Table 2 - Which Have Been the Most Effective Partnerships in Your Projects?

Table 2 - Which have been the most effective partnerships in your projects?

Who could you build relationships with in the future to best support your SU’s work on sustainability?

• Birmingham City developed a partnership with a local community garden where they hired growing space from, and accessed gardening expertise until their on-campus growing space was built. Good relationship with key academics as project leads, such as from environmental and engineering departments for their aquaponics project.

British Heart Foundation for reusing leftover items. The partnership increased the uptake by students, as they were more likely to donate for a good cause.

• Local community organisation training bike mechanics at Bradford. Strong partnership with the university’s environmental team and its volunteer services.

There were issues with a few partnerships, where the partnership was not really needed or the partners were not responsive or lacked time.

• Local schools, School Partnership Programme of university and teaching staff at Cumbria.
• Academics mentoring students at Exeter. Students invited into the Sustainability Steering Group of the university. Partnership with estates team on biodiversity project, with arts department about an exhibition, and catering about food waste.
• Local growers helping with allotment at Falmouth. FXUNC local currency voucher system accepted by local businesses.
• Gloucestershire have a good partnership with their external catering company. While academics blocked the plan of setting up a beehive for safety reasons.
• At Greenwich great partnership with the sustainability unit of the university. Wild Horizons, an inner city organisation working with estate kids.
• Create as many partnerships as possible within the university, and make yourself indispensable – this could bring about potential funding. At Lancasterthe partnership worked well with the landscape team, researchers, food and catering department. The landscape team applied for Green Flag and RHS It’s Your Neighbourhood awards, where community involvement helps to achieve these. Similarly the working relationship between the SU and catering helped catering to secure catering marks/awards.
• Course representatives training at Leicester now includes sustainability. Sustainability is a permanent agenda item on the Student-Staff Committee meeting. The minutes of this go to the Academic Committee and viewed by senior academics.

Estates, especially for food growing projects.

• At Newcastle partnership developed with schools and youth organisations. Also with various university departments, such as agriculture, chemical engineering, architecture and law.
• Jamie Oliver Food Foundation, Jamie’s Kitchen Garden and Raymond Blanc at Roehampton. There would be a need to bring together projects working on similar issues in order to lobby national organisations together with other SUs.
• At Sheffield the University of Sheffield with Sheffield Hallam and Sheffield College. Landlords and ‘Property with Us’ - a university service.
• The university and union working together with local businesses and charities for the BEES project at Southampton.
• At Worcester with the local authority and local landlords association.

With another university, between Worcester and Birmingham

• A mixed response from academics at UCLan. Their advice is to focus on those academics who are enthusiastic, as life is too short.

Local council was grateful for students planting trees in local parks, as the local authority has diminishing resources.

Local agricultural college students help with on-campus food growing.

• Pro Vice Chancellor’s support for ESD
• Not using ‘sustainability’ as a term, as not everyone understands; not using ‘green’ as it has party connotations – these help.