Learning and teaching

A new online course on sustainability and social responsibility was launched this year and was made available to all students.

Sustainability and social responsibility online course

The 11-week programme, aims to enable participants to gain insight into what sustainability is and what it means to them. The course is a 20 credit level 8 course open to every student in the University. This interdisciplinary initiative draws on the expertise of colleagues from across the University and all four Global Academies, providing insights for our students into everything from sustainable business and health, through to engineering and design.

It has been designed to bring students from all disciplines together to work on sustainability issues. The first cohort of students completed the course this year. 

Sustainability and social responsibility online course

Climate change scholarships

Students from nations most at risk from climate change are to receive scholarships to study at the University. The Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation Scholarships, launched this year, will support up to twenty distance-learning places on the University’s postgraduate climate change management programme. Students will study climate change impacts and collaborate with Edinburgh’s global network of sustainability experts. Priority will be given to applicants who are considered to have the greatest potential to make a difference in countries most at risk from climate change. 

Climate change scholarships

European Students, Sustainability Auditing (ESSA) Project

Edinburgh is one of three universities involved in this project which aims to create a more flexible approach to student learning, assessment and certification across Europe’s higher education sector, in a way that will enhance graduate employability. Utilising the Benchmark Standards for University Social Responsibility across the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), the work of the project develops the concept of facilitation of learning as a key to effective engagement of students.

A cohort of 60 students drawn from the three participating universities will be trained as Social Responsibility Auditors in a student-centred, action-reflection learning based programme, delivered in blended mode. This will culminate in four Audits of different European higher education institutions, carried out by cross-national teams of the students involved. Students will be awarded a Level 6 EQF Certificate in Social Responsibility Auditing. Integral to the project will be production of a significant, innovative Open Education Resource (OER) that will launched at a trans-national European Conference to be held in Spring 2019.

European Students, Sustainability Auditing (ESSA) Project

Related links

Sustainable Development Goals Index