Based on an analysis of the two surveys plus an examination of how other institutions are embedding sustainability in education, the group developed a set of recommendations for implementation to inform university strategy and training provision. The group also aim to deliver presentations to key stakeholders and offer masterclasses to WIHEA fellows/alumni. An academic article based on the findings is also under preparation. The key findings from staff and student survey are summarized below:

Staff Survey:

• In terms of ESD that is embedded in teaching, the most common ways to do so seem to be facilitating group activities, student-led projects and building student competencies like critical thinking. This seems to be complemented mainly with project-based assessment.
• The common barriers for staff to implement ESD (further or any at all) are time constraints/ overloaded curriculums to add additional content about ESD. This idea that ESD implementation is only a matter of adding content instead of focusing on skills and values demonstrates a miscommunication to staff about what ESD is fundamentally.
• Staff that have not integrated ESD seem to prioritize traditional ideas of content mastery over interdisciplinary competencies that are integral to ESD, but all staff recognize that competency building is important in some way to their teaching.
• Even amongst staff that are aware of Warwick’s ‘Way to Sustainable’ strategy, there is a lack of clarity in Warwick’s vision for ESD, which hinders their use of it in their teaching and research. This links to their desire for professional development and training for a clearer way to improve ESD integration.

Student Survey:

• A discrepancy emerges in the number of students who think there is effective linking of content to global challenges and development issues, but a significantly lower number who believe they cover sustainability challenges.
• The types of competencies they think have been developed most seemed to have the most focus on problem solving and critical thinking, with employability skills and project management skills as the least developed. The lower emphasis on employability skills indicates a potential gap in preparing students for the practical aspects of entering the workforce.
• When asked the support they want on an institutional level, students selected internship opportunities the most, which matches their view of employability being developed the least in their learning. This preference highlights the importance students place on gaining practical, real-world experience in the field of sustainable development.

The findings of the survey, literature review and analysis of wider practice have been condensed into a report and set of recommendations which are already being used to inform strategy on sustainability led by the Academic Director of Sustainability. This eventually should impact on all students across the university by means of a greater emphasis and integration of ESD into teaching.

The legacy of the project is that it provides a baseline to understand staff and student needs in relation to ESD which will be used to inform strategy and training. While departmental reports on the ITLR common-theme of ESD highlighted many examples of excellent practice in this area, the extent to which all staff are embedding ESD into teaching was less clear. This survey provides a snapshot of opinion which indicates that colleagues are generally positively disposed to greater inclusion of ESD, but lack confidence, understanding and time capacity.