The Student Switch Off campaign aims to encourage pro-environmental behaviour change amongst students living in university accommodation via fun competitions between halls of residence. It focuses on encouraging energy and water-saving actions and increasing recycling.

The Student Switch Off runs energy-saving competitions between halls of residence within Universities over an academic year. Students are signed up as ‘Eco-Power Rangers’ primarily at the start of the academic year – these students pledge to save energy and encourage their friends to do the same. Each participating University has a Facebook fanpage which students are encouraged to join and photo competitions are run via social media every 2-3 weeks over the year to raise awareness about the energy-saving actions. Prizes such as Ben & Jerry’s vouchers and nightclub tickets are given away to encourage participation and make it fun Electricity meter data is collected and analysed regularly (typically every month) to feed back to students on how their hall is doing – and to encourage them to keep up the energy-saving. The best hall at each University is rewarded with a celebratory event/party at the end of the academic year to reward their success

The Student Switch Off equips university students with the knowledge, skills and habits to minimise their waste of energy and water in halls of residence. In doing so, it builds their capacity to use resources efficiently when they move into the private rented sector - our surveys suggest that over 95% of students who adopt energy-saving actions as a result of the campaign are still undertaking those actions 6 months later when living in their own property. The campaign has already spread to Cyprus, Greece and Lithuania on a franchise basis and we're keen to support universities in other countries to set up the campaign on their campus too.

The Student Switch Off is run as a not-for-profit campaign by the National Union of Students whose staff collaborate with various universities to run engagement projects on campuses across the UK. Universities in other EU countries are supported remotely to run their own engagement activities.

National Union of Students of the United Kingdom; Universities of Aberystwyth, Athens, Bangor, Bath, Bournemouth, Brunel, Cambridge, Cardiff, Cranfield, Cyprus, DMU, Essex, Exeter, Gloucestershire, Greenwich, Hull, Keele, Kings College London, Kingston, Liverpool, LSE, Middlesex, Newcastle, Northampton, Nottingham, Oxford, Royal Agricultural University, Sheffield, Southampton, Southampton Solent, Staffordshire, Strathclyde, Surrey, UCL, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Warwick, Winchester, Worcester, York