The First Minister Writes Back...

Welsh First Minister Rhodri Morgan came to Aberystwyth in mid-February for a question-and-answer session, and I submitted one on what he thought the role of the HE sector to Wales' sustainable development objectives and climate change should be. My question was not chosen to be verbally answered that evening, but I have now recieved a written reply from him.

It's two pages long, so I won't reproduce it here, just sum up the main points:

- The significance of Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship and how HEs need to integrate these within their institutions - creating a culture of awareness of environmentally balanced and globally sensitive process need to be undertaken.
- Working with the Assembly Government's Sustainable Procurement Initiative
- Encouraging the development of a suitable environmental management system
- HEFCW (the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales) is working on a number of action points, and a report will be produced at the end of the year
- The value of research at Welsh institutions in reference to the Assembly Government's Science Policy, towards goals of achieving a 'low-carbon economy' and 'enabling sustainable economic and social renewal' (how nice of him to send me a copy of this policy too!)
- The creation of the Low Carbon Research Institute (across universities at Glamorgan, Cardiff, Bangor and Swansea) to focus on academic research into renewable energy and energy efficiency.