- April 11, 2025
Western Sydney University Benchmarking Visit
As part of the ongoing Earth Month Celebration of Mapúa Malayan Colleges Laguna (Mapúa MCL), Engr. Rolando V. Bitor, Director of the Institute for Global Sustainability (IGS), together with representatives of the other Mapúa Schools, namely Atty. Denise Jordan Arenillo of Mapúa University, and Ms. Marycon Delos Reyes and Mr. Leopoldo Aquino Jr. of Mapúa Malayan Colleges Mindanao (Mapúa MCM) are currently on a Benchmarking Visit at the Western Sydney University (WSU) in New South Wales, Sydney, Australia since Monday, April 7, 2025. WSU has been the #1 Ranked University in the Times Higher Education (THE) – Impact Rankings since 2022 up to the present (2024). The goal of the visit is to learn from WSU’s Sustainability Strategy and bring home ideas on how relevant WSU practices can be implemented at Mapúa MCL, giving the Sustainability Program a boost towards a significant leap forward.
The morning of benchmarking visit’s Day 1 (April 7) at the WSU-Hawkesbury campus has proven to be very productive with a series of presentations by the WSU hosts from the Office for Sustainability Education and Partnership hosts, Ms. Jen Dollin, Director, and Ms. Britanny Vermeulen, Program Manager, as well as from Dr. Garth Lean, Associate Dean for Engagement and International, School of Social Sciences. The Q&A sessions that proceeded after each presentation gave much insight into the Sustainability Strategy of WSU and the Sustainability culture ingrained in the administrators and staff that contributed much to the success of their Sustainability Strategy.
The afternoon experience of Day 1 proved to be as exciting and worthwhile also as the Mapúa team were given a tour by WSU’s dedicated staff, Rachel Mullinger and Jaimie Alchin, around the campus, particularly at the Cattle Farm of the College of Agriculture and inside the secured Biodiversity Stewardship Site. At these locations, the Mapúa team learned about how WSU’s on-campus facilities are contributing to the UN SDGs and what impact these contributions are making to the local community. The Mapúa team was also able to visit the Hawkesbury-Nepean river where Dr. Michelle Ryan is conducting research study of the river’s water quality, the diversity of life in the river and how locals can be encouraged to participate in maintaining the river clean and enjoyable.
On Tuesday (April 8), Day 2 of the benchmarking visit, the Mapúa team viewed presentations from the Associate Deans, Senior Lecturers, Program Coordinators and Managers from the School of Science, School of Computing, Data and Mathematical Sciences, the NSW Bushfire and Natural Hazards Research Center, and the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, namely, Prof. John Hunt, Dr. Sunil Panchal, Assoc. Prof. Ana Hol, Mr. Philip Sen and Ms. Sindhu Sheoran. Their presentation showed how the academic community of WSU has embedded Sustainability principles into their curricula and into the researches that are being carried out in their departments. The Mapúa team was also given the opportunity to visit the Smart Glasshouse research laboratories for monitoring factors affecting growth of vegetation and the Eucalyptus Free Air Climate Experiment (EucFACE) for observing the effect of overexposure to Carbon Dioxide of sections of forests.
It was also on Day 2 that the presentation of the signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between WSU and the Mapúa Schools was done. Professor Brian Stout, Pro Vice Chancellor Learning and Teaching was present via Zoom meeting during the said simple ceremony.
On Day 3 and Day 4 (April 9 and 10) of their benchmarking visit, Engr. Bitor and the other members of the Mapúa contingent are set to visit the WSU-Parramatta campus and see the other facilities there that contribute to WSU’s ranking as #1 in Sustainability. The Parramatta campus is around 40 kms away from the Hawkesbury campus and can be accessed via train, bus or the river cat.
