51ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø

Sustainability, ESD and the University Strategy:

Sustainability is one of four key principles outlined in the .

These principles overlap and are designed to help us deliver on our purpose; to “act together, using our collective skills and diversity, to deliver a better world through the transformational power of quality education and research”. 

(ESD) is an effective and logical way of ensuring that the 51ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø achieve its sustainability goals by focussing on the single guaranteed point of contact with students.

As a result of the commitment to the teaching and learning experience we have improved our standing in key national metrics. The ESD rating in the  has increased year on year from 23% to 95% settling on 100% since the inception of the ESD working group.

The University was also recognised as the THE Sustainable University of the year.

ESD Key Principles:

We have developed 4 key principles aligned with University strategy designed to articulate a 51ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø definition of ESD.

• Becoming a world-leading institution for sustainability learning and teaching, informed by research
• Embedding ESD in-to the subject curriculum, encouraging the application of subject knowledge and practices to develop an explicit understanding of the challenges facing the wider world
• Empowering our students with the knowledge, skills, and attributes to contribute solutions to global challenges in an equitable and just way.
• Ensuring that ESD is the business of all subjects at the University but experienced in a way that is authentic to the discipline.

These can be found with a full description in the ESD vision statement. They are also located in the Overview Guidance document along with some practical considerations for anyone looking to embed ESD themselves. 

Why Bother with ESD: Data and the Student Experience:

We know that Sustainability is increasingly important to HEI’s and getting the approach right could be central to its continued success.

The Sustainability skills survey collected by Students Organising for Sustainability shows us that the student experience of the curriculum is a key way of meaningfully engaging students within our core business of education. The data for  shows that:

• 91% of students think that their place of study should actively incorporate and promote sustainable development

• 84% would like to see sustainable development actively incorporated and promoted through all subjects

• 93% feel it is important for students to graduate with the knowledge and skills required to address sustainability challenges

These numbers challenge preconceptions about which subjects hold domain over sustainability. It also has highlights trends in student choice and motivation for selecting place and subjects of study. Student recruitment would seem to be directly affected. The expectations students hold regarding their experience of the subject curriculum also directly impacts subsequent feedback metrics such as the NSS. 

Engaging with ESD - How to:

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It is important to share and disseminate good practice. We have devised a template to help colleagues present their work most effectively. This is intended to have the dual benefit of gaining recognition for innovation and sharing the method and outcomes with colleagues and students.

Students won't comment positively on their experience if we don’t make it clear how and where ESD is embedded.

Please feel free to complete the template to represent your own practice in context.  

Good Practice Videos:

In order to demonstrate that ESD is embedded across programmes in line with our 4 key principles we have filmed two successful case studies. These are intended to compliment the Good Practice PPT templates above

Details to be added

ESD Community of Practice:

Details to be added

MDF's:

Completed MDF’s containing Sustainability will be made available in their raw unedited form. This resource is intended to help colleagues gather ideas and present the full scale of activity unedited by the ESD working group

Details be added

Extra-Curricular ESD:

The 51ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Experience and Development (RED) Award

The 51ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Experience and Development (RED) Award is one of the 51ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø's Official Skills Awards. It is here to help 51ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø students make the most of the extra-curricular activities and experiences on offer outside of the academic programme. You may want to look at how to help students explore these opportunities 

51ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø RED Award

Sustainability Champions:

External ESD Resources: