College News

29 November 2005

Royal Holloway wins University Fairtrade Status

Royal Holloway has successfully won Fairtrade University status becoming only the second College in the University of London to achieve this. Fairtrade products are now widely available throughout Royal Holloway and the College rugby club is now even playing with Fairtrade balls!

Fairtrade products aim to improve conditions for producers in the developing world by guaranteeing them a minimum price for their product, plus an extra premium that is invested in their local community.

Tom Howell, Captain of the Men's Rugby Club at Royal Holloway said, "Fairtrade's not just about tea and coffee. Students at Royal Holloway aim to make a difference, however small, to improve conditions for workers in developing countries, using Fairtrade balls means decent wages for workers."

Royal Holloway Rugby Club

 

For over a year the College has been working towards this goal which has involved the Students' Union, the College senior management team and College catering departments. To gain this accreditation the College needed to meet five targets set down by the Fairtrade Foundation. These included creating a Fairtrade policy, making sure Fairtrade foods were available on campus, and setting up a steering group to oversee continuing improvement and wider product choice.

"We're delighted to have achieved Fairtrade University Status," said College Sustainability Officer, Ed Dearnley, "Fairtrade gives our students and staff the option of supporting better trade conditions for developing countries via an easily recognized logo. The products have been a great success not only because of the trade issues, but also often because students and staff say they're better quality products."

ENDS

Note to the Editor:

Royal Holloway will hold a launch event to celebrate its achievement on 5 December 2005 in Crosslands Bar at the College at 5.30pm open to the press. Oxfam, one of the pioneers of Fairtrade for over 40 years, will have a stall and there will be a guest speaker from the Fairtrade Foundation.

Royal Holloway, University of London is located in 135 acres of Surrey parkland, home for a vibrant community of 7,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students from more than 120 countries. One of the larger colleges of the University of London, we are strong across the three Faculties of Arts, Science, and History and Social Sciences. In the most recent Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), departments at the College all earned the top three ratings for research with scores of 4, 5 and 5*, placing the College in an elite group of 10 universities in the UK.

For press information contact Royal Holloway, University of London Press Office: Alison Denyer on 01784 443967 alison.denyer@rhul.ac.uk or
Naomi Weston on 01784 414480 naomi.weston@rhul.ac.uk