EAUC-Scotland Funding Renewed by SFC!

31st March 2020

Funding confirmed to accelerate response to climate emergency

We are pleased to announce that EAUC’s bid for funding for the next phase of its work has been approved by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC). We will deliver our new outcome agreement ‘Accelerating action and leadership in Scotland’s colleges and universities to respond to the climate emergency’ from 1st April 2020 up to March 2023.

The success of the bid comes as a result of work undertaken with SFC over the past six months to develop new ideas about further accelerating the sector’s response to the climate emergency. This process was informed by feedback from members through our events, surveys and through our Office Bearers Group. It also referred to the results of SFC’S sector survey in 2019 and reflected our own understanding of the higher and further education sector’s sustainability journey, community motivations and the Scottish Government’s national priorities.

At the end of March, we officially reached the end of our Catalysing transformative leadership for sustainability programme. This 3-year outcome agreement, again funded by the Scottish Funding Council, has enabled EAUC-Scotland to collaborate with and support the Higher and Further Education sector in its sustainability journey. Since April 2017, we have delivered 109 events, training sessions and webinars reaching over 1,500 people. Evidenced through our Sustainability Committee Enhancement Project, the percentage of institutions with a formal sustainability committee has risen from 64% to 82% in the past 18 months; and the sector has reduced its carbon emissions by 15% over the past 3 reporting years (2015/16 – 2018/19). We are confident that this programme has helped create a culture of understanding of the significant roles the sector has in responding to the climate emergency.

The new SFC-funded programme is designed to create opportunities for colleges and universities to form new collaborations and develop innovative approaches in their response to the climate emergency. The programme will focus on supporting transformative leadership and the empowerment of sector communities, building capacity in institutional structures across the sectors, developing a place-based response to the climate emergency and further strengthening the collaborative sector voice. We will also work with SFC and key partners to progress Learning for Sustainability in learning, teaching and research and support SFC on its own strategic framework and the national framework through harnessing the ‘Team Scotland’ approach.

Responding to the confirmation of funding, Iain Patton, CEO of EAUC-UK, said:

“I would like to thank our members and the Scottish Funding Council for their on-going support of EAUC-Scotland and for their work in co-developing this new and exciting programme. If we are to limit global warming to 1.5^oC in line with the Paris Agreement then 2020 marks the start of a critical decade of climate action.

“Our universities and colleges can develop the research, knowledge and skills needed to inspire and create sustainable communities, empowering staff and students to be the agents of change today and tomorrow. We’re excited to lead on this challenge and support the Scottish HFE sector.”

The EAUC-Scotland team would like express its thanks to our Outcome Manager, Jennifer Jamieson, and to her Research & Innovation colleagues at SFC for giving us the opportunity to again work with and support the sectors during this next chapter. The new outcome agreement will be published on our website from early April 2020 and will contain all the details on what the sector can expect from EAUC Scotland over the next 3 years.


EAUC-Scotland Outcome Agreement Response to COVID-19:

In light of significant changes across our institutions and of EAUC as an organisation due to the COVID-19 outbreak, EAUC-Scotland has reviewed the planned actions within our new Outcome Agreement. With support from our Officer Bearers Group and the Scottish Funding Council, the Team will continue to support members with any enquiries through our sector helpline, facilitate virtual knowledge-sharing events where possible, and focus further efforts on resource creation for members. The new Outcome Agreement will be published for viewing shortly with further details. If you have any queries please contact us via scotland@eauc.org.uk.