Schumacher College Information

Schumacher College is a college established in 1991 near Totnes, Devon, England which offers ecology-centred masters programmes, short courses and horticultural programmes.

The college was founded in 1990 by Satish Kumar, John Lane and others, and opened to students in January 1991 in Dartington, a village about 1 1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) northwest of the town of Totnes, Devon. Its first visiting teacher was James Lovelock. The founders were inspired by E.F. Schumacher, the economist, environmentalist, and development educator and the author of Small is Beautiful. It runs holistic education courses for people concerned with social and environmental issues, in which "students are encouraged to develop a deep, participatory relationship with nature".

The college is an initiative of The Dartington Hall Trust and is sited on the 1,200 acre-Dartington Hall estate. College staff played a leading role in shaping the decision of Dartington Hall trustees in 2011 to put education and research once more at the centre of its land-use practice, with a strong commitment to low-carbon, sustainable farming, high animal welfare, agroforestry and conservation.

Short courses have been taught by teachers such as David Abram, Patch Adams, Henri Bortoft, Fritjof Capra, Deepak Chopra, Christian de Quincey, Stanislav Grof, Hazel Henderson, James Lovelock, Lynn Margulis, Humberto Maturana, Wolfgang Sachs, Arne Naess, Rupert Sheldrake, Vandana Shiva, Brian Goodwin and many others.

In 2009, the college decided to expand its programmes with an emphasis on more applied, flexible and accessible courses. This led to the introduction of pre-degree courses in green build and sustainable horticulture, plus Open Learning and outreach, with a pilot course, run in central Asia, as part of its Schumacher Worldwide strategy. Additionally, the college expanded its postgraduate programmes from one to three degrees. The college also extended its campus site in 2011/12 and enhanced its in-house teaching faculty.

In partnership with Plymouth University, Schumacher College offers an MSc in Holistic Science, an MA in Economics for Transition and an MA in Ecological Design Thinking. In partnership with the University of Wales Trinity St David, Schumacher College offers an MA in Myth and Ecology. The College also runs a yearly programme of one, two and three-week short courses.

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