The educational institution was revealed as a finalist under the ‘Tomorrow’s Employees’ category.
Falmouth University’s innovative curriculum tool ‘The Falmouth Curriculum Ladder for Sustainability’ (FCLS) landed a spot in the final five of the 2023 Green Gown Awards.
The tool ensures that sustainability is embedded in university curriculum, providing students with knowledge and awareness of climate issues and eco solutions.
Director of Academic Innovation and Quality at Falmouth University, Dr Russell Crawford says: "There are generally two ways sustainability awareness is acted upon in higher education. It is either built in or bolted on, and at Falmouth, we aspire to build it in so that it becomes a core part of the Falmouth student experience. The FCLS is like a multi-tool, in that it can detect just how built in sustainability is in our curriculum while at the same time, showing where there is still work to do."
The FCLS covers nine key themes relating to sustainability, developed based on an extensive literature review of available guidance, as well as evidence and approaches within higher education. Themes include: future thinking, circularity and solving the climate and ecological crises.
The tool aims to promote sustainability principles and train academics and students. It also tracks the coverage of these themes within the university’s courses.
Sustainability Coordinator at Falmouth University, Jake Causley says: "We have a duty as an educational institution to teach people future thinking skills. Falmouth’s motto is all about doing it for real and actually sending creatives out into the world. Sustainability is going to be massively important for any human living on planet Earth. We need to have that awareness anyway, so if we can put that into the curriculum that’s really effective."
The Green Gown Awards spotlight sustainability initiatives developed by colleges and universities across the UK. The event, run in partnership with UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) recognises excellence in promoting and educating around sustainability and environmentalism.
On being shortlisted for a sustainability award, Causley says: "It is really nice to have that recognition and that feeling that you are doing something that is kind of leading, because quite often, it's easy to get bogged down in what's not happening, and actually, when you sit back and compare to other universities and other educational institutions, it’s recognised as being quite forward thinking. So it filled me with a lot of pride."
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