Sustainability Ranking of Turkish Universities with Different Weighting Approaches and the TOPSIS Method

Abstract

The concept of sustainability has become more important, especially as a result of the depletion of energy resources and increasing environmental concerns. UI GreenMetric ranks universities based on sustainability, environmental, and energy concerns, addressing issues of environmental pollution, food and water scarcity, and energy supply. By prioritizing sustainability on their campuses and campuses, universities are working to ensure a more sustainable future for humanity. This study evaluates university sustainability in energy and climate change using the UI GreenMetric ranking, focusing on Turkish universities’ sustainability ranking. It incorporates variables like infrastructure, energy, climate change, waste, water, public transportation, and educational research, using weighting approaches to reveal the most important variables for the country’s universities. The study utilized weighting techniques like CRITIC, entropy, standard deviation-based, and equal weighting approaches to obtain rankings for UI GreenMetric rankings. Entropy and equal weighting methods were found to be closest to the UI GreenMetric rankings. Universities’ rankings were analyzed using the TOPSIS method and four weighting techniques for 83 Turkish universities. For Turkish universities, the CRITIC method yielded the highest weight for energy and climate change variables, while water was identified as the most significant factor for entropy, installation infrastructure, and standard deviation-based weighting techniques.