From Roots to Renewal
30 September 2025
Dear Friends,
When the closure of Schumacher College was announced in August 2024, the news sent shockwaves through our global community. For over thirty years, our small but radical place of learning had been a beacon of hope - an experimental, lively community where ecological philosophy, spiritual inquiry, creative practice, and action came together in service of a healthier world. For many, it was not simply a college, but a home for the heart and a source of lifelong inspiration.
Yet even as the College’s original form came to an end on the Dartington Estate, its spirit refused to be extinguished. In the days that followed, former staff, alumni, and allies came together with steadfast determination to protect and reimagine what had been built over three decades.
At the core of this collective response was the founding of the Satish Kumar Foundation. The Foundation became a registered charity in February 2025 and now serves as the formal guardian of the Schumacher College name, mission, fundraising,…and library!
The Satish Kumar Foundation is committed to not only preserving the deep-rooted ethos of Schumacher College but also to nurturing ecological and holistic education in new ways, both on our home soil in Devon and the UK, and also around the world. As such, it has enabled the journey of Schumacher Wild this past year - the bold and nomadic initiative that has been reimagining transdisciplinary learning.
This year, the Faculty, alongside visiting teachers, former staff, students and friends, have had the privilege of coming together to teach on and, more importantly, to participate together in residential programmes, at home and abroad.
Several of our faculty are also currently in Asia, breathing life into friendships that spontaneously sprung to life with a wonderful group of educators from Japan who visited the College on a learning visit the week before the closure was announced in September 2024 (and who returned to Devon again a little while ago!).
Just a week ago, here at home, the college hosted the much-loved short course Balancing the Brain with Iain McGilchrist, Satish Kumar, and June Mitchell, welcoming over 40 participants to Devon. A public talk also gathered more than 200 people, who came to be uplifted and inspired by the wisdom of these teachers.
We now confidently feel that the many creative, collaborative expansions that have emerged this past year reaffirm a key truth: the spirit of Schumacher College was never confined to buildings or bureaucracies. It lives in the practices, the shared culture, and the shared values that continue to evolve and adapt, and has continued to do so through everyone whose life the College has touched since it came into being over thirty years ago.
With a robust business plan now in place and a number of committed donors already offering their support, the Satish Kumar Foundation has now launched a major fundraising campaign.
The first phase of the fundraising campaign will focus on securing the initial operating costs, and most importantly, establishing a new home for Schumacher College in South Devon - a place that can nurture the College’s evolving vision while remaining rooted in the land and spirit from which it grew.
If you would like to donate, please head to our online donation page. Alternatively, if you have any questions, ideas, or introductions, please don’t hesitate to reach out directly to us at: fundraising@satishkumarfoundation.co.uk
Therefore, it is with great delight that we can confidently and joyfully declare that after a year on our nomadic journey, Schumacher College lives on as a renewed and living seed of hope: grounded in the soil that it happens to find itself in relationship to, responsive to both the global and local needs of these times, and unwaveringly devoted to nurturing a future that is formed through compassion, connection, and the flourishing of all life.
With much love, and gratitude,
as always,
The Schumacher College Team
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