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Sustainability in the curriculum

Education for Sustainable Development – A Strategic Approach

Launched in the spring of 2026, The University’s STEAM at BCUStrategy embeds sustainability within a senior led, institution wide initiative that integrates Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) to address global challenges. Led by Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research, Enterprise, Engagement and STEAM Professor Hanifa Shah OBE, it aligns teaching, research and partnerships with sustainable development. The strategy promotes interdisciplinary learning and real world problem solving, ensuring Education for Sustainable Development is a core strategic focus.

Sustainability is a core enabler to the success of STEAM at BCU, and the success of delivering on sustainable development is reviewed annually, making the delivery plan for the strategy a key framework and reporting mechanism for the integration of sustainability at our University.

Further embedding of sustainability in our education

We have embedded sustainability into several academic quality assurance processes including:

  • The Periodic Review, a formal review of all of our courses every five years;
  • The course approval form for every new course that is developed or existing courses that have a significant change.

Progress is reported against this in the annual Environment Report.

Academic Professional Apprenticeship

To support staff in understanding what sustainability is and how it can be embedded into the curriculum, an introductory session is included as part of the Academic Professional Apprenticeship (APA). The APA is designed for staff who are new to higher education and who have responsibility for learning, teaching and assessment.

The session aims to support colleagues to embed sustainability in the curriculum of their individual courses and faculties, giving participants the knowledge and skills to support the implementation of sustainability priorities aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

An ‘Education for Sustainable Development’ Microsoft Teams Group has been established for staff to network and share ideas, resources, and queries on sustainability in the curriculum. Staff can join the group by searching for it on MS Teams or emailing environment@bcu.ac.uk and asking to be added.

Livings Labs

The University provides living labs across its courses to facilitate real world and practical initiatives which addresses sustainability challenges. Examples include:

Sustainable Growth Garden Project – the courtyard in our Parkside Building has been developed to grow and process plants for natural dyes, fibres and fragrances for use in our courses and education. This collaborative project is continually developing and Design Thinking Workshops are being held to share ideas and develop a business plan.

Centre for Future Homes – This living lab brings together academics, students and industry to test and improve sustainable housing solutions in a real world setting. It uses monitoring technologies and occupant insights to evaluate building performance, supporting low carbon and high quality homes. This applied research approach advances sustainability goals while enhancing student learning and informing future housing policy and practice.

Examples of sustainability in the curriculum

There are some fantastic examples of staff embedding sustainability into the curriculum and students embedding real-life environmental issues into their University coursework.

BCU delivers research projects to develop sustainable solutions locally, regionally, and globally through Research Centres and Groups, for example, the Global Environmental Challenges Research Centre, which includes:

  • MacroBio – Sustainable utilisation of Macroalgae, focused on biomethane production in Indonesia.
  • EnAlgae – Addressing sustainable pathways for Algal Bioenergy in northwest Europe.
  • IoT4Win – smart technology sensors to provide real-time updates on quality, quantity and demand for water working with United Utility.
  • Exploring the application of property level flood risk adaptation in the UK.
    • Developing community centric sustainable solutions for rural communities in Western Cape South Africa.
    • CLIMANIA - developing a Climate Action Game focusing on Retrofit with young people from Balsall Heath. The game won the RTPI award for Research Excellence.

Discover more research projects focused on sustainability here. 

Sustainable curriculum workshops

We have worked with SOS-UK to run the following workshops for staff and students:

  • Introduction to embedding sustainability and climate learning in education
  • Decolonising, decarbonising and democratising education

The recordings and associated resources can be found on the ‘Education for Sustainable Development’ Microsoft Teams Group.

Supporting Schools 

The Research, Innovation, Employability and Enterprise Team are working on a range of projects that support Schools with sustainability. Each year, Birmingham City University works with Schools and Colleges, offering a range of activities, talks and events to increase understanding of higher education study and career opportunities. Some of these talks or events are around sustainability.

BCU hosted two Women in Engineering events in June 2024, which saw more than 170 female pupils from 12 West Midlands schools take part in an exciting engineering challenge, where they worked in teams to tackle sustainability issues by building floodproof homes.

Through the BCU India Group, we are developing collaborative relationships in India between academia, business organisations and civil society, with sustainability being a central thematic area. Our vision is the creation of new strategic projects in India, aligned with our strengths as a University and working in strong partnerships with organisations in India, so we can enable personal transformation and actual, practical on-the-ground innovation, enterprise and research.