Evaluation of the world universities in terms of their environmental approaches and sustainability

Today in the whole World, universities want to make their mark with their successes. In order to provide that, it is inevitable to focus on the subject of "environmental approach and sustainable activities" which is among the most attention-paid subjects nowadays as well as their own education performance. At that point; the term of "Green University" has emerged, and universities have been evaluated and ranked on their environmental sustainable activities. One of the most well-known and worldwide-used ranking systems is GreenMetric (GM) system. The aim of this study is that researches whether environmental sustainable activities conducted have an impact upon academic achievement using the ranking and score datas of the universities listed in GM. The study presents a detailed literature rewiev, and have a quantitative study characteristic in terms of the way of data processing and content of analyses. In this study carried out for year of 2016 and 2017, relation of data of GM with 4 academic ranking systems (ARWU, QS Ranking, THE Ranking and NTU Ranking) is examined through regression analysis being also considered effect of country category. Furthermore, a new ranking method has been developed and derived aggregate university ranking from academic ranking systems mentioned to enhance the power of explanation of analysis results within the scope of the study. The ralationship between derived aggregate university data and GM factors was also researched under the mediating impact of Environmental Performance Index scores of countries where universities are located in. In general meaning, the results point out existence of a significant relationship between performing environmental activities and academic achievement. Based on all analyzes results, it is possible to say that Transportation sub-factor is the most significant factor in every aspect. This study which have authenticity characteristic because of filling the gap in literature with regards to form of processing, in the coming years, will help to show whether universities provide academic achievement with their environmental activities. Keywords: Energy and Environment, Sustainability, Green Campus, Higher education, Regression.