University of Coimbra is the most sustainable institution in Portugal and the 21st worldwide

COIMBRA, Portugal, May 12, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The University of Coimbra (UC) is the most sustainable institution in Portugal and the 21st worldwide, according to the third edition of The Times Higher Education Impact Rankings 2021. With the score of 92.7 out of 100, the UC was the Portuguese institution with the best at meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the United Nations.

The UC was better rated in the SDG2, Zero Hunger, being the third best university in the world at meeting this goal. The war on food waste, the existence of a social meal, the giving away of food baskets by the Social Action Services of the UC to student sororities at a low price or even the initiatives with local producers for product drain are some of the reasons behind this score. Also, the projects of investigation and participation in agrifood research groups, like Mobfood, which brings together agents from the agrifood industry for a more competitive national food industry, or Reseed, which studies the socioeconomic and ecologic impacts of the dissemination of food products from other continents in Europe, since the 18^th century.

The UC also stands out by meeting the SDG9, Industry, Innovation and Infrastructures, filling the 13th position worldwide. To support this result there are the number of spin-offs created (121), the number of active patents (304) and the work of Pedro Nunes Institute, institution created by the UC, whose incubator supported 330 businesses, created 2600 jobs and generated an annual average of 190 millions of euros in business volume. Also, to note the Energy for Sustainability initiative, an answer to the challenges in the area of energy and sustainable development, or the Ageing Coimbra, a cluster for the active and healthy aging, which intends to stimulate the economy and the young entrepeneurship when it comes to health services.

The UC also obtained a good classification meeting the SDG3, Good Health and Well-being, filling the 44th position worldwide. In this goal stand out the projects like UC+Ativa em casa, which give physical activity programs; the volunteering platform UC Transforma; the free health services, with the psychological and psychiatric support for health workers; and the collaboration with local, national or international health entities.

"These results are reasons for pride and motivation, but are encouraging as well as challenging because there is a big path that hasn't been walked yet," says Amílcar Falcão, UC's Dean. "To create social awareness, to be an example and to gather efforts it is crucial to meet the collective goals, involving our students for whom tomorrow will be the world they have to live in," he adds.

The Times Higher Education Impact Rankings analyses how the investigation, the teaching and the institution management contributes to meeting the established SDGs by the United Nations, being the only tool in the world to evaluate these commitments. The UC is at the top 100 worldwide in 9 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

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