Supporting and developing student appreciation of sustainable development for social, economic and environmental wellbeing is implicit in the EDGE Framework - which gives practical expression to the values-driven approach at Cardiff Met. This is achieved through a focus upon:
- Sustainable development as an aspect of the Global and Ethical elements of EDGE that the university aspires to develop in all students, through both their curricular studies and extracurricular activities
- The creation of a sustainability-oriented community of practice, which brings together students, academics and support staff from across the institution in order to raise awareness and develop practice
- Providing opportunities for students to consider the impact of sustainability-oriented agendas from individual, professional and social perspectives
- Supporting students to learn through sustainable development practices, as well as about them via the embedding of authentic learning experiences centred around relevant sustainable development agendas
QED provides a key role in advocating and developing sustainability in the curriculum, and supports staff to achieve the above ambitions through a number of initiatives, including:
- Supporting and engaging staff through online materials. QED has developed resources - featuring advice, case studies and related source material, which offers pragmatic ways to embed sustainability within the curriculum
- An online forum for both staff and students from across the university has been established by QED - enabling identification of opportunities and sharing of best practice
- A updated process for approving new programmes and modifying existing ones within Cardiff Met has been established, and QED has developed a suite of new programme design templates which include reference to a number of aspects of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)
- QED has re-imagined the provision of professional training for staff at Partner organisations. These resources and workshops support academic staff in Partner institutions without the necessity for international travel, via the use of hybrid/online approaches
- To give voice to the perspectives of future generations, a Student Insights Team has been recruited by QED. These paid roles offer a range of development opportunities across Cardiff Met, and provide invaluable insight into the views, concerns and needs of students, including the sustainability agenda
- The delivery of a QED 'Festival of Learning' event in June 2023, including a focus on sustainability within the curriculum. Colleagues will have the opportunity to explore and discuss both the challenges and opportunities
Full detail of the Cardiff Met Learning and Teaching enabling strategy, which re-frames the University’s EDGE attributes through the lens of sustainability, will be published post-approval at Board of Governors on July 6.
