Sustainability in Higher Education: Beyond …
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should play an integral part of how we understand sustainability and how we can
mould the future of the university, the city, the students and residents. The Bristol
Futures initiative introduces local challenges in the University of Bristol’s curriculum, by showcasing what the residents of the City of Bristol are doing to address
these challenges. We give students an insight into how the ‘City’ views sustainability
and what it means for wider community. The students can find similarities between
those initiatives and their own interests and identify where they can join efforts with
other teams and increase impact. They can also identify new challenges or ways to
engage, interact in a way that helps the community, and this is fertile ground for new,
innovative thinking, and genuine bottom-up solutions to the problems faced by the
city and the university. Using the living lab approach, untapped human resources concentrated by the University can be fed back into the community, producing a fertile,
iterative way to exchange knowledge, expertise and life experiences. By presenting
this vibrant community to our students and learners, we create strong links between
the ‘student-resident’ and ‘the University-the City’ that transcend those identities
and form a new identity, that of the ‘engaged citizen’.
5 Bristol Futures
Bristol Futures is one of the University of Bristol’s strategic projects that seeks to
equip all students with the skills to be informed citizens in our changing world and
will be completed in three phases (University of Bristol 2016). The core of Bristol
Futures is formed by three ‘pathways’, defined as:
1. Sustainable Futures (SF)—equipping students to engage with the challenges of
globally improving the quality of life for humanity while sustaining the natural
environment and finding ways of living with the environmental change that we
cause.
2. Global Citizenship (GC)—fostering the critical self-reflection and understanding
students’ need to negotiate the challenges of energy and resource management
and food security, tackle international insecurity and engage with culture and
heritage in an increasingly globalised world.
3. Innovation and Enterprise (IaE)—enabling students to act on their ideas, use
their initiative, and shape change in diverse sectors.
A progressive initiative that challenges traditional forms of pedagogy by combining innovative teaching and learning strategies. Throughout its growth, Bristol
Futures has always tried to be first and foremost inclusive of all students, by providing online courses open to everyone and both postgraduate and undergraduate
students will see the three themes reflected in their core curricula. At its heart, it
aims to reach all students, not just the most engaged, and create opportunities that
will build inspiring as well as inspired graduates. Additionally, it is fully co-designed.
The Bristol Futures Student Advisory Group consists of almost 100 students from
across the University. It has advised the project board on curriculum, branding, the
187
should play an integral part of how we understand sustainability and how we can
mould the future of the university, the city, the students and residents. The Bristol
Futures initiative introduces local challenges in the University of Bristol’s curriculum, by showcasing what the residents of the City of Bristol are doing to address
these challenges. We give students an insight into how the ‘City’ views sustainability
and what it means for wider community. The students can find similarities between
those initiatives and their own interests and identify where they can join efforts with
other teams and increase impact. They can also identify new challenges or ways to
engage, interact in a way that helps the community, and this is fertile ground for new,
innovative thinking, and genuine bottom-up solutions to the problems faced by the
city and the university. Using the living lab approach, untapped human resources concentrated by the University can be fed back into the community, producing a fertile,
iterative way to exchange knowledge, expertise and life experiences. By presenting
this vibrant community to our students and learners, we create strong links between
the ‘student-resident’ and ‘the University-the City’ that transcend those identities
and form a new identity, that of the ‘engaged citizen’.
5 Bristol Futures
Bristol Futures is one of the University of Bristol’s strategic projects that seeks to
equip all students with the skills to be informed citizens in our changing world and
will be completed in three phases (University of Bristol 2016). The core of Bristol
Futures is formed by three ‘pathways’, defined as:
1. Sustainable Futures (SF)—equipping students to engage with the challenges of
globally improving the quality of life for humanity while sustaining the natural
environment and finding ways of living with the environmental change that we
cause.
2. Global Citizenship (GC)—fostering the critical self-reflection and understanding
students’ need to negotiate the challenges of energy and resource management
and food security, tackle international insecurity and engage with culture and
heritage in an increasingly globalised world.
3. Innovation and Enterprise (IaE)—enabling students to act on their ideas, use
their initiative, and shape change in diverse sectors.
A progressive initiative that challenges traditional forms of pedagogy by combining innovative teaching and learning strategies. Throughout its growth, Bristol
Futures has always tried to be first and foremost inclusive of all students, by providing online courses open to everyone and both postgraduate and undergraduate
students will see the three themes reflected in their core curricula. At its heart, it
aims to reach all students, not just the most engaged, and create opportunities that
will build inspiring as well as inspired graduates. Additionally, it is fully co-designed.
The Bristol Futures Student Advisory Group consists of almost 100 students from
across the University. It has advised the project board on curriculum, branding, the