St Andrews hosts colleagues from Bonn
Pia von Falkenhausen from the Vice Rectorate for Sustainability at the University of Bonn writes about her recent visit to St Andrews as part of a delegation funded by the StACCS/SEEP project.
As part of the Scottish Educational Exchange Program (SEEP), I was able to be part of the staff exchange between the University of Bonn and St. Andrews University.
When Ian Lawson, Antja Brown, Joseph North and Lydia Cole visited us in Bonn, it became clear how many points of contact we have and how much we can learn from each other’s work.
The exchange to Scotland took place in March 2024. The exchange included myself, Pia von Falkenhausen, Advisor to the Vice-Rector for Sustainability, Leonie Kornel, Project Coordinator for Education for Sustainable Development, Juliane Dame, Researcher at the Institute of Geography at the University of Bonn and Silke Tönsjost, Academic Coordinator at the Center for Development Research at the University of Bonn.
We realized right at the beginning of our stay that we had some common interests: Postgraduate teaching, undergraduate education for sustainability, research interests e.g. in south africa, botanic gardens, museums and links to similiar institutions.
The fields of action in which sustainability and a strategy are being worked on also overlap (research, teaching and operations). St Andrews University’s sustainability strategy, which has been in place since 2022, establishes sustainability as the norm at the institution. We also carry this idea into our work on the sustainability strategy in Bonn.
We share similar values and ideas about how sustainability should be practiced at the university and focus on recommendations rather than bans and mandatory requirements.
Especially the discussions about green (Erasmus) travel regarding summer schools and the awards for remarkable sustainable commitment as well as the value-action gap, were very fruitful for us.
We were able to take part in two very interesting tours: One of them to Eden Campus, led by Karen Primrose and the other to St Andrews Botanic Garden, led by Harry Watkins.
Both visits provided exciting insights into the importance of the transformation of university structures. Promising future projects are planned at both locations, which we will be following with interest.
Scotland appears to be an inspiring place for change – also as a role model for others.
We warmly thank Louise Reed and Ian Lawson, who were great hosts both in advance and on site and organized a truly enriching program. We look forward to further developing our contacts and collaboration!