A Study on the Composition of ESG Indicators for the University Sector through the Materiality Assessment

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) activities in the university sector are expanding.They are important for several reasons, including student and societal demand for relevant education, the university's mission to contribute to a sustainable society, and its international competitiveness.However, objective data and ratings on these activities still need to be improved, and there is criticism that universities' ESG efforts still need to be revised.In response, there are calls for guidelines and appropriate measurement and evaluation frameworks to help universities build their ESG management models.This study aims to construct an initial evaluation framework for university ESG activities, brainstorming with ESG officials from 20 universities in the ESG National Council of Universities and comprehensively analyzing relevant evaluation indicators at home and abroad.Through this process, we selected 48 ESG goals and 101 performance management indicators related to universities.We conducted a materiality assessment based on universality and availability to establish 17 goals and 26 performance management indicators currently applicable or necessary for universities.This is expected to serve as an ESG evaluation framework for universities, and by securing the linkage with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the university's social responsibility and the fulfillment of the common goals of humanity can be checked simultaneously.