Green Gown Awards 2020 - University of Gloucestershire - Finalist

The Art of Sustainability - Strategy, resilience and creativity

In the 1990s, our staff saw sustainability as an urgent issue for the sector and pushed for leadership support to bring visionary change into the organisation. In 2008, as others were waking up to this agenda, we started our 1st strategy with pioneering focus on learning for sustainability, creating a recognised model for others to follow.  

University of Gloucestershire has pioneered change for sustainability with its whole-institutional strategy. This is not green spray paint: it is a true sustainability strategy for a HE provider - properly rooted in our academic activities. Adopted as a corporate priority over 10 years ago, sustainability is now one of our proudest successes.  

As we complete our 2nd strategy, we are still innovating in sustainability education and improving environmental performance each year. We are painting our masterpiece collectively, taking sustainability deeper through an institution-wide curriculum design initiative, student recruitment, pandemic adaptation and aiming for net zero carbon. 

Top 3 learnings:

1. We put students at the heart of our mission and strive to meet their changing needs. 
2. We listen carefully to our critics and advisers as the secret to continual improvement. 
3. We keep our strategy vision coherent, but adaptive to internal and external change. 

Videos

• Video #1 (click to hide)