Sustainable development
Sustainable development
Conference information
A conference was held on 26 November 2009 at the Edinburgh Assembly Rooms, to mark the half way point of the UN Decade of Education for sustainable development. The event was organised jointly by SFC, NUS Scotland, HE Academy and Scotland's Colleges. View the presentations here:
Sustainable Development Conference 2009
Background to the Council’s work on sustainable development
The Council has been asked by the Scottish Government to embrace and take forward sustainable development in all areas of tertiary education in Scotland.
Our broad objectives are to see a Scotland where:
- our universities and colleges play a key role in developing knowledge and understanding of sustainable development;
- estates developments embody the principles of sustainable development and encourage learners and staff to act sustainably;
- education for sustainable development is integrated into curricula;
- the whole experience offered to learners contributes to the development of their sustainability literacy and citizenship skills, attitudes and behaviours;
- universities and colleges have access to the highest quality materials, advice and support to enable them to embed education for sustainable development into their courses and the wider student experience; and
- the value of sustainability skills is understood and articulated by institutions, learners and employers.
The key actions for Scotland’s universities and colleges are set out in detail in the Action Plan for the UN Decade of education for sustainable development, which was launched in 2005.
In 2005, we commissioned the sustainable development report by John Forster Associates on the baseline of practice in sustainable development in courses offered by Scotland’s universities and colleges. The study explored the extent to which sustainability is embedded in learning programmes in Scottish further and higher education, and considered related issues such as the ways in which learning environments can contribute to developing sustainability literacy amongst learners and staff.
Past Council reports to the Scottish Government can be found here:
Scotland’s Universities
The Council funds the Higher Education Academy (HEA) to support subject, interdisciplinary and generic approaches to Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) through its subject networks. HEA has an ongoing ESD Project whose aim is to help institutions and subject communities develop curricula and pedagogy that will give students the skills and knowledge to live and work sustainably.
More information about HEA's work on ESD can be found on the Higher Education Academy website.
In 2008 the Council funded research, managed by Universities Scotland and the Higher Education Academy, to establish the contribution that Scotland's Universities are making to the UN Decade of Education for sustainable development. This involved a survey of all 20 universities and the production of in-depth profiles of four universities. The research provides an up-to-date picture of sustainable development activity in the Scottish university sector and will inform future support for ESD by the HE Academy. The final report is available from the HEA's website.
Scotland’s Colleges
The overall aim of the project is to support Scotland’s colleges in contributing to Learning for Our Future and to enable Scotland’s colleges to deliver the knowledge, understanding, skills and values for its learners, communities and partners to live sustainable lives.
The main focus of the work is to look at approaches to embedding sustainable development into Scottish college courses. The project will work with SFC, SQA, EAUC and Scotland’s colleges to:
- provide support, training and resources to practitioners
- support college ESD strategies
- bring initiatives together
- highlight and celebrate the good work that is going on
- pool experience, skills, ideas and expertise, and
- develop shared approaches and a common language.
In 2008, the project undertook a survey of education for sustainable development in Scotland's colleges. The report of this survey can be found here: SDE College Survey Report
In 2009 HMIE did an aspect report on education for sustainable development in Scotland's Colleges. The report is available from HMIE's website.
SFC internal operations
We aim to conduct our business in a sustainable way and in line with our organisational environmental policy. This includes actions to reduce the impact of our operations by using less energy and resources and by encouraging more use of sustainable transport.
Capital funding & projects
Sustainable Development Guidance March 2008