UE4SD is funded by the European Commission under the Life Long Learning Programme – Erasmus Academic Networks. It commenced in October 2013 and involves 53 partners in 33 countries, including 5 RCEs (RCE Severn, UK, RCE London, UK, RCE Skane, Sweden, RCE Graz, Austria and RCE Lithuania), during its three year duration.

The UE4SD project targets the need for specific professional training and support for educators and those who support teaching and learning for sustainability at the HE level. The HE sector is critically positioned to address sustainable development as it prepares future generations of professionals, challenges dominant paradigms and produces groundbreaking research. One of the most important outcomes of the UE4SD project will be the Training Academy that is under development in the final year of UE4SD. Drawing on the resources created for the Leading Practice Publication and the Online Platform, the Academy will develop and test an approach for university teams to progress their ESD ambitions through professional development processes.

RCE Severn at the University of Gloucestershire, together with other HE partners of RCE Severn (e.g. University of Plymouth), have contributed to the creation of an online resources platform, to support university educators and professional development teams. The Learning for Sustainable Futures scheme at the University was chosen as one of the examples of leading practice in ESD development for educators, for its strategic approach to building their change skills and helping them to develop their transformative learning capabilities.

The RCE Severn network are looking to develop workshops based on these professional development tools, to help share this knowledge beyond the university context, with other organisations and education providers across sectors. The intention is to use and adapt this tangible resource to support and inspire their own professional development and training programmes in relation to sustainability.