Campus of 2035: Attaining circularity in practice through sustainable education

The futuristic campus of 2035 will stand as a beacon of sustainability, where architecture, operations, and community life will align with the planet’s rhythms. It will harness clean energy to power daily activities, eliminate waste through innovative cycles, and nurture regenerative practices that restore ecosystems.

For decades, institutions of higher education have faced environmental challenges; thus, it is critical for such institutions to lead by example. These institutions will need to transform themselves from being only efficient to embedding principles and practices that promote sustainable ecological health in the long run.

Harnessing clean energy for resilient infrastructure

Clean energy sources will serve as the foundation for future campuses. Rooftops and open spaces will be occupied by solar PV arrays to provide energy for classrooms, laboratories, and residential units, while wind turbine technology will provide complementary energy through site-specific use of wind gusts; and biomass technologies will feed organic waste back into biomass systems, thus completing energy cycles on-campus.

Curriculum will be central in such campuses. Renewable energy and green technology courses can cover solar cell basics, from module construction to grid-connected systems. Students will model 10 kW solar PV plants in tools like MATLAB and study how performance changes with different insolation levels. Wind energy units will look at turbine generators, site selection, and how to calculate power output, while biomass classes will examine anaerobic digestion in digesters such as KVIC models, producing gas from waste. These hands-on components will equip graduates to design systems capable of 100% renewable supply, helping reduce climate instability.

Energy storage advances, such as lithium-ion batteries scaled for microgrids will ensure uninterrupted supply. Campuses will use smart grids to enhance their electrical distribution systems and reduce electrical losses by 20 to 30 per cent. The result will be lower greenhouse gas emissions and increased resilience against grid failures during severe weather events.

Implementing zero waste through circular systems

On zero-waste campuses, trash will be treated as a valuable resource. While a combination of solid waste management practices, such as source segregation, composting, and recycling will divert 95% from landfill disposal, advanced facilities will make building materials from plastic waste, while organic waste can create energy and fertiliser through effective anaerobic digestion.

Environmental science curricula will provide foundational knowledge. Modules on pollution control will examine solid waste causes, effects, and strategies, including marine and thermal pollution impacts. Through conducting audits of their own campuses, students will learn about the dangers of noise and radiation and how to apply those lessons to the real world. Students in the biodiversity conservation unit will examine loss of habitat through case studies of deforestation and urbanisation to develop waste management policies that protect local habitats.

Water conservation will complement this. Harvesting rainwater will enable aquifer recharge. Greywater treatment will enable recycling of greywater for irrigation purposes. Education in watershed management will include principles of hydrology, soil erosion control, and check dams. Practical projects will investigate poor drainage characteristics of soils and recommend amendments to improve permeability and decrease runoff. Campus education will create closed-loop systems, thereby minimizing campuses’ negative environmental impacts.

Cultivating regenerative living for community well-being

Regenerative living will address restoration instead of just sustainability. Campus features will include green roofs, permaculture gardens, and biodiversity corridors for capturing carbon and supporting wildlife. In partnership with community farms that use organic methods, all farms will be managed with vermicompost and biodynamic fertilizers to naturally enrich the soil without chemicals. SDG education will focus on the Sustainable Development Goals; specifically, SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) and SDG 15 (Life on Land).

Students will learn how climate change affects agriculture and develop solutions through climate adaptation strategies, including growing crops that can survive droughts. Groups of students will work on marine fishing vulnerability projects wherein they recommend specific actions that would make fishing more resilient.

These classes will teach students how to create an integrated reporting framework to identify the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) metrics they will use to monitor the sustainability of their organizations.

Daily life will reinforce this. Dormitories will use passive solar design for natural heating, while mobility will rely on electric shuttles and bike shares. Health modules in public microbiology will address pollution’s human toll, promote hygiene and well-being. Through these, campuses will regenerate not just land but human connections to nature.

Toward a living laboratory of the future

Education is the engine that will enable the transition of our economy and society towards a more sustainable future. Through incorporating real-world applications like solar inverters and biogas plants into their curricula, educational institutions are developing the skill sets and competencies necessary for the next generation of leaders to enable and navigate the shift to a global economy based on sustainability.

Therefore, the campus of 2035 will also serve as a living lab demonstrating how clean energy, zero waste and regenerative living will create equitable and flourishing futures for all of us.

(Prof. Mukti Kanta Mishra, President, Centurion University of Technology and Management, Odisha)

(Sign up for THEdge, The Hindu’s weekly education newsletter.)

Published – January 08, 2026 04:18 pm IST