Kelly Coate, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Education and Students

Today Kelly Coate, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Education and Students, emailed all taught students. You can read her full message below: 

Hello,

I’m pleased to announce that the University of Sussex has been ranked third in the UK for sustainable institutions and 55^th  in the world for overall sustainability performance in the first-ever QS Sustainability Rankings published on Wednesday.

The rankings review how universities across the planet are taking action to tackle the world’s greatest Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) challenges.

Our fantastic results are a great encouragement to continue working towards our goal of being one of the most sustainable universities in the world. Students are at the heart of this objective – this summer a group of students helped to audit the university’s entire curriculum for sustainability content. They reviewed how courses and modules are supporting students to see the relevance of sustainability in a range of disciplines, while providing practical experience to equip students with skills to contribute to a more sustainable world. As a result, we’re pushing ahead with our commitment to teaching sustainability within all degrees.

This audit and the many other student feedback opportunities are essential to continuously improve our teaching and learning, and your student experience. A current feedback opportunity is your mid-module evaluation surveys, if you’ve not completed yours yet, please do so by midnight on Sunday 30 October. Your valuable feedback will help your module convenors and tutors identify what’s going well and what they could do differently.

This week’s update includes:

• The University has increased the Student Hardship Fund award amounts
• Last chance to win £1000 with Santander Universities
• Save money, reduce your carbon footprint and get the chance to win a £300 bike
• Low-cost fitness and fun social sports activities with Sussexsport
• Happy Halloween! – Enjoy the free outdoor cinema on 31 October
• This week’s Sussex snapshot

The University has increased the Student Hardship Fund award amounts

To reflect the impact of the rising cost of living, the University has increased the Student Hardship fund award amounts by 10.5% – and an extra uplift has been included for utility bills to reflect the impact of the rising cost of living. Read about other ways in which the University is supporting students affected by the cost of living crisis. Visit the Money and Funding section on the Student Hub for further information or go to one of the Finance drop-in clinics held at the Student Centre every Wednesday, if you need financial advice.

Last chance to win £1000 with Santander Universities

Sign up to the Santander Scholarships platform by this Friday for your chance to win one of the ten awards of £1000 for Sussex students. Awardees will be randomly selected after the closing date on 28 October.

Save money, reduce your carbon footprint and get the chance to win a £300 worth bike

Sign up to EcoGo, our sustainable and active reward scheme, by 14 November to be in with a chance of winning a Tiger Origami folding bike worth £300 and earn daily points for money off in some of your favourite shops.

Low-cost fitness and social sports activities with Sussexsport

Check the Sussexsport website and find out more about their courses, facilities, and the Active Us drop-in social programme that’s been designed by students for students – sessions are just £2 and a lot of fun!

Happy Halloween! – Enjoy the free outdoor cinema on 31 October

Finally, a reminder that Sussex Food is celebrating the spookiest night of the year with a free special showing of Stephen King’s IT on Bramber Lawns. From 4.30pm, the ‘Feastival’ van will be serving treats like Korean corndogs, dirty fries, mulled apple juice and Halloween popcorn with a trick or treat, in time for the film to begin at 5pm. Book your free tickets on Eventbrite or via the Uni food Hub App.

With best wishes,

Kelly

Kelly Coate, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Education and Students