Challenger Institute of Technology is proudly embracing sustainability as a core cultural value.

As a business like any other, we are committed to green business practices, and we are aiming to minimise the carbon footprint at our 18 delivery sites across Western Australia by conserving resources such as energy, water and waste.

Challenger Institute is the only educational institution in Western Australia – and one of only six across Australia – that is a member of the National Centre for Sustainability. The collaborating institutions work in partnership with industry, government and the community to undertake program delivery, resource development, project work and applied resource to support the development of sustainable practices.

As Western Australia’s most diverse provider of vocational education and training, it is our community obligation and, indeed, global obligation to teach sustainable practices. We are in the process of incorporating sustainability principles into our training delivery on two levels:

• At the expert level, where we offer courses specifically about sustainability.
• Within each training program, where we are focusing on practices and technologies linked to sustainability.

The WA Horticulture and Environmental Science Skills Centre delivers specialised training, research and development for industry, communities and government in environmentally-customised primary industries, natural resource management, environmental management, laboratory technology, pest management, water industry and water conservation services.

It is affiliated with the National Centre for Sustainability and embeds sustainability principles through all areas of activity in accordance with the WA State Sustainability Strategy and the WA State Water Strategy. The Centre runs its training and developmental programs in accordance with the UN World Commission on Environment and Development\’s sustainable development philosophy – meeting the needs of the present without compromising the needs of the future.

The Centre is the largest primary industry trainer in WA. It is the only WA registered training organisation to run all streams of the national horticulture package at all of its levels and for all parts of Western Australia. The package contains training in many aspects of sustainable natural resource use and the conservative use of agricultural chemicals (pesticides as well as fertilisers).

Examples of the Centre\’s commitment to sustainability in Western Australia are as follows:

• Operates using energy and resource-efficient buildings such as the Environmental Science building at Murdoch Campus, and the laboratories at Rockingham Campus – the facility also acts as a major resource in environmental science training and research.
• Forges partnerships, committee and executive memberships with industry environmental policy groups such as Parks and Leisure Australia, Irrigation Association Australia, West Australian Farmers Federation, National farmers Federation, Nursery and Garden Industry Association WA and the Turf and Landscape Industry Association WA.
• Maintains membership with the Nursery Industry Accreditation Scheme, Australia – an industry best practice and continuous improvement certification system where membership is conferred on the basis of effective management of the dieback organism Phytophthora, water, nutrients, agricultural crop protection products and the work environment.
• Forges partnership with community revegetation groups.
• Partnership with Murdoch University in delivery of sustainable development applied degree pathways.
• Delivers Conservation and Land Management study programs aimed at practical urban and rural natural resource stakeholders.
• Delivers Applied and Environmental Science study programs from basic to advanced levels.
• Runs industry up-skilling programs, employment-based training and part-time study programs that achieve an extremely high level of penetration into the land-use and water industries, both urban and rural.
• Develops flexible learning materials for pesticide application technology and regulatory compliance training and works with WA Health Department.
• Works with community to develop workskills and employment orientation in special interest groups – the physically and intellectually disabled, Youth at Risk, remote communities and remote learners and indigenous communities. We run Rural Operations traineeships and institutional delivery specifically constructed to ensure continuous employment in rural towns.