Sustainability in the Curriculum

Providing teaching and learning experiences

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responsible futures

Aston University signed up to the NUS Responsible Futures Accreditation Mark in 2018 and achieved the accreditation in June 2021. Responsible Futures recognises UK Universities who are working to embed issues around sustainability and social responsibility within curricula across all faculties.

Our goal is to provide teaching and learning experiences that empower and inspire students to be critical change-makers for sustainability within their field of expertise– whatever that field is. This is known as Education for Sustainability or ESD (Education for Sustainable Development).

The University has a ESD working group that consists of academic staff, Student Union staff and members of the Sustainability Team to implement actions set out in the accreditation.

Living Lab Projects

The Sustainability Team are keen to embed the University's initiatives within our teaching and learning objectives. A way which this is happening is offering students the possibility to work on projects that benefit the team as well as provide real world examples to the student. A list of potential projects can be downloaded here - however, these can be adjusted to meet the objectives of a student’s project.

Projects6.89 MB


Examples of existing projects that the team are helping students with include:

  • How Higher Education Institutions (HEI) are expected to integrate Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) across the curriculum – ABS MSc Business & Management
  • Embedding corporate responsibility: Aston as an example – Executive MBA case study

Funding

The University is able to provide funding for student and staff led practical sustainability engagement projects. Some of these projects have included:

  • Bird boxes and bug hotels for Go Green Champions to install across campus
  • Funding for the Fairtrade Steering Group to arrange events and promotions
  • Provision of food caddies for staff kitchens
  • Marketing material for other departments that support our sustainable agenda
  • If you have an idea for a project and would like to find out if the University can fund it, please get in touch.