EAUC and Staffordshire University Secure Funding for Ground-breaking ‘Environmental Exchange'

1st September 2010

The Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges (EAUC) and Staffordshire University are delighted to announce the launch of an ambitious project to develop an innovative and interactive web-based Higher Education repository of sustainability technical guidance and case studies.

The new project, with a working title of ‘Environmental Exchange’, is being funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) through the ‘Leading Sustainable Development in Higher Education’ fund and has the support and involvement of a wide range of sector bodies including Universities UK, Guild HE, JISC, National Union of Students, Sustainable Procurement Centre of Excellence for Higher Education and Association of University Directors of Estates. *full list of partners at end

This partnership project will be led by EAUC’s Chief Executive Iain Patton and Staffordshire University Environmental Coordinator Adam van Winsum, with a new dedicated Project Manager post funded by HEFCE and based at EAUC.

The new sustainability repository, which aims to facilitate the sharing of good practice on environmental and sustainability issues amongst the HE sector, will use Web 2.0 technology to engage with users through a variety of innovative mediums including e-learning, webinars, online cpd, podcasts and downloads.

In the first phase of the project commencing in September 2010 Staffordshire University will use its in-house expertise to research, develop and be a primary test-bed for the site and contents before further testing country wide. Ultimately, the site will be made available free to the sector as a whole, building on the EAUC’s existing ‘Resource Bank’, to ensure that current and future sector knowledge is available in engaging and accessible formats.

Quotation from Iain Patton: “This is an exciting new development in the sector, which EAUC is delighted to be leading on. It will build on our existing resources and strengthen sector knowledge and partnership working. We are thrilled to have obtained support from so many important sector bodies, which I believe illustrates the need for this repository.”

Quotation from Adam van Winsum: “More and more universities such as Staffordshire are committed to pioneering new more sustainable ways of building, operating, researching and teaching. The Exchange will be invaluable in helping universities and colleges learn from each other”.

Editors Notes: Press Contact is Iain Patton at EAUC on 01242 714321 or 07970 43 99 27 ipatton@eauc.org.uk  

About the EAUC:
With a membership of over 300 universities and colleges, the EAUC is the environmental and sustainability champion within Further and Higher Education in the UK. For more information on the EAUC please visit www.eauc.org.uk
Project Founding Partners are:

The Higher Education Funding Council for England
Staffordshire University
Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges
Universities UK
Guild HE
The Energy Consortium
JISC
Association of University Directors of Estates
Association of University Engineers
National Union of Students
Association of Heads of University Administration
University and College Union
Association of University Procurement Officers
Sustainable Procurement Centre of Excellence
Carbon Trust
Salix Finance