Sustainability as a concept is great - but it needs to be a collective effort involving our staff, not discarding them

The irony may be lost on some but in a month when specialist researchers in the Caledonian Environment Centre are facing the prospect of job cuts, the University prints a dedicated sustainability issue of the University’s public facing magazine, highlighting the contribution the University is making to the green agenda. Over the past year the University has promoted its commitment to the environment though Eco-Campus and Carbon Management initiatives, but at the first hint of a potential shortfall or delay in funding put an entire team on statutory consultation.

Arguably one of the university’s most successful enterprise initiatives over the past decade, the Centre now faces the axe, because of a shift in external funding, despite the evidence to suggest that Scottish Government support in the environmental area is expected to increase. At a time when the University is looking to new sources of funding, it is considering axing a centre which has been a net financial contributor to the university and helped the University achieve some standing as a University with environmental values.

The unions are requesting long term sustainable thinking on the part of management – rather than initiatives that are undercut as they start, due to short termist approaches.