dimension: students' attitudes compared to their environmental
• responsibility, willingness of students to adopt pro-environmental criteria in their behavior.
• - Active dimension: production of environmentally responsible practices and
• behaviors, both individual and collective.

Also, it is aimed to define the possible levels of environmental awareness present in
the university population, to analyse how they are distributed among the reference
population, differentiating the potential social sectors as appropriate. This will result in the
identification of the needs and demands in university environmental management and
education in order to propose possible suggestions and solutions.
On the other hand, it is equally important to educate and inform all employees
(government bodies, teachers, researchers, technicians, administrators) on the main
environmental impacts of their activities, the procedures established to control them as well
as the environmental responsibility and the ‘added value’, ie., having this training and being
able to transmit it to the students.

3. Preventing pollution, both through improved waste management, discharges

and emissions and their minimization.

The SEPA has set up selective collection programs of the majority of waste
(hazardous and non-hazardous) produced in the UCO. Thus, workers and students may use
different containers to ensure the recycling of this waste through delivery management
companies approved by the Administration. Table shows the main lines of separate
collection of waste generated in the UCO.
Waste production has grown from 2001 to 2009, when it has begun to stabilise. From
2011 a waste minimization plan will start in order to reduce waste generation where
possible, improve environmental management and cost savings.
In addition, the UCO is beginning to analyse their carbon footprint, to assess the CO2
equivalent emissions produced by their activities and raise awareness and management
actions to reduce them.

4. Promoting energy conservation, water and raw materials.

The UCO has planned an Energy Efficiency Strategy that begins with energy and
water audits, ie., revisions of the buildings that seek to detect deficiencies in electrical,
lighting, air conditioning and piping systems and water supply reflecting an increase in
spending, with a view to proposing measures to remedy these deficiencies and improve the
efficiency and energy and water saving.
With regard to the most widely used material in the university, paper, the SEPA has
developed a specific campaign to promote responsible consumption. The campaign
includes both the dissemination of good practices to reduce its use whenever possible
(opting for digital formats, using paper on both sides, etc…) as the introduction of recycled
paper in the entire university. Recycled paper used follows all required technical and
environmental specifications. As shown in Figure, the general trend of the use of paper is
declining, and in almost all cases the recycled paper is consumed much more than white
paper (the average is at 70% of recycled paper compared to 30% of white paper).

Evolution of white recycled paper and Consumption at the University of Cordoba (2008-2010)

5. Increasing the use of sustainable transport facilities.

Promoting more sustainable transport in the UCO is one of the biggest challenges of
the SEPA. Two examples are a bicycle loan program and a website to share car journeys to
college.
The bicycle loan program is a system which is available to students and workers so
that they have access to a continued bike loan during the academic year both for traveling
to work or study centres and for private use .Bikes are provided with a road safety kit
(helmet, reflective vest, set of lights, etc.).
On the other hand, the idea of car sharing is becoming more widespread in large
organizations (industrial areas, large companies, etc.). Everyday more than 7,000 university
students and workers move to the different centers of the UCO in prívate vehicles, with
consequent damage to the urban environment: emissions of greenhouse gases, fuel
consumption, noise , jams, etc. However, in many cases people need to travel by car due to
personal and working responsibilities and obligations, or, in some cases, to the limitation of
public transport. In these journeys, the average occupancy of cars is very low, not reaching,
according to SEPA estimates, more than two people per vehicle. For this reason, the SEPA
has created the website www.uco.es/compartetucoche, a meeting place between people
doing similar journeys by car, making the car-sharing deal easier. It is a free service for
students and workers in the UCO, which aims to connect people who demand free seats in
cars with those that can make them available to others in the movement to and from the
different university centers.

CONCLUSIONS

Universities play a key role in the society. As Higher Education Institutions, they are
responsible for transmitting knowledge, values and attitudes that contribute to students’
comprehensive education, to train them for working life and to interact with the
surrounding environment in an appropriate manner. This environment is damaged and is
still being damaged due to human activity, the result of a social model based on the
indiscriminate use of resources and generation of waste products which Nature, in many
cases, is no longer able to assimilate.
The responsibility to minimize the environmental impact raises the need of
appropriate environmental policies designed to implement a model of a sustainable campus.
A basic mainstay of this model is environmental education. By making people aware of the
environmental problems which they are part of and the possibilities for tackling them,
environmental management objectives will be achieved in a much more effective way.
The University of Córdoba is strongly committed to integrating environmental criteria
in its management. While there is still a long way to achieve this goal, the foundations are
being layed: a institutional commitment to respect and care for the environment, creating a
specific body on environmental matters, the Environmental Protection Service (SEPA),
which counts on human, technical and economic resources to design and develop activities
that give effect to this commitment. And last but not least, an assumed educational
responsibility and some groups of interest around the institution that enable a favorable and
promising framework to make an increasingly aware and sustainable university a reality.