Steve Martin

Quality of the Student Experience and the Levelling up Agenda

Since its inception in 2018 the Office for Students (OfS) has not placed any priority on the environmental and social sustainability agenda unlike its predecessors (Higher Education Funding Council; Quality Assurance Agency). So, I was interested to see it announce a new consultation on its next strategy. What caught my attention was the propositionContinue reading “Quality of the Student Experience and the Levelling up Agenda”

REGENERATIVE THINKING and AGENCY

By Josie Warden RSA Today, our path has reached a cliff edge. As a species we are disrupting the balance of our Earth and undermining the systems that make our home liveable. At the same time, we are extracting from and exploiting one another. Despite the wealth and technology available in the world today, millionsContinue reading “REGENERATIVE THINKING and AGENCY”

9 tips for talking to your family about degrowth during the holidays

By: Nathan Barlow The holidays are special; a chance to stop working, slow down and spend time with family and friends. The numerous family gatherings will likely involve discussions about the state of the world, politics, climate change, and maybe even degrowth. In case you find yourself in this scenario, we have put together this listContinue reading “9 tips for talking to your family about degrowth during the holidays”

CONSULTATION ON THE OfS STRATEGY-2022-2025

The Office for Students(OfS) has just announced a change in emphasis to its regulatory strategy for university quality assurance:it’s about levelling up and the role of universities in this policy vacuum. “Three and a half years since our public launch, this consultation on our new strategy marks a significant milestone for the Office for StudentsContinue reading “CONSULTATION ON THE OfS STRATEGY-2022-2025”

REBOOT THE FUTURE JONATHON PORRITT ANNOUNCES, ‘HOW WILL YOU REBOOT THE FUTURE?’

CAMPAIGN TO MOBILISE SCHOOLS FOR COP-26 IN GLASGOW On Wednesday, 21st April, Reboot the Future, a UK-based NGO, launched ‘How Will You Reboot the Future?’, a multi-media project targeted at UK 14–19-year-old students to stimulate debate and action as we approach the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow laterContinue reading “REBOOT THE FUTURE JONATHON PORRITT ANNOUNCES, ‘HOW WILL YOU REBOOT THE FUTURE?’”

Regeneration – ending the climate crisis in one generation

I came across the work of environmentalist Paul Hawken during my time as Director of Learning at Forum for the Future. In his new book published on the 21 September-2021-at the start of the autumn equinox he espouses a new way of framing the solutions to our climate crisis. It’s title is an alternative twist thatContinue reading “Regeneration – ending the climate crisis in one generation”

THE PARALYSIS OF TRUTH IN PRACTICE

Epistemic vices which nullify epistemic virtues In May 2020, I LIKE TRAINS the Leeds based indie band shared a brand new single, The Truth, which was the first single from their upcoming album, KOMPROMAT. The inspiration behind KOMPROMAT, is a social as well as a conceptual representation of the current and ongoing theme ofContinue reading “THE PARALYSIS OF TRUTH IN PRACTICE”

Doing More with Less: Ensuring Sustainable Consumption and Production

Still Only One Earth: Lessons from 50 years of UN sustainable development policy Today the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) sent out a relatively short-for them- reflection on how far we have progressed over the past 50 years on the journey towards a sustainable future . It struck me as a prescient and harshContinue reading “Doing More with Less: Ensuring Sustainable Consumption and Production”

CULTURE AND SUSTAINABILITY

As Raymond Williams now-famously said, ‘culture’ is one of the two or three most complicated words in English usage Embedding sustainability into the higher education curriculum has been far from straightforward. Consequently, implementation has been patchy – both in terms of disciplinary spread and in terms of the understandings of sustainability A culture for sustainabilityContinue reading “CULTURE AND SUSTAINABILITY”

Transformation with a focus on Human Value

If we are to effect transformative change towards a more sustainable future, then the policies which underpin such change must embrace and place human value at the centre of the economic life of society. Yet the adversarial character of democratic politics tends to focus more on the expectations of change than on a cogent reality.Continue reading “Transformation with a focus on Human Value”