| Overall Rating | Silver - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 47.40 |
| Liaison | Havina Georgieva |
| Submission Date | April 4, 2017 |
| Executive Letter | Download |
FIE: Foundation for International Education
EN-5: Outreach Campaign
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
4.00 / 4.00 |
Deanna
Gouros External Communication Coordinator External Communication |
Has the institution held at least one sustainability-related outreach campaign during the previous three years that was directed at students and yielded measurable, positive results in advancing sustainability? :
Has the institution held at least one sustainability-related outreach campaign during the previous three years that was directed at employees and yielded measurable, positive results in advancing sustainability?:
Name of the campaign:
A brief description of the campaign, including how students and/or employees were engaged:
StAG is a staff based working group formulated to monitor, encourage and develop the sustainability efforts of FIE. The 'StAG Champion' honour has been put in place to recognise students, faculty, staff and/or our partnering student institutions who have made an excellent contribution to FIE's sustainable development initiatives in a given semester.
A brief description of the measured positive impact(s) of the campaign:
Past faculty members have been awarded the prize for the way they embed sustainability into their course. FIE has benefited from this in the way of instructional learning videos, extra-curricular tours with a sustainable theme and class lectures now taught with reference and consideration of sustainability.
Staff members are awarded the prize depending on how they have executed StAG initiatives. The most recent award went to our Maintenance Supervisor and House Keeping Staff who continual remind and encourage students to recycle, save energy and make sustainable adjustments to their habits.
Other staff initiatives have been clothing collections. Students on departure are asked to donate (rather than throw away unwanted items. In turn FIE donates this to Traid charity shops. Staff also participate yearly in a 'swap shop' event where they bring in unwanted clothing or accessories and swap it for other items.
Students can be awarded the StAG Champion prize individually or as a group for promoting sustainability. Awards have gone for fundraising competition quizzes, writing/and giving papers.
The website URL where information about the campaign is available:
Name of the campaign (2nd campaign):
A brief description of the campaign, including how students and/or employees were engaged (2nd campaign):
Since Spring 2014, FIE has been partnering with NUS (the UK National Union of Students - https://www.nus.org.uk/) to run the Student Switch Off campaign (http://studentswitchoff.org/) each Spring and Fall semester. More than 40 UK universities take part.
The Student Switch Off is an energy-saving campaign and inter-residence competition, based on encouraging simple energy saving actions (http://studentswitchoff.org/save-energy/), and sponsored by Ben & Jerry’s. The campaign is focused around a dedicated Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/FIELondonSwitch). In 2014 FIE was awarded a GoAbroad Innovation in Sustainability Award for our involvement (http://www.goabroad.com/awards/innovation-awards-2014/).
Throughout the 10-week campaigns, there are various peer-to-peer outreach activities including:
- Photo 'likes' competitions on Facebook and Instagram
- Visits to student residences by NUS staff and FIE ambassadors to see how are students are getting on with the simple energy saving actions (the visits also include photo 'likes' competitions)
- Mid-point Climate Change Quiz - the residence that has the highest percentage of students complete the quiz wins a pizza party
- The residence that has saved the most electricity per student over the 10 weeks (compared to the baseline period) wins a Ben & Jerry's ice cream giveaway
At the start of each Spring and Fall semester, the Student Switch Off is referenced during student orientation sessions, and FIE has a welcome reception event where an NUS staff member attends to run a Student Switch Off table, and recruit students to sign up to the campaign. A few weeks into the semester, there is a training session for student ambassadors. All students are invited to attend, and sign up voluntarily. Sometimes certain students are targeted to be ambassadors, e.g. students who have been awarded FIE's sustainability route scholarship.
FIE pays circa £3600 per year to NUS to take part in the Student Switch Off campaign. In addition to that FIE's commits additional funds throughout the campaigns, e.g. to pay for prizes. Three FIE staff members coordinate the campaign from the FIE side, in partnership with NUS staff. The staff members come from within FIE's Sustainability Action Group and Residence Life Team. FIE's Facilities Team take responsibility for the electricity data readings at the start, mid-point and end of the campaign.
A brief description of the measured positive impact(s) of the campaign (2nd campaign):
In 2016, the campaign yielded the following results:
- 9096 kWh saved in October and November 2016 – 14% reduction (compared to a baseline from 2012-2013).
- £1,092 financial equivalent saved (assuming 10p/kWh)
- 5 tonnes of CO2 saved
- 139 students signed up to our email list – receiving regular communications
with energy-saving tips and opportunities to enter competitions (30.6% of
455 students living in residences)
- 90 students took part in the online Climate Change Quiz in November.
- 30 photos were submitted in our competitions, winning prizes that included
Ben & Jerry’s and NUS Extra Cards.
- 8 students trained as Student Switch Off Ambassadors
- 34 energy-saving themed photos taken during halls visits. These photos
gained approximately 668 ‘likes’ and had a reach of over 10,173 people.
The website URL where information about the campaign is available (2nd campaign):
A brief description of other sustainability-related outreach campaigns, including measured positive impacts:
The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
Please see attached an example of a faculty/staff award.
Please see attached an example of a faculty/staff award.
The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.