Scottish Funding Council renews EAUC Scotland funding for 2024/25

28th February 2024

We are pleased to announce that EAUC’s funding bid for the next phase of its work in Scotland has been approved by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC). We will continue to deliver our ‘Supporting a step-change towards environmental sustainability at Scotland's Universities and Colleges’ programme from 1st April 2024 up to March 2025.  
  
On 31st March, we will reach the end of the first year of our ‘Supporting a step-change towards environmental sustainability at Scotland's Universities and Colleges’ programme. This outcome agreement, funded by the Scottish Funding Council, has enabled EAUC Scotland to collaborate with and support the Further and Higher Education sector in its sustainability journey. Since April 2023, we have delivered close to 40 events, training sessions and webinars reaching over 500 people. We have produced vital new resources for the sector, including the Climate Risk Register Tool, Green Careers Guide, Domestic and International Student Relocation Emissions Calculator and Sustainability Champions Learning Pack. We are confident that this programme has helped further the understanding of the significant role the sector has in responding to the climate emergency and has provided relevant knowledge and tools to support sector staff in improving sustainability within their institutions and communities.  
  
This next SFC-funded programme will focus on supporting effective leadership and action to enable Scotland’s colleges and universities to respond to the climate and ecological emergencies, while also recognising their social context. Key projects for the year ahead include: 
 

• Initiating Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) guidance for college educators  
• Publishing a biodiversity strategy best practice guide 
• Launching Greenhouse gas emission reporting learning pack 
• Launching Commuter emissions calculator and guidance 
• Facilitating the PBCCD peer review and wider support 
• Delivering the EAUC Scotland Conference 

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 performance framework. 
 
The successful £147,000 bid is a result of work undertaken with SFC over the past six months to develop new ideas to deepen the sector’s response to the climate emergency. This process was informed by feedback from members through our regional workshops, events, surveys and through our Advisory Group and engagement with sector partners.  
  “It’s fantastic that EAUC’s partnership with the Scottish Funding Council continues into 2024, a partnership that started in 2008. The past 11 months have been an exceptionally busy time as EAUC Scotland has worked closely with sector staff and sector partners to develop new tools and resources, share knowledge, and advocate for effective sustainability leadership.

The new SFC-funded programme recognises the unique opportunities for a step-change in sustainability in the 12 months ahead as Scotland develops its next national adaptation plan, statutory guidance for Public Bodies Climate Change Duties, and strategic framework for biodiversity. We also enter the Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan’s final stages. This is a critical time for sustainability in Scotland and we look forward to working with the college and university sector, SFC and wider partners to deliver long term environmental, social and economic benefits for individual FHE institutions and their staff and students, and in turn the communities they serve and Scotland as a whole through this ambitious new programme.” 
 
Martin Boyle, SFC’s Director of Policy, Insight and Analytics, said:

“In funding the EAUC programme, we are again demonstrating our determination to support progress towards a more sustainable future. EAUC Scotland does an incredible job of bringing together staff and students, colleges and universities, teaching and research to share best practice and work collaboratively to tackle the climate and ecological emergencies.
 
Following the success of last year's programme, this year’s activities are equally progressive and ambitious and I am delighted that we are able to support them through further investment.”

The EAUC Scotland team would like to express its thanks to Hazel Dalgård, and to her Capital and Climate Change colleagues at SFC for giving us the opportunity to again work with and support the sector during this next chapter. Going forward we really look forward to working with Policy, Insight and Analytics Directorate within SFC. In addition, we would also like to thank all the sector staff and key partners who provided support for the bid. The new outcome agreement will be published on our website from early April 2024 and will contain all the details on what the sector can expect from EAUC Scotland over the next year.   
 
The Outcome Agreement is available to download below. If you have any questions about the new programme, please get in touch.