Schumacher College

Schumacher College is based on the Dartington Hall estate near Totnes, Devon, England, and offers ecology-centred degree programmes, short courses and horticultural programmes. In addition to British and European students, it is attended by international students from countries such as Brazil, Japan and the US.

Description
The College was co-founded in 1990 by Satish Kumar, John Lane, Stephan Harding and others. They were inspired by E.F. Schumacher, the economist, environmentalist and author of Small Is Beautiful. which argued that the growth of capitalism came at a very high human and planetary cost. The first course ran in 1991 with visiting teacher James Lovelock, best known for proposing the Gaia hypothesis.

All courses are centred around holism, ecology and sustainability. The college is committed to reversing the notion of education focussing on academic theory and so 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 named as a finalist in the Green Gown Awards which celebrate sustainability in education. The vegetarian College was recognised 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 Dartington Trust and is based on the 1,200 acre-Dartington Hall estate, northwest of the town of Totnes, Devon.

Courses
In partnership with the University of Plymouth, Schumacher College offers an MA Engaged Ecology, MA Movement, Mind and Ecology, Transformative Education, MSc Regenerative Food and Farming, MA Ecological Design Thinking and MA Regenerative Economics.

The College runs residential and online short courses throughout the year and a 6-month horticulture residency. They are designed to combine personal transformation and collective action through bridging the gap between theory and practice, knowledge and experience.

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.