The University and Kent Union, in partnership, are participating in the Responsible Futures scheme – an NUS framework to facilitate institution change in embedding sustainability throughout all parts of the student learning experience. Responsible Futures acts on the Vice-Chancellor’s commitment to ‘Embed Sustainability through building the UN Sustainable Development Goals into our research, education, leadership, operations, administration and engagement.’
The world our graduates will be working in is vastly different from that of a generation ago and they will face a spectrum of social, economic and environmental global challenges when entering the workplace and wider society. Kent graduates need to be ‘global citizens’ equipped to tackle these challenges and inequalities.
Responsible Futures looks to ensure every student – from architecture to business, and chemistry to digital arts – is prepared with the knowledge and understanding of sustainability, and possess the sustainability skills and attributes, and the desire and willingness to deal with these issues.
Institutions promoting sustainability skills are much more likely to produce employable graduates according to the Global University Employability Ranking (EAUC, 2018).
NUS surveys have also found that students want education in sustainable development and to gain sustainability skills (NUS, 2018). According to 2017/18 survey: 76% of HE students agree that “universities and colleges should be obliged to develop students’ social and environmental skills as part of the courses they offer”
The University of Kent and Kent Union partnership will coordinating work on embedding sustainability into the formal and informal curriculum and will be seeking to engage with academic staff and students across the organisation.
If you are interested in getting involved, exploring how you can embed sustainability into your or your school’s teaching, or for more information, please contact: sustainability@kent.ac.uk or visit www.kent.ac.uk/estates/sustainability/esd/index.html