Green Gown Awards 2018 - University of the West of England - Finalist

The University of the West of England, Bristol (UWE) has been engaged in institution-wide mapping of activity against the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for two years. To date, the focus has been on our portfolio of UG and PG programmes and the extent to which they align not only to each of the SDGs but also to the overall ambition of the Goals to ensure a sustainable future for all.

This work is aimed at ensuring that our graduates are capable and driven to engage in sustainable professional practice throughout their careers and to challenge established practice which they recognise as inhibiting progress towards a sustainable future. Specifically, the process not only results in outputs which explicitly detail links between programmes/disciplines and sustainable development (and these have been used for multiple purposes including programme validation and student recruitment), but also encourages reflection on pedagogy, identification of opportunities for curriculum and programme enhancement, improvement to the student experience, development of staff capacity and partnership working with students and industry.

Top 3 learnings:

1. We are proving that a lot can be achieved without significant funding.
2. We have enjoyed working together especially in the context of significant global issues.
3. Regular and personal communication and persistence have been invaluable to us.