In a recent Guardian article, Manchester Metropolitan University’s head of environmental management Helen Tinker offers up a highly compelling mantra for sustainable development:
“It’s not just about recycling, it’s not just about switching off lights. It’s about the sustainability of society moving forward”.
Tinker’s comments came after People and Planet published their 2017 University League, a report ranking universities solely on their environmental and ethical performance; Manchester Metropolitan (often known by the abbreviation MMU) finished first out of the 154 institutions examined.
With just over 33,000 enrolled students, of whom around 27,000 are undergraduates, MMU is one of the few UK universities of comparable size to UCL, and their efforts in promoting sustainability provide a case study for every large institution. While Tinker’s department have shown a commitment well-documented ‘green’ practices, including recycling bins, water re-use programmes and electric car hire schemes, the area in which they are truly revolutionary is in integrating education about sustainability into all of their courses. Students are offered sophisticated training programmes on ideas including carbon literacy and plastic misuse. Studies carried out by the university indicate a spreading enthusiasm amongst undergraduates; 82% rate sustainability as important and 68% say they are gaining knowledge about sustainability while at MMU.
So, what can UCL learn from MMU’s sustainability efforts? The good news is that the university also fared quite well in People and Planet’s rankings, placing 26 th (and 5 th among Russell Group members). However, UCL does not offer the same commitment to sustainability education as MMU, receiving an ‘Education’ score of only 55%. While UCL has set up an Education for Sustainable Development department, offering opt-in programmes such as Global Citizenship, a key disparity with MMU is that the latter see the importance of incentivising green education, appointing student environment ambassadors and paying them to deliver training to other students. This kind of role is largely lacking at UCL; instead, the university is happy to make sustainability education optional and the responsibility of a small department.
Overall, UCL needs to follow MMU’s lead by placing equal emphasis on education and practices when it comes to promoting sustainable environmental development. Such a move will increase student participation in green schemes and hopefully enhance the university’s sustainability rating to a level equal with its worldwide academic reputation.
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