Beverley Ayeni - Western University - 12.02.2015
Hi
there,
Just wondering who here has submitted information to the UI GreenMetric in the
past? http://greenmetric.ui.ac.id/news/detail/50
Would you consider this sustainability tool as robust as others that are out
there? (STARS, for instance).
Western did participate in it last year, although I was on maternity leave so I
didn't specifically respond on Western's behalf - just wondering what people
thought of the process. I'm finding it difficult to determine how institutions
were ranked http://greenmetric.ui.ac.id/ranking/year/2014
- I can't click on any of the specific details for each institution.
Any feedback on your experience would be greatly appreciated.
Bev
***
Andrew Plunkett - York University - 13.02.2015
Just wondering who here has submitted information to the UI GreenMetric in the past? http://greenmetric.ui.ac.id/news/detail/50
Would you consider this sustainability tool as robust as others that are out there? (STARS, for instance).
Western did participate in it last year, although I was on maternity leave so I didn't specifically respond on Western's behalf - just wondering what people thought of the process. I'm finding it difficult to determine how institutions were ranked http://greenmetric.ui.ac.id/ranking/year/2014 - I can't click on any of the specific details for each institution.
Any feedback on your experience would be greatly appreciated.
Bev
Hi Beverley,
We have participated in it for the past 5 years. It's definitely not as robust (or transparent) as STARS, but it is easier, with a lot less information to collect. Like you, I find it difficult to figure out the actual methodology. However, we continue to do quite well on the survey, so we use these results as part of our ongoing communications. And once you participate in the survey for the first time, it is considerably easier in subsequent years, as the questions haven't changed much over time.
Having said that, we are also planning on completing our STARS submission this summer, so I am interested to see how the results will compare.
Cheers,
Andrew
***
Anna Paulter - Sheridan College - 06.04.2015
Hi all!
I hope everyone had a relaxing long weekend and is now all
stocked up on chocolate.
We received a question from our Communications department
about the value of participating in the UI
GreenMetrics survey. I see on their website that a number of OSCUP members
have been ranked and wanted to hear your insights. For those of you who have
participated (or are thinking of participating), what is the benefit for the
visibility for your school, recruitment of students, and so on? Any drawbacks
or concerns? Anything else we should know?
Thank you,
Anna
***
Jonathan Rausseo - University of Ottawa - 06.04.2015
I don't have many bad
things to say about the rankings. That aren't the most rigorous rankings out
there but they get the job done. We had a discrepancy with our numbers this
year and tried to contact them to change them... that was 3 months ago and we
are still waiting. I don't think that they are much for two-way communications.
Cheers
~jON
***
Beverley Ayeni- Western University - 06.04.2015
Hi
Anna,
I actually posed this very question to the group a couple of months ago. I did some more digging and Western has decided not to take part in this survey in the future (at least until it changes). Below is an excerpt of the communications I passed along to our senior leadership team about it.
"The general consensus about the application is that it is the only international sustainability survey ranking available, so the thinking behind it was that it would be a good way to determine how we are doing on an international level.
The survey was relatively quick to complete, however, once the rankings were publicized, it became very clear that we have no idea how Western's score was calculated (or how any institution's score was determined). The minimal information available on the website: http://greenmetric.ui.ac.id/ranking/detailUniv/2014/uwo.ca, is the only information sent out. (Western did not receive any follow-up information about why we received the ranking we received vs other institutions). The website also doesn't allow for you to click on each respective category to determine what each score means."
This is the response from the GreenMetric when asked how the ranking was determined:
"We cannot give you the detailed calculation method, because it is automatically done by the system. However, we can give you a brief explanation about how the score is assigned. For the question in UI Greenmetric questionnaire which asks numerical value as an input, the system will automatically calculate the answer of every university, divide it with average point of every criterion then multiple it with the point addressed to each question.For questions which use several option to choose, a percentage value is assigned to each of the choices provided.
I actually posed this very question to the group a couple of months ago. I did some more digging and Western has decided not to take part in this survey in the future (at least until it changes). Below is an excerpt of the communications I passed along to our senior leadership team about it.
"The general consensus about the application is that it is the only international sustainability survey ranking available, so the thinking behind it was that it would be a good way to determine how we are doing on an international level.
The survey was relatively quick to complete, however, once the rankings were publicized, it became very clear that we have no idea how Western's score was calculated (or how any institution's score was determined). The minimal information available on the website: http://greenmetric.ui.ac.id/ranking/detailUniv/2014/uwo.ca, is the only information sent out. (Western did not receive any follow-up information about why we received the ranking we received vs other institutions). The website also doesn't allow for you to click on each respective category to determine what each score means."
This is the response from the GreenMetric when asked how the ranking was determined:
"We cannot give you the detailed calculation method, because it is automatically done by the system. However, we can give you a brief explanation about how the score is assigned. For the question in UI Greenmetric questionnaire which asks numerical value as an input, the system will automatically calculate the answer of every university, divide it with average point of every criterion then multiple it with the point addressed to each question.For questions which use several option to choose, a percentage value is assigned to each of the choices provided.
The grading is automatically calculated by our system and the verification and validation of the data will be done continuously."
Another limitation to the survey was explained by my students:
"....The Green Metric survey did not allow you to select “N/A” for the quantitative sections. You had to submit a value of 0 or greater in the numerical reporting fields. For instance with one of the questions, we only ended up hearing back from five faculties and had to base our Green Metric reporting value off of the information we received from those faculties. You can see that this is not representative of all of the research conducted at Western, and it was unfortunate that there was no room to explain this in the UI Green Metric report."
Our general consensus of Green Metric was that it was nowhere near the accuracy and detail that the STARS report offered. STARS offered several opportunities to justify our data, and in fact, requested that we write a thorough description under each reporting field in order to provide detail on how we came to find the answer.
Hope this helps! If you have any questions, I'm happy to answer.
Bev