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Sustainability in the Curriculum

We’re helping the graduates of the future by offering 36 week placements in the Environment Team, giving them invaluable work experience and knowledge about sustainability.

This year we’ve placed three students, who have been working on projects ranging from increasing student engagement, assisting in the implementation of an environmental accreditation scheme, waste legislation compliance, and carbon reduction.

Emma Freeman Greener Living Assistant

Emma Freeman is a geography student, currently working with the team on her sandwich placement year.

‘As a student soon to graduate from MMU, I’m concerned about how to stand out in today’s competitive graduate job market. I decided to combine my interests in sustainability and the environment with my desire to gain work experience, and to develop my existing skills.

‘My role as Greener Living Assistant has helped me to adapt to a professional work environment, and helped me develop an understanding of improving environmental performance throughout the University.

‘I have assisted in the coordination of ‘Green Impact’- an innovative environmental accreditation scheme. I used my communication skills to recruit departmental teams to the scheme, helped in the coordination of marketing campaigns and events, which included the end of scheme awards ceremony. The placement has really helped to develop my project management skills.

‘Coordinating the recruitment of student volunteers was enjoyable and extremely challenging, and has helped me to become more confident. I have no doubt that the skills that I’ve learnt on the placement will allow me to stand out when applying for jobs when I graduate.’

Laura Hurst Waste and Recycling Assistant

Laura is a Human Geography student, currently working with the team on her sandwich placement year.

‘Before I started university I always knew I wanted to do a year in industry. To be with working with the Environment Team at my place of study is unbelievable, and gives an insider view into sustainable processes within the public sector.

‘I’ve gained a wide range of knowledge from waste legislation to logistics and procurement. The team work effectively to deliver results to be proud of. Engagement with both students and staff is key to the team, with a number of schemes to help reduce the University’s carbon footprint, such as Green Impact and Zero Waste.’

Lauren Christopher Carbon Reduction Assistant

Lauren Christopher is a geography student, currently working with the team on her sandwich placement year.

‘Graduating with a year’s experience behind me was the main reason for undertaking a placement, but I’ve experienced so many more benefits.

‘My work on the Student Switch Off campaign helped to improve the campaigns effectiveness, which I’m proud of. Working on this campaign also gave me the opportunity to network with professionals from outside of the University, and I gained confidence and the ability to talk confidently to new people.

‘The team work closely together, which meant I gained experience and knowledge is other areas, such as sustainable travel and waste management. I’ve also brushed up on my general office skills, which I know will serve me well for future roles I might take.

‘Whilst on my placement I have had to tolerate sceptical views from friends about why I am doing this. However, this spurred me on to prove them wrong.

‘The 36 week placement has not been without its challenges, and an unpaid placement is quite hard financially, but I’ve enjoyed myself, and would definitely do it again.’

Sustainability in the Curriculum at MMU

MMU’s environmental sustainability policy aims to ensure that all of its students learn about the basics of sustainability, and that all of its graduates should have at least a minimum competence in this area, and should be ‘sustainability literate’.

Sustainability and Employability

Organisations of all shapes and sizes are having to respond to an increasingly challenging environmental agenda, for example in meeting carbon reduction targets, paying attention to using water resources efficiently, managing waste effectively and generally looking towards making a positive rather than a negative impact on the environment through their activities.  So, graduates who can contribute positively to this agenda are increasingly sought after.  MMU seeks to empower its students to this end.

Curriculum for Sustainable Living Group

For the last two years a small group of academic from across all faculties has been meeting as the Curriculum for Sustainable Living (C4SL). This group has helped to develop a strategy for MMU to enable it to meet is stated aim in ‘sustainability literacy’. This group is shortly to be re-launched, with a wider membership.

The C4SL group identified two key strategies for incorporating knowledge and skills about sustainability and sustainable development into its curricula.  One strategy is to develop some core materials about key ideas and issues that can be used by both staff and students, and can be incorporated into core units at all levels. The second strategy is to work with small groups of academic in a discipline-specific context, to explore ways in which to develop sustainability that are best suited to specific discipline areas.

This work is ongoing, and we are not starting from scratch – many of our courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate level already link to key sustainability ideas, and an auditing process is ongoing to uncover these.  Also, there are a range of programmes which deal with environmental and sustainability themes in more depth.

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