Thuringian University Network for Sustainability

The ten state institutions of higher education in Thuringia have launched the Thuringian University Network for Sustainability. With this joint strategic alliance, they are actively tackling global challenges such as climate change, the loss of biodiversity and social inequalities. On 3 July, the Presidents signed a letter of intent at Schloss Tinz in Gera, in which they committed themselves to securing the natural foundations of life in the long term, creating humane living conditions for present and future generations and achieving global justice.

Sustainability is no longer a question of the future—it is a central social task of the present. In view of global challenges, sustainability has become an essential cross-cutting issue at Thuringia’s institutions of higher education in recent years: as a subject of research and teaching, but also as a guiding principle in operations and transfer activities.

Sustainability in teaching, research, operations, transfer and governance

By joining forces to form the Thuringian Higher Education Sustainability Network, the ten state institutions of higher education in Thuringia have committed themselves to playing an active role in the transformation process towards sustainable development. The institutions of higher education in Thuringia are committed to their special social responsibility in teaching, research, operations, transfer and governance. As part of the network, they are committed to technological and social innovations in line with their different profiles and strengths to promote the transition to a sustainable society.

Strengthening the region—advancing global transformation

On the one hand, the institutions of higher education in Thuringia aim to strengthen the region and prepare it for the challenges of the future through sustainable development. On the other hand, they also contribute to advancing the necessary global transformation through research and international cooperation. The institutions of higher education have ambitious goals: to secure the natural foundations of life locally and around the world in the long term, to create decent living conditions for current and future generations and to realise local and global justice. To this end, they are committed to implementing the principles of sustainability themselves in an exemplary manner.

Helping to shape a sustainable society

As different as their profiles, their developments and their specific challenges are, the ten institutions of higher education in Thuringia would like to work together in a coordinated manner in future under the umbrella of the Thuringian Sustainability University Network and coordinate their strategies on an ongoing basis. The institutions of higher education see themselves as laboratories of democratically organised transformation processes in which all university members, employees and students alike, are offered opportunities to help shape a sustainable society in all action fields in topic-specific research groups.

The Thuringian University Network for Sustainability includes

• Bauhaus University Weimar
• Gera-Eisenach Cooperative State University
• Ernst Abbe University of Applied Sciences Jena
• University of Applied Sciences Erfurt
• Friedrich Schiller University Jena
• Franz Liszt University of Music Weimar
• University of Applied Sciences Nordhausen
• University of Applied Sciences Schmalkalden
• Ilmenau University of Technology
• University of Erfurt