STARS®
The Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System (STARS®) is a transparent, self-reporting framework for colleges and universities to measure their sustainability performance.
STARS® is intended to engage and recognize the full spectrum of higher education institutions, from community colleges to research universities. It encompasses long-term sustainability goals for already high-achieving institutions, as well as entry points of recognition for institutions that are taking the first steps toward sustainability. STARS is designed to:
- Provide a framework for understanding sustainability in all sectors of higher education.
- Enable meaningful comparisons over time and across institutions using a common set of measurements developed with broad participation from the international campus sustainability community.
- Create incentives for continual improvement toward sustainability.
- Facilitate information sharing about higher education sustainability practices and performance.
- Build a stronger, more diverse campus sustainability community.
Syracuse University’s Sustainability Management submitted the University’s first STARS report in June of 2018, receiving a SILVER rating.
As part of the efforts to improve the University’s STARS rating, two sustainability surveys were created, one for students and one for faculty and staff.