Schumacher College

Schumacher College was founded in 1990 by Satish Kumar, John Lane and others, and first opened to students in January 1991 in Dartington, Totnes, Devon, UK. Its first visiting teacher was James Lovelock. It was inspired by E.F. Schumacher, the economist, environmentalist, and development educator and the author of Small is Beautiful. It is an international centre offering transformative learning for sustainable living, and runs holistic education courses for people concerned with social and environmental issues. It is the most internationally famous initiative of The Dartington Hall Trust.

Teachers who have led short courses there, such as David Abram, Patch Adams, Henri Bortoft, Fritjof Capra, Deepak Chopra, Christian de Quincey, Stanislav Grof, Hazel Henderson, James Lovelock, Lynn Margulis, Humberto Maturana, Wolfgang Sachs, Arne Naess, Rupert Sheldrake, Vandana Shiva, Brian Goodwin and many others.

In 2009 the college decided to expand its programmes with an emphasis upon more applied, flexible and accessible courses. This led to the introduction of pre degree courses in green build and sustainable horticulture, plus Open Learning and outreach, with a pilot course run in central Asia, as part of its Schumacher Worldwide strategy. In addition the college expanded its post graduate programmes from one to three degrees. The college also extended its campus site in 2011/12 and enhanced its in house teaching faculty.

In partnership with the Plymouth University Schumacher College offers an MSc in Holistic Science, an MA in Economics for Transition and an MSc in Sustainable Horticulture and Food Production, as well as a yearly programme of one, two and three-week short courses.

The college is located on the 1,200 acre Dartington Hall estate and staff have played a leading role in shaping the decision of Dartington Hall trustees in 2011 to put education and research once more at the centre of its land use practice, with a strong commitment to low carbon, sustainable farming, high animal welfare, agroforestry and conservation.

See also

• California Institute of Integral Studies
• New Economics Foundation
• Resurgence
• Schumacher Center for a New Economics

External links

• Schumacher College
• Brian Goodwin interviewed by the Gaia Foundation – Brian Goodwin speaking about Schumacher College (YouTube)