Due to current corona measures, the symposium took place online. During a livestream the top 5 most sustainable mbo schools of 2021 were announced. A total of sixteen schools participated in this contest. This year is the third time that Leren voor Morgen has organized this measurement. "It has become an instrument that can no longer be imagined without in the mbo. It has proven to be a method that stimulates sustainable thinking and acting in the mbo in a positive way. It helps schools to grow and become more sustainable, to share knowledge with each other and thereby also help each other in this growth," says Sandra Pellegrom, National Coordinator Sustainable Development Goals.
Big winner of the day was the Koning Willem I College. They moved up one spot from last year with their first place finish. In total, they scored 279 points. They scored high on Education (97 out of 100) and Operations (95 out of 100). According to the jury report, this was the biggest difference with the numbers 2 and 3. It is also noteworthy that the Koning Willem I College was the only school to obtain the maximum number of points for the questions on Food Policy, Mobility and Purchasing Policy. "I am extremely proud of the entire team with whom we managed to achieve this. Through the SustainaBul you learn from each other and keep each other focused. A sign that it works," says Dominique Majoor member of the Executive Board of the Koning Willem I College. Yuverta finished this year in second place with 259 points. Last year they walked away with the win, then still known as Wellantcollege. Cyrille van Bragt, member of the Executive Board of Yuverta, explains the urgency of the SustainaBul MBO: "We educate the sustainable doers of the future. It is therefore essential to integrate sustainability in all themes, from governance to students." Friesland College rose one spot compared to 2020 and reached third place with 236 points. Frank van Hout, member of the Executive Board of Friesland College, sees that it also has an effect on the students: "You see two sides with students, a part is already very involved with sustainability from itself, fortunately I see more and more students cross over to this group." Sandra Pellegrom has noticed this year that sustainability coordinators have a positive influence on the scores of schools: "You can see in the results that schools with sustainability coordinators end up higher in the results. One requirement here is that you have the support and freedom of the board as a coordinator."
Besides the presentation of the winners, the program of the mbo symposium included: a summary drawing of a workshop "strategy development for sustainability in mbo" that took place earlier in the day for administrators and sustainability coordinators; a conversation between students on sustainable development; a quiz on biodiversity and water and the voting for the public award of the SustainaBul that was presented to Mediacollege Amsterdam for their 'Mental Health Alert Week'. Students of the Mediacollege make a week-long radio broadcast about the mental health of students with the main goal: to make mental health issues negotiable and to lower the threshold to ask for help inside or outside the school.
Winners overview:
- King Willem I College
- Yuverta
- Friesland College
- MBO College Lelystad
- Media College Amsterdam
