What is a
Transition University?
Transition Universities create an environment
where it is possible to explore what a fruitful relationship with our planet looks like. Imagine academic research and learning, visioning, practical implementation, and personal experience of sustainability all interacting—informing and motivating each other. Imagine a hub, a centre, where people can come and learn all these things, and then disseminate these ideas and practices out into the wider world.
That is what can happen when a Transition initiative
is started at a university.
This guide will attempt to answer your questions about
what this means for your university in terms of:
• practical skills
• organisational structures
• working in groups
• the infrastructure we work in
• our own core values and beliefs
Since Transition within a university is one of many approaches
to sustainability, it often works in conjunction with other approaches or initiatives. It can act as an overarching umbrella for different sustainability projects, or as a complementary arm of student and local resident engagement within the university’s already existing sustainability plan. Most importantly, a Transition University is about the university community coming together and doing what they believe is needed without relying on top-down measures.
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