Sustainability

Our values – responsibility, integrity, innovation and enthusiasm – reflect our mission: to provide access to quality education for those who are unable or do not wish to attend the more traditional universities. Lifelong learning, in all of life’s situations, guarantees lasting development, socially, environmentally and economically.

Read our Strategy

Our objectives and measures

Our objectives with regard to sustainability revolve around three priorities: raising awareness, creating a sense of responsibility and supporting.

It is therefore a matter of raising the awareness of students and employees in respect of sustainable development, giving them the means to act and standing alongside them when they take initiatives to that end.

UniDistance Suisse has set up a new Sustainability Service as a point of contact for students and staff members, who can seek counsel regarding their sustainable projects and help in making their ideas come to life.

Read our objectives with regard to sustainable development (in French and German)

Social sustainability

Our flexible distance learning courses are accessible to people in situations that would not allow them to study at a more conventional university.

This concerns, among others:

people who are working and who aspire to better professional prospects
people who are busy looking after their family and who will go back to work when their children have grown up
people with reduced mobility who can study at home and, thus, reduce their need to travel
people living a long way away from urban centres, who can study at home, thereby reducing the need to travel.
elite athletes, sportsmen and sportswomen who are preparing for their career change.

Through the range of courses, programmes and services we offer, we contribute to equal opportunities and to lifelong learning.

Find out how studies work at UniDistance Suisse and get in touch with us if you require particular arrangements or support for your studies.

Our human resources policy also embodies this determination to achieve equality and balance.

Building

Our new building meets the Minergie standards, which exceed the legal requirements with regard to energy consumption. There is plenty of natural light, reducing the need for artificial lighting. It has a ‘living’ roof planted up to absorb rainwater; most of the plot is given over to nature, with a garden planted with local tree species and water features. Parking spaces for electric cars and bicycles are provided for employees. Finally, potential for an extension to the building was taken into account at the design stage.

Le bâtiment d'UniDistance Suisse à Brigue

Did you know? It is estimated that around 45% of energy consumption in Switzerland is attributable to buildings – as well as a third of CO2 emissions.

Transport

Distance learning is in our DNA. So, to us, it’s only natural for journeys to be reduced to a minimum –for our teams as well as for the students. So, for example, …

All our employees are offered am SBB Half-Fare Travelcard. This is reflected in the fact that most of them use public transport.
Although we are based in Brig, we ensure that we hold the attended group classes in central cities such as Lausanne, Fribourg or Bern in order to reduce students’ journey times.
The students have to travel less than once a month on average for their studies. This is also the case for most of the lecturers.

Economic sustainability

UniDistance Suisse represents an opportunity for the economic development of the canton of Valais: it draws talented people to the region by creating attractive jobs. It also addresses the lack of skilled and qualified employees through its state-of-the-art programmes of studies. Finally, it offers the possibility of taking a course in tandem with work, thus contributing to the professional retraining of working people.

Did you know? The Master’s in Artificial Intelligence generated 26 high value-added jobs between October 2018 and January 2020.

Research and sustainability

Our researchers make significant contributions to the sustainable development objectives, whether it is a matter of economic globalisation, new technologies or economic law and digitalisation in the Faculty of Law, nutrition, lifelong learning, intercultural exchange or emotional interaction in the Faculty of Psychology, environmental and energy choices in the Faculty of Business and Economics or postcolonial dynamics in the Faculty of History.

Research at UniDistance Suisse

How we act

Sustainability

2024 Carbon Footprint: UniDistance Suisse on Track for Sustainability UniDistance Suisse has published its carbon footprint for 2024 – sending a clear positive signal: the institution is in line with the 1.5°C target of the Paris Climate Agreement and is on track towards a more sustainable future.

UniDistance Suisse Sustainability

Le Staff Training Event de l’EADTU est une réussite Les 3 et 4 juin 2025, UniDistance Suisse a accueilli le «Staff Training Event» de la European Association of Distance Teaching Universities (EADTU). Près de 60 collaboratrices et collaborateurs de 10 universités d’enseignement à distance suisses et étrangères se sont réuni-e-s à Brigue pour échanger sur les défis, les bonnes pratiques et les développements actuels et à venir dans l’enseignement supérieur numérique.

UniDistance Suisse Sustainability

Nachhaltigkeit in der Lehre In Zusammenarbeit mit dem Dienst Faculty Services führt die verantwortliche Fachstelle für Nachhaltigkeit der FernUni Schweiz ein Inventar zur Nachhaltigkeit in der Lehre.

UniDistance Suisse Sustainability

Workshops Focus Sustainability - Nachhaltig. Gemeinsam. Die FernUni Schweiz unterstützt das nationale Zentrum Focus Sustainability — ein Projekt von Studierenden für Studierende.

UniDistance Suisse Sustainability

Flohmarkt der FernUni Schweiz – im Mai 2024 wird wieder getauscht Vom 20. bis 31. Mai 2024 findet der Flohmarkt der FernUni Schweiz im Hochschulcampus Brig statt.

UniDistance Suisse Sustainability

Sustainability Report 2022 UniDistance Suisse is pleased to announce the publication of its Sustainability Report for the year 2022.

Specialist office

Tobias Schöpfer
Head of Quality assurance
tobias.schoepfer@fernuni.ch

Participate and contribute to making UniDistance Suisse more sustainable. We will be glad to hear your ideas and suggestions. If you have any questions or if you want to participate, get in touch with us through the form below.

Quality Assurance Support Office

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Last update 21.08.2026 Contributor Communication and marketing