Aligning Campus Strategy with the SDGs …
17
• Achieving the highest credential to exemplify best practice in the environmental
management of the University (i.e. EcoCampus Platinum and ISO14001 certification)
• Reinvigorating the education agenda
• Developing the culture and building capacity by working in the extra-curricular
sphere—initiating Green Impact teams across the university (Shiel and Smith
2017).
The actions resulted in partial success.
EcoCampus Platinum (EcoCampus 2018) and ISO14001:2004 (International
Organization for Standardization (ISO) 2015) certification was achieved in 2016 and
BU became, at that time, one of only 15 universities with this dual certification. EcoCampus was designed by the higher education sector to help universities implement
environmental management systems (EMS). An EMS is a risk management tool to
minimise the impact on the environment whilst also promoting positive impacts, such
as Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). BU’s EMS currently provides a
structured approach, supported by senior management, to continual improvement
with its ESD programme.
Reinvigorating the education for sustainable development (ESD) agenda involved
working with the Centre of Excellence in Learning (CEL) and gaining approval of a
sustainability focus on the Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCert), which is
compulsory for new staff. In 2017, this took the limited form of a one-off presentation
to staff on the PGCert. The presentation created some interest but was perceived as a
bolt-on, with limited impact on wider curriculum change. Similarly, a competition to
surface good ESD teaching practise (again in collaboration with CEL) made public a
few excellent examples, but mainly only gained the participation of already engaged
academics, rather than serving to inspire the wider body of staff.
Another area where academics appeared not to be engaging related to the Green
Impact programme, which had been introduced at BU in 2015. The programme
involves staff working in teams within their departments to complete a workbook
of actions covering several aspects of sustainability. The more actions completed,
the more points are gained, leading to a Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum award. In
2017, four teams gained awards, with three at Silver and one at Bronze but three of
the four teams were based in administrative functions, with only one academic team
participating since 2015. Efforts to extend the programme have secured an increase
in the number of teams (14 teams in 2017/18), however academic teams are still in
the minority. Other universities (e.g. the University of Sheffield) have had greater
success in securing academic staff participation in the programme, demonstrating
that at BU, there is potential for further improvement. A survey investigating the
barriers to pro-environmental behaviours at BU, including participation into the green
impact programme, highlighted that the biggest barriers facing staff were: lack of
time, funding and organisational support (Scarborough and Cantarello 2018). This
echoes some of the barriers identified by the National Union of Students (NUS)
et al. (2017) in their sustainability in education report. However, it is interesting
to note that while time was the most highly reported barrier at BU, this barrier is
17
• Achieving the highest credential to exemplify best practice in the environmental
management of the University (i.e. EcoCampus Platinum and ISO14001 certification)
• Reinvigorating the education agenda
• Developing the culture and building capacity by working in the extra-curricular
sphere—initiating Green Impact teams across the university (Shiel and Smith
2017).
The actions resulted in partial success.
EcoCampus Platinum (EcoCampus 2018) and ISO14001:2004 (International
Organization for Standardization (ISO) 2015) certification was achieved in 2016 and
BU became, at that time, one of only 15 universities with this dual certification. EcoCampus was designed by the higher education sector to help universities implement
environmental management systems (EMS). An EMS is a risk management tool to
minimise the impact on the environment whilst also promoting positive impacts, such
as Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). BU’s EMS currently provides a
structured approach, supported by senior management, to continual improvement
with its ESD programme.
Reinvigorating the education for sustainable development (ESD) agenda involved
working with the Centre of Excellence in Learning (CEL) and gaining approval of a
sustainability focus on the Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCert), which is
compulsory for new staff. In 2017, this took the limited form of a one-off presentation
to staff on the PGCert. The presentation created some interest but was perceived as a
bolt-on, with limited impact on wider curriculum change. Similarly, a competition to
surface good ESD teaching practise (again in collaboration with CEL) made public a
few excellent examples, but mainly only gained the participation of already engaged
academics, rather than serving to inspire the wider body of staff.
Another area where academics appeared not to be engaging related to the Green
Impact programme, which had been introduced at BU in 2015. The programme
involves staff working in teams within their departments to complete a workbook
of actions covering several aspects of sustainability. The more actions completed,
the more points are gained, leading to a Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum award. In
2017, four teams gained awards, with three at Silver and one at Bronze but three of
the four teams were based in administrative functions, with only one academic team
participating since 2015. Efforts to extend the programme have secured an increase
in the number of teams (14 teams in 2017/18), however academic teams are still in
the minority. Other universities (e.g. the University of Sheffield) have had greater
success in securing academic staff participation in the programme, demonstrating
that at BU, there is potential for further improvement. A survey investigating the
barriers to pro-environmental behaviours at BU, including participation into the green
impact programme, highlighted that the biggest barriers facing staff were: lack of
time, funding and organisational support (Scarborough and Cantarello 2018). This
echoes some of the barriers identified by the National Union of Students (NUS)
et al. (2017) in their sustainability in education report. However, it is interesting
to note that while time was the most highly reported barrier at BU, this barrier is