BUas makes significant leap in SustainaBul ranking: From 31st to 19th place
Breda University of Applied Sciences (BUas) has made impressive progress in the 2025 edition of the SustainaBul - the annual sustainability ranking of Dutch higher education institutions. BUas climbed from 31st place in 2023 to 19th in 2024 – a jump of no less than 12 spots. This achievement highlights BUas’ growing commitment to sustainability across education, research and operations.
- About BUas
The SustainaBul, organised by the student network Studenten voor Morgen (Students for Tomorrow), assesses institutions based on key themes: education, research, professional development, operations, and an integral approach. Whilst it is difficult to compare our scores to previous years due to significant changes in the questionnaire and scoring matrix this year, BUas’ rise in the rankings does indicate improvements in these areas.
BUas has sharpened its strategic direction under the name ‘Priority First’, focusing on themes such as climate & sustainability, (as well as AI, internationalisation and student wellbeing) which is leading to initiatives that place greater emphasis on sustainability within the organisation, such as our ambition to become a ‘climate positive’ university.
Furthermore, in academic year 2023/24, BUas appointed, for the first time, a transversal professor in 'Sustainability Transitions'. As the name indicates, this role spans multiple domains and fosters collaboration between different academies within BUas, contributing to a broader integration of sustainability into both education and research. Under this professorship, a transdomain learning community for Sustainability Transitions has been set up, which is where (amongst other things) the development of educational activities and materials to support a greater focus on climate & sustainability education within our Bachelor programmes is in full swing.
Our rise in the SustainaBul ranking reflects the increasing attention being paid to sustainability at BUas. Whilst there is still plenty of room for further improvement, progress in this ranking demonstrates that BUas is clearly on the right track when it comes to embedding sustainability into its core activities.
Importantly, the SustainaBul ranking encourages institutions to learn from one another and to share good practices. The assessment process this year was collaborative, with staff and student representatives from all the participating higher education institutions coming together in ‘sprint’ teams to assess each institution’s submission over two days.
With this positive development, BUas is well-positioned to further realise its sustainability ambitions as we continue along our own transitional pathway, contributing to shaping a better world.
Interested to learn more about our ‘climate positive’ journey? You may like to read this interview about our collaboration last year with Haskoning.
Interested to learn more about any of the projects within our ‘climate & sustainability’ strategic theme? Would like to contribute to our ‘climate positive’ journey but are not sure how? Please get in touch! [email protected]
