Green Gown Awards 2016 – Best Newcomer – Abertay University - Finalist

Innovating locally, transforming globally: Curriculum development and education for sustainable development at Abertay University

For the first time Abertay has explicitly embraced the idea of sustainable development as an institutional strategic aim in its new Strategic Plan (2015-2020): “ensuring we provide the highest standards of teaching, student support, and customer service and improving efficiency and sustainability in the way we do things”.

The University is aiming to achieve this through a whole institutional approach involving changes to both estate and academic policy and practice. This application is focused upon the latter through the development and implementation of our new teaching and learning enhancement (TLE) strategy which prioritises “active citizenship” as one of four dimensions of our new Abertay Attributes and is exemplified in a variety of specific pedagogic initiatives with the intention of creating heightened sustainability literacy among Abertay staff, students and our wider community.

We are on a transformational journey and this application outlines our objectives, outcomes and successes, to date.

Top 3 learnings

1 First identify then harness the enthusiasm and expertise of existing ESD champions in your institution

2 Students are key change agents for embedding ESD across the whole student experience

3 In order to catalyse real institutional change, it is vital to highlight sustainability explicitly in strategy.

Videos

• Innovating locally, transforming globally: Curriculum development and education for sustainable development at Abertay University (click to hide)