SERDANG, Jan 24 — Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) has been voted Asia’s Best Green Campus by Universitas Indonesia (UI) Greenmetric Ranking of World Universities 2015.

In the GreenMetric Ranking announced last Friday, UPM was listed as the world’s top 17th university based on its rigorous efforts to promote campus sustainability and effective environmental management.

Setting a new record, it was UPM’s biggest leap last year against its 41st position in the previous year.

University of Nottingham became the world’s best green campus. In second place was University of Connecticut, followed by University of California, Davis.

UI GreenMetric Ranking of World Universities is the first and only ranking that measures each participating university’s commitment in developing an environmentally-friendly infrastructure.

The ranking on environmental sustainability takes into consideration more than 40 indicators covering six main scopes, consisting of infrastructure (15 per cent), energy and climate change (21 per cent), waste (18 per cent), water (10 per cent) and education (18 per cent).

In a statement today, UPM vice-chancellor Prof Datin Paduka Dr Aini Ideris said the success reflected UPM’s commitment in preserving the environment via various eco-friendly and effective learning activities, researches, co-curriculum and quality management system which were based on sustainable and efficient environmental management.

“UPM has made significant improvements, particularly in the sectors of transport and infrastructure such as the size of available green space, in addition to the use of efficient energy-saving facilities and bicycles within the campus area,” she said.

For six consecutive years, UPM has been leading other universities in Malaysia in terms of the ranking, ahead of University of Malaya which is listed on the 65th position (72 position in previous year), University of Tunku Abdul Rahman 106 (93), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 110 (118), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia 117 (86), and Universiti Malaysia Sabah 173 (244).

The 2015 ranking has drawn the attention of 407 universities from 66 nations, as compared to 360 from 62 countries in 2014.

For more information, the achievement report on UI GreenMetric World University University Ranking can be surfed at: http://greenmetric.ui.ac.id//ranking. — Bernama