Green Gown Awards 2014 - Courses and Learning - Nottingham Trent University - Finalist

Food for thought - Sustainability In Practice

One of Nottingham Trent University’s (NTU’s) strategic aims is to ‘provide a learning and working environment that inspires and promotes a culture of ambition, community and innovation’.

NTU have worked to develop and deliver an optional sustainability 4-week online course.

The food themed course focuses on the basic concept of sustainability and guides students to review their area of study in line with the three pillars of sustainability whilst considering the broader, interdisciplinary impacts on the food chain.

In excess of 3,000 students viewed the content of the certificate in the first year and feedback from students such as; ‘The certificate is unique as it systematically created an idea of how my course links to my environment’ and students noting that the certificate ‘assisted me to think outside the box’ highlights the success with the certificate.

Top 3 Learnings

1 Making the course applicable – with strong direct links into different areas of study to engage students and highlight the importance of sustainability in all sectors
2 Involve those in the know - involving academic staff with the project ensures that the course content is applicable to the students, and credible in that particular sector
3 Balancing views - a variety of professional and academic individuals should be involved in the development of the course.