Green Gown Awards goes French!

29th July 2014

We are delighted to announce that the Green Gown Award family has grown! For the first time there will be a French speaking edition of the Green Gown Awards - Les trophées des campus responsables.

The Awards will be available to all French speaking universities and colleges, schools and specialised institutes in France, Belgium, Switzerland and Luxembourg.

The French speaking Green Gown Awards are being delivered by our partners, Campus Responsables. The Campus Responsables 'initiative' was created in 2006 to encourage and assist integration of sustainable development into educational institutions programs and the management of their infrastructure.

Campus Responsables is the first network of universities and colleges focussing on sustainable development, with 40 member initiative institutions throughout France and Belgium. Campus Responsables are also working with our partners at UNICA as part of their UGAF (UNICA Green Academic Footprint) initiative. UNICA is a network of 46 universities from 35 capital cities of Europe, with a combined strength of over 150,000 staff and 1,800,000 students.

The categories are:

• Responsabilité sociale et sociétale * (Social Responsibility)
• Implication des étudiants * (Student Engagement)
• Engagement durable * (Continuous Improvement)
• Innovation technique pour le développement durable (Technical Innovation for Sustainability)

For categories marked with an *, the winning entries will be entered into the International Green Gown Awards, alongside with UK and Australasian winning entries. The International Green Gown Awards will be announced at the ACTS Conference in Tasmania, Australia on 6 November 2014.

Raising the profile of sustainability on a global scale

Now in their 10th year in the UK, the Green Gown Awards recognise the exceptional sustainability initiatives being undertaken by universities and colleges across the UK. With sustainability moving up the agenda, the Awards have become established as the most prestigious recognition of best practice within the further and higher education sector.

The Green Gown Awards are administered by the Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges (EAUC) and are governed by a cross agency steering group.

The Awards grow every year and even have an international presence - following the huge success of the UK Awards, the Australasian Green Gown Awards are now entering their 5th year.

Iain Patton, EAUC CEO and administrator of the Green Gown Awards, says:

"This is a momentous development for the Green Gown Awards. By extending the Awards to France, Belgium, Switzerland and Luxembourg as well as the existing UK and Australasia Awards, we are raising the profile of sustainability on a global scale.

The International Green Gown Awards are inspiring excellence in leading economic, social and environmental responsibility across the tertiary education sector. The growth of the Green Gown Awards, along with our recently announced partnership with UNEP, demonstrates that sustainability has the power to improve the performance of our institutions and citizenship and employability of our learners.

For our own Members, the EAUC is at the pinnacle of global leadership giving us a unique position to drive sustainability commitment and embed the knowledge and good practice from around the world for the benefit of our Members. This is an exciting time to be an EAUC Member and we hope you join us in celebrating this significant achievement."

EAUC focuses on global recognition for Members and the sector

This announcement follows sharply on the heels of the recently launched unprecedented agreement with UNEP which will put the prestigious Green Gown Awards and bring British sustainability excellence to a truly global audience.

The Green Gown Awards recognise exceptional sustainability initiatives being undertaken by universities and colleges. The Awards cover all aspects of educational institutions – from their teaching and research, leadership, buildings and food to how students can benefit the quality of life in the communities around them.

The UK Green Gown Awards are now in their 10th year and their 5th in Australasia. With the inaugural French speaking Awards, the partnership with UNEP will expand the Green Gown Awards further across the globe with an emphasis on profiling and learning from the Southern Hemisphere.

The ethos of the Green Gown Awards is to ensure the lessons and example of good practice are shared and this exciting partnership will put UK universities and colleges as leaders in sustainability as well as being able to continue their learning from global leaders.

The French speaking Green Gown Awards are open on 1 August and applications close on 5 October. We're looking forward to sharing more about this new development over the coming months.

Click here for further information on the French speaking Green Gown Awards

Click here for further information on the Green Gown Awards