南大報導

National University of Tainan (NUTN) has achieved exceptional recognition at the 3rd Taiwan Sustainable University Awards (TUSA) 2026, capturing two major accolades: the Sustainability Performance Award – University Environmental Management Leadership Award and a Bronze Medal in the Sustainability Report Awards for its 2025 Sustainability Report. Organized by the Taiwan Institute for Sustainable Energy (TAISE), the TUSA initiative advocates for university social responsibility (USR) and honors outstanding achievements in sustainability practice. The grand award ceremony is scheduled to take place on November 25.

NUTN’s pioneering initiative, "Leading Sustainable Governance Innovations through Solar Lifecycle Circularity," earned the University Environmental Management Leadership Award. The core of this achievement lies in the "PV Circulator," a low-carbon recycling system for decommissioned solar panels developed by NUTN Professor Yaw-Shyan Fu and his research team. Utilizing a purely physical separation process, the system extracts glass, silicon, silver, and EVA materials with a recycling rate certified by SGS at 99.3%. Furthermore, the team has assisted the Ministry of Environment in establishing a quality-graded subsidy system for solar recycling and founded the Solar Cell Circular Economy Industry Alliance, successfully linking technological R&D, institutional frameworks, and industrial collaboration. Extending these green innovations into education, the team also launched the "Solar Elementary School" at Tainan Municipal Shanshang Elementary School through a USR project, fostering energy literacy and sustainability among local youth.

The university’s 2025 Sustainability Report, themed "Education × Technology, Making Sustainability Eternal," was awarded the Bronze Medal. The comprehensive report details NUTN's governance across six major dimensions: sustainability vision, university governance and evaluation, safe campus initiatives, sustainable teaching and research, environmental sustainability performance, and social sustainability inclusion. The award highlights the university's measurable progress in energy conservation, carbon reduction, and social impact.

NUTN’s dedication to sustainable development has consistently gained widespread external acclaim in recent years:

• THE Impact Rankings 2025: Ranked 301–400th globally for SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy).

• Global Views Monthly USR Awards (2025 & 2026): Won the Grand Prize in the "Well-being and Co-existence" and "Industrial Innovation" categories, respectively.

• CommonWealth Magazine USR University Citizen Awards 2026: Secured 2nd place nationwide among mid-sized public universities.

"In confronting the challenges of climate change and sustainability transition, NUTN remains dedicated to our core vision: 'Education Drives Sustainability, Research Links Industry, and Practice Responds to Society,'" said Dr. Hui-ping Chen, President of National University of Tainan. "Securing dual awards for both our decommissioned solar panel circular technology and our sustainability report demonstrates NUTN’s successful integration of research, education, industrial cooperation, and social responsibility. Moving forward, we will continue to accelerate carbon reduction, promote energy circularity, and elevate sustainability governance to strengthen campus resilience and advance university social responsibility."