This case study details the impact of participating in the HEA Green Academy programme (2011 – 2012) for the University of Southampton. The case study consists of an overview of the University's sustainability strategies and activities within an institutional context and a detailed explanation of the specific impacts of the Green Academy programme.
The University’s Green Academy team have fully exploited the knowledge and practical expertise derived from the residential workshops facilitated by the Higher Education Academy’s Green Academy programme. There is unequivocal agreement that it has stimulated a significant change in the rate and scale of institutional developments in the context of sustainability. It has enabled the team to elevate the significant yet relatively fragmented developments in sustainability onto a more strategic and coherent institutional footing and has led to the formulation of an ambitious long-term vision to develop the University as a global leader in sustainability with the strapline: “The University of Southampton: A Globally Responsible University”. Rather than setting the strategy in the narrower context of ‘education for sustainable development’ the Green Academy team has sensibly focused its objectives on enabling the University to establish sustainability at the ‘CORE’ (curriculum operations research and experience) of the institution.
