WATCH: Eight thousand students – one grand challenge

22 Sep 2016

Thanks to colleagues who gave our new students a warm and distinctive welcome to Manchester

Staff from across the University helped deliver the Sustainability Challenge which was offered to all 8,000 first-year undergraduates on the second day of their Welcome Week.

This included more than 150 staff from all Faculties and nearly all PSS directorates, who volunteered as facilitators and event staff on the day.

It also included academic and PSS staff who were involved in planning the delivery of the event and promoting the event to students, particularly staff in the Directorate of Estates, as well as Directorate for the Student Experience (DSE) and IT Services, and Sustainability Challenge Leads in every Faculty and School.

The Sustainability Challenge is part of Stellify - bringing together a whole host of extra and co-curricular activities that students can explore and benefit from at Manchester, which give them the chance to broaden horizons, understand the issues that matter and step up to make a difference to the local and global community.

The event was led by the Student Development and Community Engagement (SDCE) division in DSE and follows earlier Sustainability Challenge pilots in 2014 and 2015 which were overseen by the Ethical Grand Challenges Strategy Group chaired by Professor Martin Humphries, with senior colleagues from Teaching and Learning and Social Responsibility.

SDCE worked with academic staff from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change, Alliance MBS, the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and the School of Environment, Education and Development to develop the Sustainability Challenge, which involves students tackling a complex mix of environmental, social and economic dilemmas to build a new Campus East for the hypothetical ‘University of Millchester’.”

The Challenge also introduced new students to the University’s research and teaching and explained how the Challenge contributed to the new Manchester Leadership Award.

Current EGC Strategy Group Chair, Professor James Thompson, Associate Vice-President for Social Responsibility, said: “Delivering the Sustainability Challenge to such large numbers of students was hugely ambitious, and its success was a result of the effort and hard work of staff from all parts of the University.”

The Ethical Grand Challenge programme aims to provide every Manchester undergraduate with the opportunity to work in interdisciplinary teams to confront sustainability, social justice and workplace ethics over the course of their degree.