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The Bavarian Center for Sustainability in Higher Education (BayZeN)

BayZeN aims to improve the framework conditions for sustainability at and with Bavarian higher education institutions (HEI’s).

From this overall objective, the following partial goals are deduced:

• BayZeN raises awareness and motivates, by encouraging academic debate about the grand challenges of society and sharpening the understanding of sustainability in the context of higher education and across all faculties.
• BayZeN connects people and organisations by offering a platform for exchange of knowledge, methods and good practice examples as well as by initiating and supporting subject-specific working groups.
• BayZeN creates transparency by informing about current developments and activities connected to sustainability at Bavarian higher education institutions.
• BayZeN advises by providing higher education institutions and policy makers with recommendations for action and supporting them with the implementation of sustainability.  

We organise two large network events per year involving stakeholders from all HEI’s in Bavaria and the relevant ministries and initiate and lead working groups in the following fields with regards to sustainability: research, teaching, operations, governance and student initiatives.
The 16th event on 22. January 2021 with over 200 participants focussed on the impact of climate change policies for the operations of higher education institutions in Bavaria.

Memorandum of Understanding: Towards Sustainability at Bavarian Higher Education Institutions

The Presidents of 33 higher education institutions in Bavaria have signed a memorandum of understanding in support of a whole-institution-approach to sustainability at higher education institutions.  On the basis of a common understanding and vision for sustainability, the universities and universities of applied sciences pool their resources and cooperate with eachother in order to implement sustainability in the fields of research, teaching, operations, governance, knowledge transfer and student initiatives. The signatory institutions and the Network thereby support the recommendations of the German Rectors’ Conference (Hochschulrektorenkonferenz HRK) of 2018 ‘Für eine Kultur der Nachhaltigkeit an Hochschulen‘, designed to foster a culture of sustainability at higher education institutions.

The 33 signatory institutions are:

The Bavarian Universities:

• University of Augsburg,
• University of Bamberg,
• University of Bayreuth,
• Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt,
• Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg,
• Technical University Munich,
• Universität der Bundeswehr Munich,
• Technical Univeristy Nürnberg,
• University of Passau,
• University of Regensburg,
• University of Würzburg,
• Munich School of Philosophy,

The Bavarian Univeristies of Applied Sceinces:

• Technical University of Applied Sciences Amberg-Weiden,
• Ansbach University of Applied Sciences,
• Aschaffenburg University of Applied Sciences,
• Technical University of Applied Sciences Augsburg,
• Coburg University of Applied Sciences,
• Deggendorf Institute of Technology,
• Hof University of Applied Sciences,
• Kempten University of Applied Sciences,
• Landshut University of Applied Sciences,
• Munich University of Applied Sciences,
• Catholic University of Applied Sciences Munich,
• Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences,
• Lutheran University of Applied Sciences Nürnberg,
• Technical University of Applied Sciences Nürnberg,
• Ostbayerische Technische Hochschule Regensburg,
• Rosenheim Technical University of Applied Sciences,
• Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences ,
• Technical University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt.

Two Universities of Music and Performing Arts:

• University of Music and Performing Arts Munich,
• Nuremberg University of Music.

  The memorandum of understanding can be downloaded here: