The project aims were:

The project draws on the QAA/AdvanceHE Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Guidance (2021), the QAA competence-based education frameworks, and research on both technical and non-technical competencies, including the European Green Competence Framework. Some project partners contributed to the ESD and Academic Quality CEP (2023), and this project will use its outputs, including the idea of “recognising students as co-creators.

This project could also help embed the ESD commitments from QAA Subject Benchmark Statements and the AdvanceHE employability framework, which includes sustainability (2024).

The project will enhance students' employability and graduate careers by focusing on green skills. Through updated curricula, students will become more aware of the demand for green skills, how to articulate them to employers, and how to apply them in all future roles, in line with the Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges (EAUC, 2023) statement that “every job is a green job.”

The project has been co-designed with SOS-UK (Students Organising for Sustainability) and will be delivered closely with them. All five university partners already work with their Students’ Unions on sustainability, mainly through Responsible Futures, and have established mechanisms for co-creation and student leadership.

The sector will benefit by increasing graduate employability, aligning ESD efforts with government and economic priorities, and showing how higher education contributes to upskilling the workforce to meet the UK’s sustainability goals. It will also provide practical guidance on enhancing green skills, covering both technical competencies and transferable/transformational skills.

The project also seeks to inform government policy making in the context of the newly established ‘Skills England’ agency.  

Deliverables and outcomes

Workstream 1: Co-design and deliver student/staff/employer workshops exploring the alignment of ESD, current employability skills commitments, green workforce needs, and green skills.  

Workstream 2: Co-creation of guidance on Green Skills, published as a stand-alone guidance document and initially disseminated through a sector-wide webinar. Also to be shared at relevant conferences e.g. EAUC Conference, the PRME UK and Ireland conference, the QAA Conference, and the SOS-UK Student Sustainability Summit. 

Workstream 3: A policy brief outlining the role of HEIs in green skills provision, and how ESD and green skills in HE can contribute to the UK’s net zero mission.

Workstream 4: An academic article, co-authored with students, exploring the related themes and reporting on project outcomes.