Responsible Futures is a whole-institution approach to embedding social responsibility and sustainability across the formal and informal curriculum across both HE and FE. It is a supported change programme and accreditation mark that works to put sustainability at the heart of education.

The Responsible Futures criteria were developed in collaboration with the 2014-15 pilot partnerships, representing FE and HE institutions and students’ unions across the UK as well as the advisory board comprised of various sector organisations including People and Planet, the Association of Colleges, EAUC, EAUC-Scotland, Learning for Sustainability Scotland, Society for the Environment, Higher Education Academy, Knowledge Transfer Network, a selection of academics, and the NUS Sustainability Direction and Oversight Board.

There are 45 criteria, of which 10 are mandatory, 32 are optional, and 3 are self-defined, giving the partnerships the opportunity to highlight and celebrate unique areas of their work. To achieve the accreditation mark, the Partnership must complete the mandatory criteria and meet or exceed the score threshold of 200 points, out of the maximum 300 points, not including the three self-defined criteria. The criteria cover 8 key themes:

• Baselines and benchmarks

• Partnership and planning

• Leadership and strategy

• Policy and commitment

• Interventions

• Impacts and outcomes

• Outreach

• Self-defined criteria

Further information available here: https://sustainability.nus.org.uk/responsible-futures