Schumacher College

Last updated

Schumacher College
MottoSmall is beautiful
Type Eco-college, non-profit
Active1990–September 2024
Parent institution
Dartington Trust
DirectorDr Pavel Cenkl
Location
Totnes
,
Devon
,
United Kingdom
Campus1,200 acres (490 ha)
Website campus.dartington.org/schumacher-college/

Schumacher College was based on the Dartington Hall estate near Totnes, Devon, England, and offered ecology-centred degree programmes, short courses and horticultural programmes from 1991 until 2024. In addition to British and European students, it was attended by international students from countries such as Brazil, Japan and the United States.

Contents

Description

The college was co-founded in 1990 by Satish Kumar, John Lane, Stephan Harding, Anne Phillips and others. They were inspired by E. F. Schumacher, the economist, environmentalist and author of Small Is Beautiful , which argued that the growth of capitalism came at a very high human and planetary cost. The first course ran in 1991 with visiting teacher James Lovelock, best known for proposing the Gaia hypothesis.

All courses were centred around holism, ecology and sustainability. The college was committed to reversing the notion of education focussing on academic theory, and so all students were invited to engage hands-on with food growing in the gardens and preparation of meals in the kitchen. [1]

In 2019 the College was named as a finalist in the Green Gown Awards which celebrate sustainability in education. [2] The vegetarian College was recognised in the Food and Drink category as over half the food eaten by staff and students was grown in the College gardens by volunteers and students on the horticulture programmes. [3]

The college was run by the Schumacher College Foundation, a registered charity. [4] It has close links [5] with the Dartington Hall Trust, a charity established in 1980 [6] in part to continue the philanthropic work of the Elmhirst family, owners of the Dartington Hall estate. [7] The college was based on the 1,200-acre estate, northwest of the town of Totnes, Devon. [8]

The foundation suspended all academic programming with immediate effect in September 2024; [9] [10] the Dartington Trust said the college had been incurring substantial monthly losses. [7]

Courses

In partnership with the University of Plymouth, Schumacher College offered an MA Engaged Ecology, MA Movement, Mind and Ecology, Transformative Education, MSc Regenerative Food and Farming, MA Ecological Design Thinking and MA Regenerative Economics. [11]

The college ran residential and online short courses throughout the year and a 6-month horticulture residency. [12] They were designed to combine personal transformation and collective action through bridging the gap between theory and practice, knowledge and experience. [13]

In 2022, the college launched undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in regenerative farming, to become the first higher education provider in England to offer agricultural training exclusively focussed on ecologically-minded approaches to food production. [14]

In 2019, the college developed its masters programmes to encompass a blended learning model to allow students to remain primarily in-country and study at the college in intensive two-week blocks.[ citation needed ]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "The age of fake food: a conversation with Satish Kumar and Vandana Shiva". LifeGate. 28 January 2022. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  2. ↑ "2019 Finalists". Green Gown Awards. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  3. ↑ "Horticulture Programmes". Schumacher College. 17 May 2018. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  4. ↑ "Schumacher College Foundation, registered charity no. 1057915". Charity Commission for England and Wales.
  5. ↑ "Schumacher College Foundation: Trustees' Annual Report". Charity Commission. 31 August 2022. p. 3. Retrieved 4 January 2025.
  6. ↑ "The Dartington Hall Trust, registered charity no. 279756". Charity Commission for England and Wales.
  7. 1 2 "Agro-vation". Private Eye. No. 1635. 25 October 2024. p. 41.
  8. ↑ "Schumacher College celebrates 25 years of ecological teaching". The Ecologist. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  9. ↑ "Dartington's Schumacher College closes academic courses". Dartington Trust. 29 August 2024. Retrieved 31 October 2024.
  10. ↑ Blackledge, Sam (1 September 2024). "Students feel 'sad, angry and disrespected' after sudden closure of Dartington Hall college". ITV News. Retrieved 31 October 2024.
  11. ↑ "Schumacher College". Higher Education at Dartington Trust. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  12. ↑ "Short Courses". Dartington Trust. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  13. ↑ "Sarvodaya, or bioregionalism, is the solution to the ills of capitalism, socialism, and neoliberalism". The Hindu. 9 August 2017. ISSN   0971-751X . Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  14. ↑ "Dartington college welcomes undergrads back for first time in 12 years | totnes-today.co.uk". Totnes Times. 5 October 2022. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
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