Sustainability in the curriculum
"We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them" – Albert Einstein
If we are to truly prepare young people for the future, sustainability must be at the heart of their learning. The information in this section has been compiled to help staff and students at ARU to achieve this aim.
Get in touch if you would like to work with us or to find out more.
Climate change is real and a present danger to all people and to the wider natural world. We are too relaxed about what is happening around us and need to be supported about what we each can do to involve ourselves.
Sally Fowler-Davis, Professor of Allied HealthUse our EfS toolkit
This toolkit (ARU staff only, login required) has been developed to support you. Use it when creating active learning experiences that can empower your students to gain the knowledge, skills and competences they need for a just and fair future.
Join our Community of Practice
Gain knowledge, share experiences, and support sustainability in education with our Community of Practice.
We offer regular online meetings where you can:
- learn from experts
- engage in discussions with other staff members at various stages of their EfS journey
- share knowledge and ideas
- access articles, case studies, and best practices through our research hub
- take part in discussion forums to collaborate and share insights
- connect with a supportive network of like-minded individuals.
Email [email protected] to become a member. We look forward to welcoming you!
The [green] skills that you develop for sustainability – like creativity, lateral thinking, management planning and resilience – are very important skills for employability.
Beatriz Acevedo, Associate ProfessorEnhance your curriculum with the Green Heron audit
At ARU, we're committed to embedding sustainability into every course. The Green Heron audit is a student-led project that empowers students to assess and enhance their curriculum, tackling sustainability challenges in their industry. It develops sustainability knowledge and skills such as research, collaboration, interviewing, auditing, and teamwork, while creating valuable sustainable content for courses. Participants earn digital badges to recognise their skills.
For more information, see Integrating sustainability into your curriculum or email [email protected].
Audit students' sustainability learning
The EfS team are proud to have supported the first completion of a Planetary Health Report Card (PHRC), an internationally recognised metric-based tool for evaluating and improving students’ sustainability learning.
While the Green Heron audit is specifically tailored to our curriculum, the PHRC covers five sections: curriculum, research, outreach and advocacy, student-led initiatives, and campus sustainability.
The remarkable efforts of our students in conducting the Green Heron audit have laid a strong foundation for future groups to undertake the full PHRC audit.
In 2025 we completed two PHRCs, which were published internationally on Earth Day. This gave our students the opportunity to engage with an international organisation, and promoted ARU as a university that's dedicated to enhancing and celebrating its sustainability efforts.
If your course is health care related, please contact us to discuss organising a student-led audit with the PHRC. Email [email protected].
Encourage your students to enter the sustainability dissertation prize
If a student's dissertation links to sustainability, they could be in with the chance of winning £100 and the option to present at one of the Global Sustainability Institute's lunchtime seminars.
Find out more about the sustainability dissertation prize.