An introduction to

1. An introduction to Learning in Future Environments (LiFE)

2. What is LiFE? LiFE is a planning and self-assessment tool specifically for colleges and universities to improve social responsibility and environmental performance through a whole institution approach.

3. What is LiFE? • LiFE systematically guides you through the design, planning and delivery of your strategic sustainability activities. • Wherever you are in your journey, LiFE gives you the freedom to shape what sustainability means for you and your institution. • LiFE acknowledges that sustainability is not the same for each institution and with EAUC Membership we can help you deliver where you need support.

4. What is LiFE? • It is a strategic tool, allowing you to design your strategy and empowering you to deliver through your existing tools of an environmental management system, UCCCfS, Green League or ISO14001. • It is not a replacement for these. It is not a quantitative or statistical benchmarking tool but an implementation and delivery tool. • While the tool is flexible, we have created 2 versions to recognise the difference between Higher and Further Education institutions when it comes to Research.

5. Self-Assessment • At the centre of LiFE is the planning and self-assessment tool • This guides you through the Priority Areas, Frameworks and Activity Areas to measure your progress in every aspect of your environmental and social responsibility activities.

6. Priority Areas and Frameworks

7. Activity Areas

8. Flexible approach • Choose which Frameworks and Priority Areas to focus on • You decide on the timescales • You decide what sustainability looks like in your institution

9. Why use LiFE?

10. Why use LiFE? LiFE is a simple tool that will bring direct benefits to your institution. These benefits include the ability to: • Go beyond environmental performance to evaluate wider social sustainability • Actively manage and improve your environmental and social responsibility performance by setting targets and monitoring your progress • Engage with colleagues beyond the sustainability champions/estates and students - use it to engage your Senior Management Team • Use LiFE to complement other activity e.g. an environmental management system, the Flexible Framework, UCCCfS or the Green League. There is no extra work and it can provide your institution with a central view as it offers a dashboard to pull everything together • Engage with a community of participants through EAUC Membership, which will help you to share ideas and good practice.

11. Why use LiFE? If you are at an early stage you can use LiFE to: • Shape your strategy • Help you identify the work that is already taking place – because there will be plenty! • Engage staff across the institution • Identify opportunities to engage with other stakeholders • Identify good practice and support materials • Build momentum and achieve senior management buy-in • Start in areas where you are already working in - often this would be the Estates and Operations Priority Area

12. Why use LiFE? If you need direction you can use LiFE to: • Review your existing strategy • Develop plans and set targets • Stimulate discussions across the institution with stakeholders • Engage other staff across the institution • Start to engage staff in areas where you have struggled to embed sustainability - this might be the Learning and Teaching or Leadership Priority Areas

13. Why use LiFE? If you have a well developed strategy you can use LiFE to: • Review current activity • Pull together evidence of the good work you are doing • Identify gaps across the institution • Identify where you can start to measure impact and demonstrate progress • Build a whole institution approach across all 4 Priority Areas

14. How to use the Self-Assessment tool

15. Using the tool • The 'What it looks like'section details the criteria needed to attain a maximum score on each activity • By working through your chosen Priority Areas and Frameworks you firstly add ‘evidence of existing activity’ in the eight Activity Area cells • You then give yourself a ‘starting’ score • Looking to the future and what you want to achieve in your given time period, you can then set yourself a ‘target’ score • Next you set your ‘Actions needed to achieve your target’ • You can use it as a tool to demonstrate progress by adding a ‘current’ score which you can update monthly/quarterly or whenever you’ve achieved an Action. We have provided helpful scoring guidance in the tool to ensure you are consistent and realistic.

16. Dashboards • The Dashboard pulls through all the total scores and presents the data as an central overview • It shows you at a glance what level you have reached for each Framework • It shows you at a glance what level you have reached for each Priority Area

17. A new level of support for EAUC Members

18. EAUC Membership • Now that LiFE is a core benefit of EAUC Membership, this brings us an opportunity to demonstrate how Membership can help you and your institution progress. • All of our resources and events have been aligned to a Framework. This common language brings focus to your own activity and pinpoints where you need support. • For the EAUC, it will ensure that all Members have a range of materials and support that have clear linkages to LiFE and ensuring you meet the targets you’ve set for yourself.

19. What’s next?

20. Annual Review – submit your tool to us annually and this will help us guide our services and support – no extra work • Accreditation – available in mid-2015 • Feedback – we’d like your feedback on how you’re using the tool • Support – we’ve got lots planned to help you progress in LiFE

21. Get support • Visit the Sustainability Exchange • Watch our two videos - ‘An instruction to LiFE’ and ‘How to use the Self-Assessment tool’ - and share them with others • Download our information guides and use them to engage others • Visit our LiFE Resource bankwhere there’s lots of guidance, tips and ideas • Contact the EAUC – life@eauc.org.uk

22. Log in today at www.eauc.org.uk/life

23. www.eauc.org.uk Delivered by www.eauc.org.uk