Sustainable development in higher education: 2008 update to strategic statement and action plan

Foreword by Professor Lord Stern of Brentford

Climate change is the greatest environmental challenge facing the world today. To meet this challenge, the world needs minds capable of creating new possibilities for meeting our basic needs such as energy, water, shelter and food; minds that can transform our daily experiences into ones that allow a sustainable development, safeguarding our opportunities and the environment for future generations.

The higher education sector is where these minds are trained and developed. Therefore, it is crucial that the sector contributes strongly to sustainable development. It can do so by training and expanding these young minds; researching answers to challenges and informing public policy; showing its own understanding and commitment through careful campus management; and by being a responsible employer and active member of the business and local community.

There is much under way already and much more that can be done to avoid the worst effects of climate change - but only if we act now, with urgency, to transform our current ways of thinking and operating. We need to create low-carbon growth if growth is to continue and the great risks to the planet from climate change are to be avoided. The higher education sector offers a vital platform for undertaking this transition and can contribute to the global shift that is necessary to safeguard a secure future.

The HEFCE sustainable development strategy provides an invaluable resource to take forward action in the higher education sector. It has the potential to influence many minds and lives, so I urge you to take action to influence the leaders of tomorrow by creating a sustainable future today.

Professor Lord Stern of Brentford
London School of Economics and Political Science

Executive summary

Purpose

1.   This document sets out our revised strategic statement and action plan on sustainable development in the higher education (HE) sector following feedback received on our consultation document (HEFCE 2008/18).

Key points

2.   We want to make sustainable development a central part of our strategy for the future development of the HE sector. Our vision is that: 'Within the next 10 years, the higher education sector in this country will be recognised as a major contributor to society's efforts to achieve sustainability - through the skills and knowledge that its graduates learn and put into practice, its research and exchange of knowledge through business, community and public policy engagement, and through its own strategies and operations.'

3.   This is a challenging agenda and there is a strong perception that society is not moving forward fast enough, particularly where climate change is concerned. There is now widespread agreement that sustainable development is important and it is a growing political priority both nationally and internationally. HE makes an important contribution to the UK's sustainable development strategy, updated in 2005. We are currently in the UN Decade for Education for Sustainable Development, which runs until 2014.

4.   Higher education institutions can make a substantial, sustained and exemplary contribution to the challenge of sustainable development through teaching and research, as campus managers, as employers and as protagonists in their local communities. Publications such as our strategic review and Universities UK's 'Greening spires: universities and the green agenda' show that there is already substantial good practice; this is supported by the Estates Management Statistics which indicate that some institutions are significantly reducing the environmental impact of their operations. However, the momentum for change needs to continue and increase if HE is to play its full part in helping society meet the challenge of sustainable development.

5.   Overall, the consultation feedback demonstrated:

1. A high level of commitment by the sector to the sustainable development agenda. There is widespread agreement that the sector has an invaluable contribution to make and that HEFCE needs to support and encourage this. Our non-prescriptive and enabling approach was welcomed and the actions we proposed raised relatively little negative comment, though some were clearly prioritised by respondents over others.
2. Widespread recognition that higher education's unique contribution is through both teaching and research. A number of concerns were raised that although this is recognised in the vision and strategy statement, it is not reflected in the action plan, and that HEFCE should do more to support and encourage institutions further in this while respecting autonomy and academic freedom.

6.   This document contains a revised and updated strategic statement and action plan. The key revisions are:

1. Research, and business and community engagement, are explicitly referenced in the vision.
2. Our objectives have been revised in response to feedback that they should reflect our leadership role and inspire developments.
3. Where possible we have included time-bound outcomes for the actions. This is not the case for all actions because sustainable development is a learning process in itself - for some actions we do not yet know what the outcomes will look like; for others the issues themselves are not yet fully understood.
4. A new section on students recognises the student body as a valuable partner. The action arising is that: 'We will work with student organisations, including the National Union of Students (NUS) and NUS Services Ltd, to promote behavioural change among students and support initiatives that seek to harness the student resource for positive environmental initiatives at the campus level.'

Action required

7.   This document is for information.