Sustainable Smart Universities for Smart Cities

In the transformational world that we live in, change has become a necessity. Today, cities are becoming smart and are getting future-ready. That is why, there is much discussion on how cities are promoting sustainable development and financial or social inclusion. The creation of smart cities, however, requires smart universities – universities that apart from focusing on tech-based infrastructure/courses and community and government engagement, also make serious efforts to become sustainable themselves. Economic and social sustainability characterised by efficient use of resources, budget transparency and gender diversity are vital for universities aspiring to be the smart components of smart cities. A review of the existing literature on smart universities and smart cities reveals a multiplicity of definitions of smartness and consequent inadequate attention to resource efficiency and social and economic inclusion in such universities, while design and delivery of course curriculum and physical and digital infrastructure may be getting the required attention. Although previous research has pointed to the need for whole schooling and social intelligence of schools/universities, the concept has not become widespread and even present-day rankings of such institutions often miss including sustainability criteria along with academic excellence criteria. This study, thus, reiterates that sustainability metrics for universities must be widely adopted and universities assessed on such metrics along with their strengths in teaching and research. This includes their ability to enable beneficiaries to pass on the same benefit to others. Smart cities require smart universities that follow sustainable principles in all their activities and enable others to do the same.