As of August 2024, the Ulysseus core team at Haaga-Helia is comprised of six members, each with a different role in working towards Ulysseus objectives. While executing tasks, the team strives to keep in mind sustainability issues.

Taking the first steps in enhancing sustainability

In Spring 2024, it was the Ulysseus-team’s turn to participate in one of the many sustainability workshops arranged for all functions and teams at Haaga-Helia. Our task was to discuss how to incorporate sustainable practices into our tasks on both the team and Haaga-Helia level.

It was inspiring to notice how motivated all team members were to enhance the sustainability of everyday processes and to find a variety of practical ways to promote sustainability.

We also identified challenges and obstacles that prevent us from being more sustainable. Amongst these were the lack of sustainable practices when arranging events, mandatory mobilities to other Ulysseus partner universities, and limited funding. While the team will try to take action within its power to achieve better sustainability, supportive actions are also needed through out Haaga-Helia.

As part of the workshop the team was tasked with creating a preliminary sustainability plan. The plan comprises bigger actions such as ideating new courses, and smaller ones such as signing documents electronically rather than printing them. We viewed the creation of these guidelines and goals as an opportunity to strengthen the Ulysseus brand and to improve existing processes.

Our path towards more sustainable ways of working

Based on the workshop brainstorming, the next steps were clear. We needed common guidelines, to promote paperless working processes, and most importantly, we needed to ensure that all the Ulysseus actives adhere to the set goals and guidelines.

On a team level, we worked out the following deliverables.

• Develop a sustainability plan and targets for development activities
• Use electronic and multi-purpose communication tools in all our activities
• Invest in more sustainable materials for business gifts and branded products
• Open a Seed Fund Call to encourage international course design by teachers

On the Haaga-Helia level, the deliverables include the following.

• Ideating and offering courses to educate participants on circular economy and sustainability models from a business perspective
• Developing our own activities to support Haaga-Helia’s sustainability program and encourage our stakeholders to do the same
• Promoting sustainable mobility by marketing more sustainable ways for students and staff to travel to Ulysseus partner universities.

Aligning our actions with overall sustainability objectives

We are aware that our plan does not tackle all sustainability issues, but it is a step in the right direction.

The efforts described in our plan align with the broader sustainable reporting practices seen in universities worldwide, as outlined in the study by Nikolaou et al. (2023). Their research emphasizes the importance of integrating sustainability into university operations following the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (Nikolaou et al. 2023). This alignment ensures that our initiatives contribute not only to the goals of Ulysseus and Haaga-Helia but also to global sustainability objectives.

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