Schumacher College is a college near

Totnes Totnes ( or ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish at the head of the estuary of the River Dart in Devon, England, within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is about west of Paignton, about west-so ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

, England which offers ecology-centred degree programmes, short courses and horticultural programmes. The College is internationally renowned for its experiential approach to learning, encouraging students to start with practice-based skills that support biodiversity and nature connection, and to use these experiences to inform holistic, whole systems thinking and action in response to social and climate issues. Its courses combine personal transformation and collective action through the education of head, heart and hands, bridging the gap between theory and practice, knowledge and experience. In addition to British and European students, it attracts many international students from countries such as Brazil, Japan and the USA.

Description

The College was co-founded in 1990 by

Satish Kumar Satish Kumar (born 9 August 1936) is an Indian British activist and speaker. He has been a Jainism, Jain monk, nuclear disarmament advocate and pacifist.'' ''Now living in England, Kumar is founder and Director of Programmes of the Schumacher ...

, John Lane, Stephan Harding and others. The first visiting teacher was Sir James Lovelock, best known for proposing the Gaia Hypothesis. The founders were inspired by

E.F. Schumacher Ernst Friedrich Schumacher (16 August 1911 – 4 September 1977) was a German-British statistician and economist who is best known for his proposals for human-scale, decentralised and appropriate technologies.Biography on the inner dustjacket ...

, the economist, environmentalist, and development educator, author of ''

Small Is Beautiful ''Small Is Beautiful: A Study of Economics As If People Mattered'' is a collection of essays published in 1973 by German-born British economist E. F. Schumacher. The title "Small Is Beautiful" came from a principle espoused by Schumach ...

''. Schumacher College runs

holistic Holism () is the idea that various systems (e.g. physical, biological, social) should be viewed as wholes, not merely as a collection of parts. The term "holism" was coined by Jan Smuts in his 1926 book ''Holism and Evolution''."holism, n." OED Onl ...

education courses for people concerned with issues around ecology and sustainability, in which "students are encouraged to develop a deep, participatory relationship with nature". The College is committed to reversing the notion that if you are educated you do not need to work the land, and so outside of class, all students are invited to engage hands-on with food growing in the gardens and preparation of meals in the kitchen. In 2019 the College was also named as a finalist in the Green Gown Awards which celebrate sustainability in education. The vegetarian College, which has its own cooking team, was selected in the Food and Drink category as over half the food that is eaten by staff and students is grown in the College gardens by volunteers and students on the horticulture programmes. The College is part of The

Dartington Dartington is a village in Devon, England. Its population is 876. The electoral ward of ''Dartington'' includes the surrounding area and had a population of 1,753 at the 2011 census. It is located west of the River Dart, south of Dartington H ...

Trust and is housed on the 1,200 acre-Dartington Hall estate, northwest of the town of

, Devon. The trust's charitable aims are to use the estate to be a test-bed for a just and sustainable society and it has strong commitment to progressive education, the arts, sustainable horticulture, agroforestry and conservation.

Courses

In partnership with the

University of Plymouth The University of Plymouth is a public research university based predominantly in Plymouth, England, where the main campus is located, but the university has campuses and affiliated colleges across South West England. With students, it is the ...

, Schumacher College offers an MA Engaged Ecology, MA Movement, Mind and Ecology, MA Ecological Design Thinking and MA Regenerative Economics. The College also runs a varied programme of residential and online short courses throughout the year and a 6-month horticulture residency. 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. 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. It also became recognised by the

Office for Students The Office for Students (OfS) is a non-departmental public body of the Department for Education, acting as the regulator and competition authority for the higher education sector in England. In February 2021, James Wharton, Baron Wharton of Yarm ...

, enabling the College to reduce their fees and also for prospective British students to apply for postgraduate loans in order to study. Current teachers include

Kate Raworth Kate Raworth (born 13 December 1970) is an English economist known for " doughnut economics", which she understands as an economic model that balances between essential human needs and planetary boundaries. She is Senior Associate at Oxford Unive ...

, Daniel Wahl,

Manda Scott Manda Scott (born 1962) is a former Scottish veterinary surgeon who is now a novelist, blogger, columnist and occasional broadcaster. Born and educated in Glasgow, Scotland, she trained at the University of Glasgow School of Veterinary Medicine ...

, Martin Shaw,

Rupert Sheldrake Alfred Rupert Sheldrake (born 28 June 1942) is an English author and parapsychology researcher who proposed the concept of morphic resonance, a conjecture which lacks mainstream acceptance and has been criticized as pseudoscience. He has worke ...

Vandana Shiva Vandana Shiva (born 5 November 1952) is an Indian scholar, environmental activist, food sovereignty advocate, ecofeminist and anti-globalisation author. Based in Delhi, Shiva has written more than 20 books. She is often referred to as "Gandh ...

, Colin Campbell, Jon Young and

David Abram David Abram (born June 24, 1957) is an American ecologist and philosopher best known for his work bridging the philosophical tradition of phenomenology with environmental and ecological issues. He is the author of ''Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cos ...

. Former teachers have included Henri Bortoft,

Fritjof Capra Fritjof Capra (born February 1, 1939) is an Austrian-born American physicist, systems theorist and deep ecologist. In 1995, he became a founding director of the Center for Ecoliteracy in Berkeley, California. He is on the faculty of Schumacher ...

, Stanislav Grof,

Hazel Henderson Jean Hazel Henderson ( Mustard; 27 March 1933 – 22 May 2022) was a British American futurist and environmental activist. She authored several books including ''Building a Win-Win World'', ''Beyond Globalization'', ''Planetary Citizenship'' (w ...

James Lovelock James Ephraim Lovelock (26 July 1919 – 26 July 2022) was an English independent scientist, environmentalist and futurist. He is best known for proposing the Gaia hypothesis, which postulates that the Earth functions as a self-regulating sys ...

Lynn Margulis Lynn Margulis (born Lynn Petra Alexander; March 5, 1938 – November 22, 2011) was an American evolutionary biologist, and was the primary modern proponent for the significance of symbiosis in evolution. Historian Jan Sapp has said that "Lynn Ma ...

, Arne Naess,

Brian Goodwin Brian Carey Goodwin (25 March 1931 – 15 July 2009) (St Anne de Bellevue, Quebec, Canada - Torbay, Devon, UK) was a Canadian mathematician and biologist, a Professor Emeritus at the Open University and a founder of theoretical biology and bio ...

and many others.

References

External links

*
Brian Goodwin interviewed by the Gaia Foundation
– Brian Goodwin speaking about Schumacher College (YouTube) {{Authority control Education in Devon Environmental education in England Educational institutions established in 1991 Sustainability organizations 1991 establishments in England

Description

Courses

See also

References

External links