Green Gown Awards 2015 – Learning and Skills - University of Leeds - Winner

Joining forces to Create Sustainable Futures

Ten, cross disciplinary Discovery Themes have been developed to ensure all students from across the University have access to core knowledge and skills which underpin the Leeds Curriculum.  

The Sustainability Service joined forces with the Sustainability Research Institute (SRI) and the Student Education Service (SES) to support the development and delivery of the Creating Sustainable Futures theme and add a practical, applied context for learning sustainability related skills.

The award helped the University to demonstrate to its community and student partners that working together makes sense.  It shows they take their commitments to social, environmental and economic sustainability seriously, and that by working closely with others, they can continue to have a positive impact on society.

Top 3 learnings

1. The administrative and operational challenges of working across faculties and services in a large institution such as the University of Leeds can be overcome when shared goals are clearly stated.

2. It’s important to listen to and act on students’ views – they have been valuable partners in developing the discovery theme.

3. A combination of sustainability modules that are closely related to a wide range of programmes of study, along with applied, practical contexts for projects is key to the success of the theme.  Sustainability related skills and knowledge developed in this way are then more relevant for the students; they are integral to their degree programmes and will therefore better underpin their future studies and careers.

Videos

• Joining forces to Create Sustainable Futures (click to hide)