International Islamic University Malaysia, Malaysia

Communiversity: Connecting the hearts and minds of university and community for sustainability

The International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) is dedicated to holistically advancing itself as a full fledge sustainability institution. The university is undergoing comprehensive transformation process turning the whole-institution-approach into whole-community approach affecting its surrounding communities to become a sustainable community.

At IIUM, the well-being of the local and global community and their sustainable lifestyles are the overarching priority for teaching, research, and service. IIUM models how education can serve the individual while serving as a public common good. As for the learning environment, students are studying in eco-efficient campuses with sustainability studies and community engagement projects as graduation requirement, with 8600 students have lived what they learnt and carried out more than 400 sustainability activities. With hundreds of research by its academic are community-driven, it further strengthens the synergy between the university and its surrounding community. Infusing sustainability at each level and aspect of the university, mainstreaming it throughout research priorities and in partnership engagement through a community of practice, IIUM’s Communiversity has evolved into a global platform for like-minded universities committed to collective societal impact.

Through the rippling effect, we are witnessing convergence of IIUM and its community into a Communiversity.

What the Judges Thought

The incorporation of sustainability into performance metrics for staff and the requirement for formal reporting to international bodies like UNU-IAS and UNESCO demonstrate IIUM's commitment to accountability and continuous improvement. This level of rigor in monitoring and reporting is crucial in demonstrating the institution's genuine commitment to sustainability. Encouraging professors to publish in open-source journals really incentivizes knowledge to community - indeed, CommUniversity is an extraordinary concept - from whole of university to whole of community - that appears to truly have been integrated into the university's ethos, bolstered by the mandatory community service by all of its undergraduates. Values-led perspective of social sustainability: refugee education. Sustainability is an attribute for all graduates, not something additional.

What it Means to Win

"Winning this International Green Gown Award reaffirms IIUM's unwavering commitment to sustainability and whole community transformation. This prestigious recognition validates our concerted efforts, making the world more sustainable, and inspires continued innovation and collaboration, enhancing our role as a leader in sustainable development and driving meaningful change within our community and beyond."

Dzulkifli Abdul Razak, Rector

Top 3 Learnings

1. We offer quality experiential education to students to strive individually and collectively in contributing to the community.
2. We model sustainable ways of life, as community players and knowledge co-creators to solve wicked sustainability challenges.
3. We promote transformative learning and research in real-life community collaboration to advance the well-being of members of communiversity.