Objective 2: Aligning education and research with our crisis response
It is our objective that our academic community will align education and research with the crisis, in terms of appropriate programme content, research outcomes, and the way we operate, including increasing crisis awareness and literacy. Education Target: All programmes to include the climate and ecological crisis in at least one unit per level (year) by 2022/23 As a university, our largest legacy is our students, and this ambitious target to embed the climate and ecological crisis within all our programmes is critical to ensuring that our graduates have the skills, knowledge and values to support a transition to a low-carbon society within all sectors. This work is led by our cross-Faculty Sustainability Academic Network who have been preparing a university-wide mapping of all courses to understand how many currently achieve this target. Through the Education for Sustainable Development Community of Practice, we have shared best practice and identified what support academics need to ensure we achieve this target.
Examples of best practice BAFTA Albert sustainable media training 107 students in our Faculty of Media & Communication gained certification from BAFTA Albert’s ‘Applied Skills for a Sustainable Media Industry’ programme. The 7-hour course explores the media industry’s impact upon the environment and identifies ways to improve it through practice, including how to create content that encourages wider societal change. The student assessment included completing a carbon calculation for an industry production and a statement on how they would reduce it through specific measures. The course was well-received for its sectorspecific and sector-leading teaching.
Globally responsible business practice Global Business Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility & Sustainability is a unit offered within the BU Business School. It aims to put ethics at the core of our thinking about business globally and generate insightful thoughts on sustainable business practices, stakeholder engagement and the importance of accountability in the relationship between businesses and their various stakeholders. Students have explored environmental issues, such as deforestation, through the lenses of multinationals and an understanding of complex global supply chains to recognise their role in creating change.
It was incredibly insightful and has greatly expanded my understanding of our impacts and effects on the environment, not just limited to the creative industries but on a global scale as well.
Understanding complex global supply chains allowed students to see how large global organisations are having to account for their adverse impacts. Students have begun to see the importance of NGOs and civil society as powerful forces for change, and the need for corporations to be a key player in resolving the climate crisis.
Student who completed BAFTA Albert training
Dr Louise Preget, unit lead
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