77 Changing Lives Through Education: Macro to Micro

Nicola Horgan opened the National College of Ireland ESD Spotlight Session with an overview of NCI’s mission-driven approach to “changing lives through education,” highlighting how sustainability has been interwoven through the institution’s values, partnerships, and programmes since its foundation in 1951. She outlined NCI’s evolution into a diverse, not-for-profit higher education institution with strong representation across business, computing, psychology, education, and innovative collaborative programmes.

Framed as a journey “from macro to micro,” Ms Horgan described how sustainability commitments are embedded at international, national, and local levels, flowing from strategic partnerships and research consortia down to concrete teaching and student-facing initiatives. The institution’s current strategy positions sustainability centrally across academic design, operations, and community engagement. A key insight from recent programme reflection emphasised the need to bridge the gap between high-level sustainability discourse and students’ everyday practices.

Ms Horgan noted that many learners—even those engaged in sustainability-related modules—often lack grounding in basic environmental principles. This realisation has informed a renewed pedagogical emphasis on first principles and accessible case studies that speak to diverse cohorts, including learners who spend only a short time in the college. She concluded by reaffirming NCI’s commitment to “leaving no one behind,” grounding strategic ambitions in a student-centred ethos that foregrounds practical agency, inclusivity, and sustainable development at all scales.