Sustainable Development at Perho

In this guide, we will present some sus­tain­able prac­tices that we all should con­sider in our daily ac­tiv­i­ties. We will present also some sus­tain­able prac­tices that are be­ing ap­plied at Perho Culi­nary, Tourism & Busi­ness Col­lege.

Sus­tain­able De­vel­op­ment Themes for the study year 2017 – 2018 in­clude:

• Re­spon­si­ble pro­cure­ment and sus­tain­able con­sump­tion
• Nu­tri­tion and Health
• Cul­tural di­ver­sity and in­ter­na­tion­al­ity

Sus­tain­able de­vel­op­ment means that ev­ery­one can in­flu­ence their own en­vi­ron­ment and the world as a whole through their own ac­tions and choices.

The ob­jec­tive of the Sus­tain­able De­vel­op­ment Pro­gram is to sup­port the growth of staff and stu­dents in sus­tain­able life­styles. Stu­dents are guided to take re­spon­si­bil­ity for their en­vi­ron­ment and to un­der­stand the di­ver­sity of na­ture and cul­tures. Sus­tain­abil­ity should be al­ways the fo­cus in all of the ac­tiv­i­ties of our col­lege. For ex­am­ple, by mak­ing choices that min­i­mize the bur­den on the en­vi­ron­ment.

The principles of sustainable business development at Perho

The prin­ci­ples of sus­tain­able de­vel­op­ment con­sist of val­ues, goals and prac­tices that are con­sol­i­dated into the daily ac­tiv­i­ties of staff, stu­dents, grad­u­ates and part­ners. In ad­di­tion, we en­sure that suf­fi­cient re­sources are al­lo­cated to the work of sus­tain­able de­vel­op­ment, and we reg­u­larly mon­i­tor the progress of our work and meet the re­quire­ments set by law and the au­thor­i­ties. Staff and stu­dents are in­volved in the de­vel­op­ment, de­sign, theme se­lec­tion, set­ting up and im­ple­men­ta­tion of sus­tain­able de­vel­op­ment ac­tiv­i­ties.

Sus­tain­able de­vel­op­ment is or­ga­nized by Sus­tain­able De­vel­op­ment Work­ing Group. The group in­forms the steps of sus­tain­able de­vel­op­ment work for stu­dents and staff. Mem­bers of the group in­clude both staff and stu­dent rep­re­sen­ta­tives.

Sustainable Development Certification

The foun­da­tion for the sus­tain­able de­vel­op­ment pro­gram of Perho Culi­nary, Tourism & Busi­ness Col­lege is the sus­tain­able de­vel­op­ment cer­ti­fi­ca­tion sys­tem main­tained by the OKKA Foun­da­tion. We en­sure that our op­er­a­tions are in line with the OKKA Foun­da­tion’s sus­tain­abil­ity cer­ti­fi­ca­tion cri­te­ria.

Our goal is to ap­ply for the Ed­u­ca­tional Sus­tain­abil­ity Cer­tifi­cate that meets the cri­te­ria for vo­ca­tional and fur­ther train­ing and com­mer­cial ser­vices. The most im­por­tant goal of this cer­ti­fi­ca­tion is to sup­port the work of the ed­u­ca­tion provider for sus­tain­able de­vel­op­ment. Cer­ti­fi­ca­tion helps to de­velop the teach­ing and learn­ing en­vi­ron­ment to sup­port the goals of sus­tain­able de­vel­op­ment.

Sustainable development themes

Sus­tain­able de­vel­op­ment is a shared re­spon­si­bil­ity of all of us, and it is re­flected in our daily ac­tivites.  Staff and stu­dents of Perho are all aware of the eco­log­i­cal, eco­nom­i­cal, so­cial and cul­tural re­spon­si­bil­i­ties and agree to com­ply and pro­mote these prin­ci­ples of sus­tain­able de­vel­op­ment in our ev­ery­day op­er­a­tion and work.

Themes of sus­tain­able de­vel­op­ment for the study year 2016 – 217 were:

• Well Be­ing of the Stu­dents and the Staff
• Re­cy­cling and pre­ven­tion of Waste

Recommend areas of topics for discussions 

First year students

• Waste man­age­ment and re­cy­cling
• First Aid
• Work­place safety
• Fire safety
• Sus­tain­able De­vel­op­ment Cer­ti­fi­ca­tion
• Stu­dent union and tu­tor ac­tiv­i­ties

Before first on-the-job learning period at Perho

• Nordic Swan Eco­la­bel
• Steps to Or­ganic Pro­gram
• Ur­ban Co-op­er­a­tive Farm

Second year students

• Wild Food from Fin­land
• En­vi­ron­men­tal choices for food ser­vice
• Cur­rent state of con­sump­tion