The importance of the GRI 205 standard in the sustainability of private universities

Abstract

Universities are among the largest and most influential public institutions in the world Universities are viewed as virtuous, even charitable, organizations Responsible for transferring knowledge to community members in order to prepare the next generation of the workforce, develop future leaders, and create job opportunities Enhancing international cultural and trade relations, and creating an innovative knowledge economy.

The concept of sustainability has received attention from the private, public and non-profit sectors, as well as educational institutions and universities, as the application of sustainability models in university environments is justified Given the role that universities play as social institutions and agents of change, as they play an important role in finding ways to enhance sustainability in the economic, social and environmental fields,Therefore, a university is considered “sustainable” when it is able to implement these topics in its research and teaching. Therefore, sustainability has been introduced by education into curricula, research, outreach activities and operations, as education for sustainability in universities provides (for the university community),Students, administrative and academic staff have the skills and capabilities needed to contribute to sustainability. Many universities are committed to improving sustainability, but only a few stakeholders report sustainability performance to accountability, The quality of reporting varies widely. This research focused on sustainability from the perspective of the entire university as an educational institution, analyzing the university as a compatible system of two subsystems, academic and administrative, It seeks to expand the scope of public sustainability reporting by universities, and also to shed light on whether global performance measures capture institutional positions and activities related to universities’ contributions to sustainability. The analysis focuses primarily on the preparation of global sustainability reports, the Index(GRI 205) ,as This indicator is useful to society because it is based on a set of principles, especially those related to human rights, labor, the environment, combating corruption in universities, and social concerns, The research identifies the value in universities adopting a globally accepted sustainability reporting framework, makes specific suggestions on how the framework can be better adapted to universities in sustainability reporting, and identifies factors associated with sustainability reporting decisions and the quality of those reports.