How Oxford Brookes became the first ever Fairtrade University
In September of 2003, Oxford Brookes became the first ever university to receive official Fairtrade certification, here’s how they met the 5 goals set out by the Fairtrade Foundation.
This is a summary of what Oxford Brookes sent to the Fairtrade Foundation for their accreditation and outlines exactly what a Fairtrade University looks like. The purpose of this page is to describe a Fairtrade university but also to give you some guidance in writing your application for accreditation.
(The details refer to Oxford Brookes activties in 2002-3, and their plans for 2003-4)
Goal 1: The Student Union and the university authorities both create a Fairtrade policy incorporating these five goals.
The Oxford Brookes Fairtrade Policy Statement incorporates the five Fairtrade goals by stating the following:
“Oxford Brookes university and Oxford Brookes Student Union assign great importance to the University’s role within the international community, and therefore commit to supporting, using and promoting Fairtade”
Goal 2: Fairtrade foods are made available for sale in all campus shops. Fairtrade foods are used in all cafés/restaurants/ bars on campus. Where this is not possible, there is a commitment to begin to use Fairtrade foods in these establishments as soon as it becomes possible to do so.
This is what the Students’ Union at Oxford Brookes did:
A large range of Fairtrade products such as tea, coffee,chocolate, sugar, snack bars and greetings cards are sold in the Student Union shops. This encompasses three different stores on the different campuses. Every term the SU shops offer their customers a promotion, for example, complimentary Fairtrade coffee with every bar of Fairtrade chocolate bought to help increase the customers awareness of the Fairtrade product range. The shops are looking in to ways that they can increase the range to products such as cold drinks, crisps and biscuits.
For the following year they planned to feature monthly promotions with Fairtrade lines with wide newspaper coverage with regular articles in the Student paper to promote this.
They ordered Fairtrade lines once a month, with the best selling lines being tea, coffee and chocolate. The introduction of Fairtrade greetings cards proved to be extremely successful, and they are hoping to include wrapping paper and gifts this year.
“Our students showed the commitment and endurance to make this a reality, to see Fairtrade tea, coffee and food in our shops, and our committee meetings. It is with the basic understanding of solving global problems by changing things locally, that the Fairtrade movement, fuelled by our People & Planet Society, have achieved their aims, and brought about change.” James Walsh, Deputy President Welfare and Education.
Goal 3: Fairtrade foods (for example, coffee and tea) are served at all meetings hosted by the university and the SU, and are served in all university and SU management offices.
This is what the university catering and hospitality services did:
The university’s Hospitality brochure features Fairtrade beverages and chocolate bars (a copy of which was supplied to the Fairtrade Foundation) and covers most of the meetings at the university. The other caterers for meetings are the Student Union shops that also carry Fairtrade as an option. The university have also committed to communicating the support of Fairtrade throughout all schools and directorates in order to encourage the use of Fairtrade products where they are an option.
Promotional Ideas for 2003/2004 included Cafédirect graduation hospitality, giving Fairtrade ‘goody bags’ to students and guests.
Goal 4: There is a commitment to campaign for increased Fairtrade consumption on campus
The catering services (Scholerest Foodservices, an operational company within Compass Group UK) who are contracted by the university to run the non-Student Union outlets also now sell and support Fairtrade products by working in partnership with Cafédirect.
Fairtrade products are now an integral part of choice across all of the food outlets at the University. The catering department has been selling a range of Fairtrade products for the past ten months and, as a result, consumption of Fairtrade on campus has dramatically increased.
They anticipate that Fairtrade bananas will be sourced from a nominated supplier soon, Fairtrade Pineapples and Mangoes are already used in the Catering Departments food production.
The Fairtrade Foundation request that you get media coverage of your campaign that will continue after the launch in order to promote the increase of Fairtrade sales. In their application Oxford Brookes included an article that appeared in the student newspaper.
The Student Union have committed to constant coverage of Fairtrade in the Student newspaper ‘Obscene’. There is also a Fairtrade promotion on the ‘message of the day’, seen by all students and staff when accessing email. ‘Onstream’, the staff newsletter, have also committed to advertising Fairtrade. Even school newsletters have been covering the subject when activities in their school touch on Fairtrade related issues.
Goal 5: Set up a Fairtrade Steering Group.
This is one of the trickiest goals to meet, but Oxford Brookes did it by tapping in to a forum that already existed.
The catering forum meets once a term. Attending the forum are the Head of Catering Services, the Director of Estates and Facilities, a member of the Students’ Union executive, and representatives of other interested parties such as the school of nutrition. It has been agreed that the forum will incorporate the Fairtrade steering Group, and this will become a permanent agenda item. Currently, the students who have run this campaign are the representatives of student societies. While it is recognised that it may be difficult to motivate people to take over the responsibility once those students leave, they will do everything in their power to do so. This will be done through Freshers’ Fairs, links with courses such as development practises, and when necessary through student newspaper articles.