What are the challenges and opportunities in embedding sustainability throughout a university in relation to the institution’s culture, campus, curriculum and the relationship with the wider community? How do we on the one hand ensure that universities have the appropriate structures to embed futures thinking in everything they do – while still satisfying all the other pressures: REF, discipline benchmarks, QAA etc and, on the other hand, how does such an institutional commitment translate itself into winning hearts and minds to new ways of working among staff, students and employers? I would argue that there must be fundamental principles and systems in place to ensure success.
For the purposes of looking at a systemic approach to embedding any strategic aim into a university’s culture, I will use the word ‘sustainability’ as a shorthand for a commitment to building in future-proofing, systems thinking, creative problem solving, self-awareness/open-mindedness towards difference, understanding of global issues/power relationships and optimism and action for a better world – i.e. the skills and graduate attributes needed for a constrained future and the role universities should play in that.
Moving expectations of the role of an education system is a long job. Employers recognise excellence of knowledge acquisition and potential in university graduates, but rarely question the content of undergraduate courses, despite the prevailing narrative from business organisations that students do not come into employment with the right skills. Even very large employers don’t generally use their influence to work with universities to define appropriate graduate attributes for those seeking employment in a constrained world. Yet those same businesses are acutely aware of the shifting contexts of climate change, resource depletion, globalisation, insecure energy sources and unstable fiscal mechanisms. A student who has been encouraged to think critically about these issues within and beyond their discipline, has experience of working in an intra-disciplinary team and has developed values about social justice, diversity and human rights is far better placed to explore creative solutions than one who has had no such challenges. Universities have a fundamentally important role in addressing the deficit in the statutory education system which is largely focused on depth rather than breadth.
Thinking sustainably is often seen as a difficult concept, and one where people often feel powerless and frustrated individually when they see governments and others acting in what they perceive as unsustainable ways. If you interpret sustainable thinking as a process leading to better resource management and better long term decisions, there is a very important role for universities to reduce their own negative impacts and lead by example. Through joint HEA/NUS longitudinal research, we have a 4 year evidence base to show first year students consistently demonstrating that they see an important role for universities in developing sustainability skills and want their institutions to practice what they preach. In universities, the sustainability agenda often starts with Estates Management staff because there are real savings to be had by better carbon, energy, water, waste and environmental resource management systems. The process of thinking about the issues in a whole life-cycle way leads to new and creative opportunities. But there is still often a dislocation between action at the estate level and not engaging similarly with curriculum opportunities. . What is important, for universities which promote sustainability actively, is that they can demonstrate such values across all aspects of their delivery.
Our experience in the University of Wales Trinity Saint David of embedding sustainability throughout the university has used Prof Stephen Sterling’s ‘Future Fit’ framework published by the HEA. Our drivers to encourage our University Council to support the sustainability agenda were many. Among them were the opportunity to create a USP for a new multi-campus dual-sector university; employers’ demands for sustainability skills (creative problem solving/active citizenship);students’ expectations (NUS/HEA studies); research funding opportunities and the ‘Wellbeing of Future Generations’ Bill’ expected to pass into law in 2015. The Bill will legislate to make ‘sustainable development’ the central organising principle of the Welsh Government and public bodies in Wales and create an independent sustainable development body for Wales (a Commissioner for Sustainable Futures). We wanted to take this principle and demonstrate that making sustainability a core value to frame the development of the new university would have positive outcomes for all.
This was not without its challenges however. We needed staff buy-in, management buy-in, governors’ buy-in, student buy-in, community buy in and we needed to show on our campuses that we are serious about the agenda. We started by creating a Sustainability Skills Survey to understanding our staff skills, expertise and experience, identify champions and give us an indication of what capacity building was needed. Asking staff for their views on how the University should take this agenda forward gave us the opportunity to create a bottom up approach and quantitative and qualitative data on how to use our staff resources to best effect.
Alongside this work, the University also rewrote its strategic plan; Transforming Education, Transforming Lives’. This defined our high level ambitions including Sustainable Development and led to the concept of the University providing to all its students ‘An ‘Inspired’ Education’ to ensure that our graduates are fit for the future and that their professional practice is sustainable for generations to come." Prof Medwin Hughes, Vice-Chancellor. However, the governors in particular were keen to see that this was not simply rhetoric but would be delivered as part pf a coherent approach across the university. 4 key performance indicators were established for 2014-2015
• Improve our classification in the People and Planet Green League.
• Embed Faculty sustainability plans throughout the academic and support structures
• Complete curriculum audits and develop the curriculum with regard to sustainability
• Maximise research, project and consultancy income related to sustainability
The University also revisited its graduate attributes adding in:
• Active Citizenship: able to appreciate the importance of environmental, social and political contexts to their studies;
• Creative Problem Solving: able to think creatively, holistically, and systemically and make critical judgements on issues;
Now, with faculty plans in place which are monitored regularly, the first curriculum audits across all faculties completed last year, validation procedures that fully reflect the strategic commitment to sustainability; sustainability requirements incorporated into staff development and job descriptions; regular meetings with Deans, Heads of School, Sustainability Link Contacts in all departments and INSPIRE student interns, we can say that the University is at the starting blocks. Delighted as we were that we rose from 113th to 8th in the UK and 1st in Wales in the People and Planet University League in 2015, we know that this is the beginning. For this agenda to work across the University, staff and students need to see how it enhances their student experience and improves their employability.
One of the desired outcomes of promoting sustainability through the university must be to encourage staff and students to also live more sustainably in their own lives for example taking the ecological footprint test: http://www.bestfootforward.com/resources/ecological-footprint/ or http://footprint.wwf.org.uk/ While not arguing that the ecological footprint is anything more than a proxy indicator, what it does for people who are starting on this agenda is enable them to see quickly and clearly how their personal decisions in relation to housing including energy (25%),food (20%), transport (18%) and stuff (37%) impact on their scores. Those people who think recycling their own waste can replace driving gas guzzling cars, taking regular flights or consumerism will have a rude awakening if they respond to the tool honestly and will find they are using upwards of three planets to support their lifestyle instead of the one we have available to us.
If we are going to do our job properly as educators of the next generation, we need to make sure that the curriculum is fit for purposes and as relevant as possible, recognising the challenges of our age. Education for a more sustainable future is about ensuring that students leave university with in depth knowledge from their discipline and an approach to life that is adaptable, resilient and questioning. In the Faculty of Humanities in the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, our second year undergraduate students learn about research skills through a sustainability lens and engage in inter-disciplinary work on an intra-faculty basis to report outcomes through a student conference. How much more exciting, challenging and relevant than a more traditional method of learning? If we take this philosophy and apply it across all that we do in universities, we will educate the next generations’ leaders to be more socially and economically responsible and have greater regard to environmental limits. And in the words of the experts:
• “If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always had” Mark Twain
• “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change” Charles Darwin
• “Do unto future generations what you would have past generations do unto you” John Rawls