Universities play a key role in making societies aware of the impact that human activities have to the environment and thus leading them to more sustainable patterns of consumption and production.
Both in their role as centres for research and development and as institutions for knowledge promotion, Universities are the means by which future experts, industrialists and entrepreneurs can learn that the degradation of the environment is not a collateral and unavoidable effect associated to economic and industrial development but an environmentally sound business management can involve economic and corporate benefits for companies.
Therefore, in order to succeed in involving the private sector in the commitment to sustainable development, RAC/CP is aware of the need to act from the early stages of university training so that students understand and learn the opportunities offered by the application of CP as a business management strategy.
For that reason, RAC/CP has developed, with the technical support of Dr. Miquel Rigola and the BCDS group from the University of Girona (Spain), an e-course on Pollution Prevention at Source in Enterprises that can be used as tool through which universities introduce CP in their curricula.
The project is based in a similar experience on how to introduce CP in the curricula of several Catalan universities.
The aim of the e-course is to provide the student with an updated knowledge of the principles and methods of CP and to prepare them for action in the future. It is aimed at university students and professionals who would like to acquire full training in CP, the most widespread method focused on prevention, or to learn about its main concepts in order to incorporate these into a more heterogeneous view of environmental techniques.
The course is not intended to be purely informative or to be used as an encyclopaedia. Instead it is intended to be educational in the application of the different methodologies and in the elements supporting these methodologies. It is conceived as a guide to introduce CP to future professionals, using experience gained during the development period of CP.
The e-course is available in 4 languages: Spanish, French, English and Arab. Likewise, it can be downloaded either in ZIP (27 MB) or RAR (17 MB) format.
The e-course includes interactive characteristics in order to help the user. These characteristics include mechanisms that provide navigation, additional information and look personalization, as well as self-correcting activities. It has also been designed so a part or the complete book can be printed.
Frequently asked questions
What functions do the upper buttons have?
The function of each item in the navigation bar is explained below:
This button takes you back to the previous section keeping current level if possible (chapter, sub-chapter, etc).
This enables you to see the complete book on only one web page and allows you to look for any item throughout the whole book using the browser search tool, and you can also print the whole book in one step.
This enables you to close the whole book, leaving it in its original status.
This takes you to the English version of the book (it is not shown in the English version).
This takes you to the Spanish version of the book.
This takes you to the French version of the book.
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This button shows all the items of additional information included throughout the book.
When all the items of additional information are opened, the previous button changes to this one, which allows you to close them all.
If desired, the size of the page text can be enlarged. The selected size will be registered for future visits to the web page.
This button reduces the size of the page text. It is useful when the book is viewed at a low resolution, or for reversing the action carried out with the previous button.
This button changes the colour range of the document. The selected range will be registered for future visits to the web page.
Changes between serif type of letter and another without serif.
This button takes us to the following section keeping the current level if possible (chapter, sub-chapter, etc).
Apart from these buttons, there is a navigation history about the book and a table of contents available. The navigation history remains updated even when the language is changed and when the page is visited again.
Several acronyms are used throughout the book. At the end of the document there is a complete list in a glossary that can be consulted, however when your mouse is moved over one of the acronyms, its full description is shown.
Similarly, the references are listed at the end of the document; however the relevant information is shown when the mouse is moved over the number of one of the references in the middle of the text.
Finally, there are several items of additional information throughout the whole book that supplement the main text. These items are related to certain concepts that are underlined in the text. Clicking on the underlined text, the additional fragment will be shown or hidden. For showing or hiding all the fragments of additional information, the buttons of the navigation bar can be used.
Useful browsers functions
Some of these functions are worth mentioning, common to modern Windows browsers, that could be of interest:
Firstly, the F11 key switches between normal window mode and full screen mode. Not only does it allow you to use the whole screen to navigate, but it also eliminates any other element of the screen that could distract the user.
Secondly, if you click on a link and keep the Shift key pressed, the link opens in another window or tab (depending on the browser used).