KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 13 (Bernama) -- Universities should be assessed not only by their performance in global academic rankings but also by their ability to address pressing challenges such as climate change and planetary health, said Sunway University President Prof Sibrandes Poppema.
He said this calls for a fundamental shift towards a “mission-driven, fifth-generation university” model, where societal impact becomes the main focus, supported by education and research.
“Universities in general say ‘we do education, research and societal impact’, but in a mission-driven, fifth-generation university, it’s the other way around. Societal impact comes first, and education and research are there to support that mission,” he said
He said this in an interview with Bernama on the sidelines of the Global Tipping Points Conference 2026 here today.
Poppema said that orienting higher education toward real-world problems does not compromise academic standing but rather drives citation counts and global recognition.
“The funny thing is that maybe 10, 20 years ago, if you had done that, these papers would not have been cited all that well. But now, when you publish about real-life problems and how to make life better, those papers are cited much better than others,” he said.
He said Sunway University’s strong performance in global rankings also demonstrated that research excellence and societal impact could be pursued together.
On the conference, Poppema said discussions on climate change often focused on environmental destruction, whereas the four-day gathering placed greater emphasis on “positive tipping points” - interventions that could trigger rapid and lasting shifts towards sustainability.
“We absolutely have to make sure we are using sustainable energy, no longer putting more carbon in the air and not polluting things in other ways. I think that’s the biggest difference we can make,” he said.
Poppema said clean energy was also fundamental to addressing other challenges, including access to clean water, as energy was needed to desalinate seawater and treat polluted water.
The conference, held from Oct 12 to 15, is organised by the Sunway Centre for Planetary Health in partnership with the Global Systems Institute at the University of Exeter and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, and is the first global gathering of its kind to be held in Asia.
-- BERNAMA