20
C. Shiel et al.
Leadership for ESD is vital but also requires ownership by the academic community. It seemed important that CEL should be more visible in terms of developing
the agenda but also in taking a leadership role. CEL’s remit is to provide academics
with guidance on curriculum development and excellence in pedagogical approaches,
including the use of new technology to enhance the student experience. Further meetings with the Director of CEL served to gain full support for ESD and the SDGs. The
CEL Director reports directly to the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Education) providing
a strong central pillar for promoting the SDGs throughout BU. Further, in 2017/18,
rather than a one-off presentation on sustainable development, CEL agreed that the
PGCert in Education would fully address ESD and the SDGs in the Education Policy
unit. In developing the pedagogic approach the SDGs would be introduced to participants in week one, considered in other units and become a theme for assessment.
In addition to strengthening the role of CEL, and to extend communications and
influence culture change, presentations were made to the four Faculty Education and
Student Experience (FESECs) committees with the aim of directly engaging with
academic leads in relation to reinforcing the importance of embedding sustainability
in the curriculum and introducing the SDGs. Training on the importance of sustainability was also provided to elected student representatives across the Faculties.
These students attend programme meetings with academics and thus, they represent
the student voice and have the opportunity to comment on and influence what is
being taught. At the same time, BU also signed up to and promoted participation
in the first “NUS SDG Teach In” which encourages academics to pledge to include
the SDGs within their teaching, learning, and assessment on their course(s) during a
week in February 2018 (NUS 2018).
The development of the new BU2025 strategy was an iterative process with the
opportunity to further embed sustainability and centralise the SDGs to underpin strategy development throughout. The EAUC conference in March 2017, which focused
on the adoption of the SDGs, was a very timely opportunity to take stock of what
other institutions were doing and consider how BU could use the SDGs to help embed
sustainability in all areas of the business. Attendance at the conference enabled BU’s
Sustainability Manager to provide various inputs based on the SDGs to the Office
of the Vice Chancellor (OVC) during the drafting of the strategy, including mapping
BU’s strategic Fusion model of excellence in education, research and professional
practice, against the SDGs. As a result, sustainability became one of the key areas
of the new draft strategy. Strategy development at BU is a process of consultation
that includes many opportunities for staff participation and stakeholder comments on
drafts. Not only did conversations around sustainable development become a wider
concern but the SDGs became a noticeable feature of consultation events and staff
development workshops.
One of the major changes in the new strategy will be the need to demonstrate the
impact of BU’s research, education and professional practice. Under the EMS, BU has
already evidenced impact, delivering many environmental and social improvements,
such as providing two new buildings to the BREEAM ‘Excellent’ standard, installing
photovoltaics, providing an efficient Unibus service (over 1 M passenger journeys
in 2016/17) and using the landscaping of the campus to educate students about the
C. Shiel et al.
Leadership for ESD is vital but also requires ownership by the academic community. It seemed important that CEL should be more visible in terms of developing
the agenda but also in taking a leadership role. CEL’s remit is to provide academics
with guidance on curriculum development and excellence in pedagogical approaches,
including the use of new technology to enhance the student experience. Further meetings with the Director of CEL served to gain full support for ESD and the SDGs. The
CEL Director reports directly to the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Education) providing
a strong central pillar for promoting the SDGs throughout BU. Further, in 2017/18,
rather than a one-off presentation on sustainable development, CEL agreed that the
PGCert in Education would fully address ESD and the SDGs in the Education Policy
unit. In developing the pedagogic approach the SDGs would be introduced to participants in week one, considered in other units and become a theme for assessment.
In addition to strengthening the role of CEL, and to extend communications and
influence culture change, presentations were made to the four Faculty Education and
Student Experience (FESECs) committees with the aim of directly engaging with
academic leads in relation to reinforcing the importance of embedding sustainability
in the curriculum and introducing the SDGs. Training on the importance of sustainability was also provided to elected student representatives across the Faculties.
These students attend programme meetings with academics and thus, they represent
the student voice and have the opportunity to comment on and influence what is
being taught. At the same time, BU also signed up to and promoted participation
in the first “NUS SDG Teach In” which encourages academics to pledge to include
the SDGs within their teaching, learning, and assessment on their course(s) during a
week in February 2018 (NUS 2018).
The development of the new BU2025 strategy was an iterative process with the
opportunity to further embed sustainability and centralise the SDGs to underpin strategy development throughout. The EAUC conference in March 2017, which focused
on the adoption of the SDGs, was a very timely opportunity to take stock of what
other institutions were doing and consider how BU could use the SDGs to help embed
sustainability in all areas of the business. Attendance at the conference enabled BU’s
Sustainability Manager to provide various inputs based on the SDGs to the Office
of the Vice Chancellor (OVC) during the drafting of the strategy, including mapping
BU’s strategic Fusion model of excellence in education, research and professional
practice, against the SDGs. As a result, sustainability became one of the key areas
of the new draft strategy. Strategy development at BU is a process of consultation
that includes many opportunities for staff participation and stakeholder comments on
drafts. Not only did conversations around sustainable development become a wider
concern but the SDGs became a noticeable feature of consultation events and staff
development workshops.
One of the major changes in the new strategy will be the need to demonstrate the
impact of BU’s research, education and professional practice. Under the EMS, BU has
already evidenced impact, delivering many environmental and social improvements,
such as providing two new buildings to the BREEAM ‘Excellent’ standard, installing
photovoltaics, providing an efficient Unibus service (over 1 M passenger journeys
in 2016/17) and using the landscaping of the campus to educate students about the