ACCELERATING EDUCATION FOR
THE SDGS IN UNIVERSITIES
A GUIDE FOR UNIVERSITIES, COLLEGES, AND TERTIARY AND HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS
SEPTEMBER 2020
© Sustainable Development Solutions Network
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0
International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.
org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Moun-
tain View, CA 94042, USA.
Icons in Figure 2 and Figure 8 created by Made from the Noun Project.
The views expressed in this report do not reflect the views of any organization, agency
or programme of the United Nations. It has been prepared by the team of independent
experts from the SDSN Secretariat and SDSN member institutions.
This guide was prepared by Tahl Kestin (SDSN Australia, NZ and Pacific & Monash
University), Julio Lumbreras (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid & Harvard University),
and María Cortés Puch (SDSN).
The report should be cited as: SDSN (2020): Accelerating Education for the SDGs in
Universities: A guide for universities, colleges, and tertiary and higher education insti-
tutions. New York: Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN).
The following people provided significant input, research and assistance in the prepa-
ration of the guide and the accompanying case study website: Rafael Miñano (UPM),
Chandrika Bahadur (SDSN), Liliana Diaz (University of Laval), John Thwaites ( Monash
Sustainable Development Institute), Leonardo Fernandes Coelho Rezende dos Santos
(Newton Pavia University), Carlos Mataix (UPM), Wendy Purcell (Harvard University),
Teresa Sanchez Chaparro (UPM), Patrick Paul Walsh (University College Dublin), Carla
Alzamora Goncalves (Monash University), Giovanni Bruna (SDSN), Belen Casanas
(UPM), Irene Ezquerra (UPM), María Marcote Juste (UPM), Luis Rodríguez Zerolo
(UPM), Miguel A. Soberon (UPM), Rhea Madraymootoo (SDSN), Karen Chand (Sunway
University), Phui Yi Kong (Sunway University), Wing Woo (Sunway University), and
Tawana Kupe (University of Pretoria), Brian Chicksen (University of Pretoria), and
Denise Wellington (Monash University).
The preparation of the guide and the accompanying case study website has been
made possible with the support of Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM); Monash
Sustainable Development Institute, Monash University; and SDSN Australia, New
Zealand & Pacific. The report was made possible with the generous support of Deut-
sche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the
German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
In addition to the major contributors, the project team is immensely grateful to the following people
who contributed to the guide through case studies, reviews, or other input:
Alison Greig (Anglia Ruskin University), Annie Hale (Arizona State University), Eileen Merritt (Arizo-
na State University), Leanna Archambault (Arizona State University), Elena Pérez Lagüela (ASYPS),
Vitalina (Belarusian State Pedagogical University), Sascha Nick (Business School Lausanne), Roy
Jantzen (Capilano University), Christian A. Aramayo Arce (Center for human development and
employability), Andréia Abrahão Sant’Anna (Centro Universitário Newton Paiva), Martin Eriksson
(Chalmers University of Technology), John Rafferty (Charles Sturt University), Simon Wright (Charles
Sturt University), Helena Ancos (Complutense University of Madrid), Daurel Gagnami Kiele (Dau-
vane), Roisin Lyons (Dublin City University), Mubashar Islam (Engineering & Technology Peshawar),
Pia Lovengreen Alessi (European University Institute), Lisa Gring-Pemble (George Mason University),
Charles Oppe (Global Action Plan), Thomas Gloria (Harvard University), Eric Hartman (Haverford
College), Matthew J Pattom (Heartfulness Institute), Amos Obi (Hetaved Skills Academy and Net-
works), Manuel Acevedo (itdUPM), Kearrin Sims (James Cook University), Amadi Virtue Chigbama
(Ken Saro Wiwa Polytechnic), Landouard Habiyaremye (Kepler), Consuelo Iriarte Campo (King Juan
Carlos University), Eva Ponce (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Regina Scheyvens (Massey
University), Chris Steuer (Millersville University), Alejandro Molina-Garcia (Ministry of Health at
Michoacan State), David Robertson (Monash University), Gitanjali Bedi (Monash University), Lara
Werbeloff (Monash University), Michelle Armstrong (Monash University), Rod Glover (Monash
University), Bodean Hedwards (Monash University), Elizabeth Bacchetti (Monash University), Arshad
Adam Salema (Monash University Malaysia), Foo Su Chern (Monash University Malaysia), Joel
Moore (Monash University Malaysia), Priya Sharma Amarjit Singh (Monash University Malaysia),
Sharon Adeline Bong (Monash University Malaysia), Wong Zhi Hoong (Cyren) (Monash University
Malaysia), Shiuh-Shen Chien (National Taiwan University), Milton G Villarroel (North Gaston High
School), Patrizia Lombardi (Politecnico di Torino), Renzo Mori Junior (RMIT University), Sjoukje Wu
(Shanghai Theater Academy), Will Hong (SUNY New Paltz), Alejandro Gregory (Sustainable Devel-
opment Goals Center for Latin America and the Caribbean), Paola Visconti (Tecmilenio), Monmi
Barua (The Energy and Resources Institute), Ramkumar (Thiagarajar College of Engineering), Jenny
Yi Zheng (Tsinghua University), Nelya Rakhimova (Tyumen State University), Zeinab El Maadawi
(United Nations University (UNU) & Cairo University), Alexis Velo (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid),
Santiago Atrio (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid), Montserrat Cabré i Pairet (Universidad de Can-
tabria), Cesar Nanni (Universidad de Monterrey), Carmen Duce (Universidad de Valladolid), Susana
de Andrés (Universidad de Valladolid), Susana Lucas Mangas (Universidad de Valladolid), Mirian
Jiménez Sosa (Universidad Francisco de Vitoria), Òscar O. Santos-Sopena (Universidad Politécnica
de Madrid), Ruth Carrasco (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid), Gemma Angélica Sánchez lerma
(Universidad Pública de Navarra), Helen Temple (Universidad Veritas), Leslie Mahe Collazo Expósito
(Universitat de Girona), Claudia Schmitt (Universität Hamburg), Sílvia Albareda (Universitat Inter-
nacional de Catalunya), Fatine Ezbakhe (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya), Ana Tomás Miralles
(Universitat Politècnica de València), Rosángela Aguilar Briceño (Universitat Politècnica de Valèn-
cia), Tania Ansio Martínez (Universitat Politècnica de València), María de los Llanos Gómez Torres
Gómez (Universitat Politècnica de València), Rosángela Aguilar (Universitat Politècnica de València),
Tania Ansio (Universitat Politècnica de València), Toni Simarro (Universitat Politècnica de Valèn-
cia), Patrick Paul Walsh (University College Dublin), Paloma Orte de la Peña (University of Applied
Sciences Düsseldorf), Lineo Devecchi (University of Applied Sciences St. Gallen), David Sundaram
(University of Auckland), Gabrielle Peko (University of Auckland), Niki Harre (University of Auckland),
Mar Grasa Martínez (University of Barcelona), Marta Pérez Vallmitjana (University of Barcelona),
Franziska Kastner (University of Basel), Francesco Castelli (University of Brescia, Italy), Aisling Tier-
ney (University of Bristol), Chris Preist (University of Bristol), Ed Atkins (University of Bristol), Eleni
Michelopoulou (University of Bristol), Renata Krenn (University of Economics and Business, Vienna),
Mallory Xinyu Zhan (University of Geneva), Samuel O. Babalola (University of Ibadan), Arnold Nadine
(University of Lucerne), Longinos Marín Rives (University of Murcia), Paul Perrin (University of Notre
Dame), Eugenie L. Birch (University of Pennsylvania), Meghna Ramaswamy (University of Saskatch-
ewan), Simone Cresti (University of Siena), Sofia Gruskin (University of Southern California), Roddy
Yarr (University of Strathclyde), Ranjit Voola (University of Sydney), Estibaliz Saez de Camara Oleaga
(University of the Basque Country), Kadiann Hewitt-Thompson (University of the West Indies, Mona),
Monique Lynch (University of the West Indies, Mona), Sharon Bramwell-Lalor (University of the West
Indies, Mona), Therese Ferguson (University of the West Indies, Mona), Mat Thijssen (University of
Waterloo), Tonya Sweet (Victoria University Wellington), Brenda Dobia (Western Sydney University),
Jen Dollin (Western Sydney University), Maria Garcia Alvarez (Windesheim Honours College), Sander
Leusenkamp (Windesheim University of Applied Sciences), David Cambra (Zaragoza University),
Ennio Mariani (Zurich University of Applied Sciences)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword ...................................................................................................... III
Executive Summary ........................................................................................ VI
About this guide ............................................................................................. 1
1. Education for the SDGs: A critical mission for universities ............................ 3
1.1 ESDGs: A critical enabler for SDG implementation ...............................................3
1.2 The role of universities in delivering ESDGs ..........................................................5
2. Unpacking education for the SDGs in universities ......................................... 9
2.1 Elements of ESDGs .................................................................................................10
2.2 Transformative learning approaches for ESDGs ..................................................12
2.3 Learners ..................................................................................................................15
2.4 Avenues for implementing ESDGs .........................................................................16
2.5 Considerations for implementing and mainstreaming ESDGs at universities ....18
3. Expanding and deepening implementation of ESDGs in universities .............. 25
3.1 Steps for implementing ESDGs .............................................................................26
3.2 Common barriers and challenges, and potential solutions  ................................30
3.3 Stakeholders ...........................................................................................................35
4. Towards university transformations for ESDGs ............................................. 38
4.1 A “Second operating system” approach to university transformations ..............39
4.2 Case studies ............................................................................................................41
Annex A: Acronyms & terminology .................................................................. 54
Annex B: ESDG-related SDGs and targets ........................................................ 55
Annex C: Selected resources .......................................................................... 56
C.1 General references .................................................................................................56
C.2 Case study collections ..........................................................................................56
C.3 Online resources & tools ........................................................................................57
C.4 Global networks and programs .............................................................................57
C.5 SDG-related measurement and reporting frameworks ........................................58
C.6 University SDG-related commitments ...................................................................59
Annex D: SDSN programs supporting ESDGs at universities .............................. 60
D.1 SDG Academy .........................................................................................................60
D.2 SDSN Youth ............................................................................................................61
References .................................................................................................... 62
IIIAccelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
FOREWORD
One of the thrills of higher education around the world is the amount of invention that
is underway. While universities are certainly filled with tradition, with the garb and
rituals of graduations often looking like a scene from Padua, Italy in 1350, they are
also institutions that change from generation to generation with new fields of knowl-
edge and changing demands of society. In our time, one of the greatest challenges
is sustainable development: how to combine economic development with social
justice and environmental sustainability. It is not surprising, therefore, that hundreds
of universities around the world are reconfiguring themselves to address the complex
challenges of sustainable development.
I’ve been lucky in my own career to help shape the response of higher education to
this great challenge in several ways over the course of 30 years. While a professor
at Harvard University I was fortunate to help launch a new Center for International
Development (CID) and a new Masters in International Development (MPA/ID) at
the John F. Kennedy School of Government. Since arriving at Columbia University in
2002, I have been extraordinarily fortunate to help build Columbia’s Earth Institute
as its Director from 2002 to 2016, and in that capacity to help launch several new
degree programs (including a PhD in Sustainable Development, an undergraduate
major, and several Masters Degrees). With the support of the MacArthur Foundation
I was pleased to help launch a new Masters in Development Practice (MDP) that is
now taught in more than 30 universities. And since 2012, I have had the great honor
to lead the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
These varied experiences have helped me to gain some perspective on how sustain-
able development can be taught, researched, and promoted by universities around the
world. This current volume offers invaluable insights on this question, adding to my
confidence that sustainable development constitutes an important new intellectual
discipline and organizing principle for universities in our time. Let me briefly share
some key ideas on how universities can fruitfully take up the sustainable development
challenge, especially in the context of the globally agreed Sustainable Development
Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement.
First, let us recall the meaning of sustainable development, as economic develop-
ment that is socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable. From the outset, we
see that sustainable development is a holistic concept, involving economics, social
justice, and environmental management. It therefore must be taught, researched, and
promoted in a holistic manner – cutting across intellectual disciplines, faculties and
departments, and even methods. A sustainable development scholar or practitioner
needs to have familiarity with economics, with concepts of social justice and social
organization, and with methods of environmental management. Each of these three
areas too imply cross-cutting knowledge. For example, environmental management
requires familiarity with Earth Sciences (climate, geology, oceanography, and ecol-
ogy), applied fields (agronomy, conservation, and urban planning), and environmental
engineering (energy systems, hydrology, and industrial ecology).
IVAccelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
Of course, no single professor, researcher or student will become an expert in most
or all of these relevant fields, but the training and research in sustainable develop-
ment requires a familiarity with the range of fields, a trained vocabulary and span of
knowledge to be able to discuss issues across the fields, and an ability to work with
colleagues from disparate fields.
Second, not only is there a span across fields, but also a span across the kinds of
knowledge being taught and pursued. Sustainable Development requires basic
scientific knowledge, applied technical knowledge (e.g. engineering, agronomy, and
public health), policy sciences (economics and politics), and the human sciences
(e.g. psychology, ethics, pedagogy, and the humanities).
Third, the specific challenges of sustainable development should guide the methods
of reorganizing university activities, including the curriculum and research program.
Put another way, university programs around sustainable development are best
organized according to the problems they seek to address. The major sustainable
development challenges, those highlighted by the 17 SDGs, include: ending poverty
and hunger (SDGs 1 and 2); universal access to key services such as health (SDG 3),
education (SDG 4), water and sanitation (SDG 6), renewable energy (SDG 7), decent
work (SDG 8); environmental sustainability (SDG 11 – 15); and inclusive societies with
reduced inequalities of life conditions and lifetime opportunities (SDGs 5, 10, 16, 17).
Each of these challenges requires academic knowledge from a range of disciplines
and types of analysis.
For all of these reasons, I strongly urge universities to do at least four things. First,
I urge universities to create new organizational units (departments, schools, facul-
ties, institutes or some other means of organization) to house many or most of the
university’s programs of sustainable development. Columbia University’s brilliant
idea to establish an Earth Institute combining science, engineering, and public policy,
exemplifies this approach. I was very lucky to be tasked with building this idea after
its inception and its first years.
Second, I encourage universities to establish new educational programs, enabling
students to train in sustainable development, ideally at each level of higher educa-
tion (including undergraduate degree, Masters, PhD, and executive training). These
education programs should train students to think systematically about the major
challenges (poverty alleviation, access to public services, environmental sustainabil-
ity) from a number of disciplinary perspectives, and with a solutions orientation (e.g.
practical problem solving). Often these programs should include policy-related proj-
ects working directly with a “client” such as the local government or a ministry at the
national level. Such “capstone” projects (or theses, practicums, senior essays, etc.)
are a powerful way to mentor students in practical policy design based on rigorous
science, engineering, and policy analytics. Finally, these education programs should
offer the powerful analytical tools needed and used in sustainable development,
including Geographic Information Systems (GIS), statistics and econometrics, simu-
lation modeling, and other analytical skills.
VAccelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
Third, I believe that universities should turn their sights towards high-level policy
advising and analysis, and should reward such work by faculty and students. On any
of our pressing challenges today – fighting Covid-19, ending extreme poverty, decar-
bonizing the energy system, protecting endangered species – governments are typi-
cally out of their depth of expertise in the needed sciences, engineering, and policy
design. In short, they need help (whether they know it or not). Universities have highly
specialized talent and highly motivated students ready to help design solutions, but
are often not organized for such efforts, or disapprove of such efforts as a distrac-
tion from academic research, or offer no institutional support for such efforts (e.g.
faculty time, office space, legal and administrative support, etc.). In my own experi-
ence, and in the programs that I have helped to launch and implement, this kind of
practical policy work is not only hugely rewarding, and with a high social benefit, but
is itself the spur for deeper and more agile research activities as well.
Fourth, I hope that universities will seek out international university partnerships
to amplify the work in sustainable development. We face severe and urgent global
challenges, many of which require global cooperation to address, whether it is the
control of the current Covid-19 pandemic, the transformation of the world’s energy
systems, or the redesign of agriculture and mining supply chains to encourage their
environmental and social sustainability. This is, of course, the very purpose of the
United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), to forge global
networks and partnerships of universities in order to strengthen the global problem
solving. There are, indeed, new networks of networks, linking the SDSN, the United
Nations Academic Impact, the United Nations University, the Association of Common-
wealth Universities, the International Association of Universities, the World University
Network, and others, partnering together to accelerate the achievement of the SDGs.
It remains for me to thank the more than 1,300 universities, think tanks, and non-gov-
ernmental organizations around the world that are members of the SDSN, and the
team that put together this year’s wonderful report. The SDSN offers this report with
the great hopes that it will prove useful to universities around the world during the
Decade of Action, 2020-2030. This report offers inspiration and guidance on accel-
erating Education for the SDGs (ESDGs). This is a crucial role for universities today,
and one deeply sought by our students, who are keen to take up the leadership in the
fight for sustainable development. By expanding our shared understanding of how
universities can contribute to this global mission, this report can help contribute
to a new global trajectory of economic progress, social justice, and environmental
sustainability.
Jeffrey D. Sachs
President, Sustainable Development Solutions Network
VIAccelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Universities and other higher education institutions have a critical role in helping
society achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through their research,
learning and teaching, campus operations and leadership. This guide focuses on one
of the most important ways they can contribute, which is to harness their learning
and teaching functions to provide “Education for the SDGs (ESDGs)”, that will help
learners develop the necessary knowledge, skills and mindsets.
The need to greatly expand society’s capacity to solve complex challenges has never
been more important or more urgent, with just ten years remaining to the 2030 dead-
line of achieving the SDGs, the growing understanding of the urgency of addressing
climate change, and now the COVID-19 crisis. By expanding and mainstreaming
ESDGs as part of a higher educational experience, universities can respond and adapt
to the needs of our “new normal”.
While ESDGs builds on the established field of Education for Sustainable Development
(ESD), it incorporates a broader agenda of issues, objectives and methodologies than
ESD, and responds directly to the greatly increasing interest across the university
sector in engaging with the SDGs.
The aim of this guide is to help accelerate the process of mainstreaming ESDGs in
universities, by helping stakeholders within and outside universities understand why
universities should engage with ESDGs, what ESDGs looks like from an institutional
perspective, and what steps they can take towards implementation. It also provides
resources, tools and case studies to inspire and support further action.
ESDGs is a critical mission for universities, both because universities are in a
unique position to provide this service to society, and because implementing
ESDGs can bring benefits to universities.
To effectively address the SDGs, we need professionals and citizens who have the
skills, knowledge, and mindsets to tackle the complex sustainable development
challenges articulated by the SDGs through whichever career or life path they take.
These include:
• A general understanding of sustainable development and the SDGs
• Cross-cutting skills to make sense of complex challenges and devise and imple-
ment solutions
• Specific knowledge and skills for how each profession can contribute to the SDGs
• Mindsets to contribute to positive societal change
VIIAccelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
Universities have compelling reasons and a unique opportunity to lead on ESDGs. As
the providers of general, professional and vocational education across all disciplines,
and reaching hundreds of millions of learners at all stages in their life, universities are
in a unique position – and therefore have a critical responsibility – to provide ESDGs
to as many learners as they can within their sphere of influence.
Furthermore, providing ESDGs has other important benefits to universities, including
demonstrating the impact and relevance of the university (and the sector) to current
and prospective students and staff, as well as other sectors; and facilitating innova-
tive partnerships and collaborations within and across the university.
To mainstream ESDGs, universities need to scale up existing activities and
implement new types of activities that go beyond business as usual.
While universities have been providing some aspects of what is needed for ESDGs
through their traditional learning and teaching activities, there is a need to both scale
up existing activities, as well as implement and mainstream new types of activities
that go beyond usual operations.
There are many approaches which universities can take to implement and main-
stream ESDGs, depending on their context, capacity and starting point. Some key
considerations include:
• Because ESDGs is relevant to all people, universities should aim to provide
elements of ESDGs to as many “learners” within their sphere of influence as they
can, but prioritize those closest to them, namely “traditional” students and staff.
• Given the breadth and cross-cutting nature of the SDGs, elements of ESDGs can
be incorporated in and add value to most existing formal and informal learning
and teaching activities in universities.
• To help learners develop cross-cutting ESDGs skills, competencies, and mindsets,
universities will also need to develop new “transformative learning” activities,
which employ interdisciplinarity, action-based learning, and multi-actor involve-
ment, and which are not currently standard practice within universities.
With these considerations in mind, some of the most common approaches used so
far by universities for ESDGs are awareness raising, interdisciplinary introductory
units, integration into the existing discipline curriculum, project-based units, co-cur-
ricular activities, leadership programs, student-led activities, MOOCs and other online
content, and sustainable development degrees.
However, these approaches are not all equal in terms of their reach, depth and suit-
ability for different aspects of ESDGs, and there is no single approach that covers
all bases. So, in order to mainstream ESDGs, universities will need to implement a
combination of approaches.
VIIIAccelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
Mainstreaming ESDGs can be an organizationally difficult process, but there are
many actions universities can take to support it.
The best way for universities to identify and implement the right combination of
ESDGs activities for their context is through a university-wide strategic process. This
is not an easy task, because expanding ESDGs requires universities to add new activ-
ities or modify their existing activities at a university-wide scale. Furthermore, some
of these activities represent a significant shift from how the teaching and learning
domain is currently organized and delivered.
To help the strategic ESDGs implementation process, universities can follow the
following five steps:
1. Map what you are already doing
2. Build capacity and ownership for ESDGs
3. Identify priorities, opportunities and gaps
4. Integrate, implement and embed the SDGs
5. Monitor, evaluate and communicate
A wide range of internal and external stakeholders – from university leaders, to
faculty members, to students, to university partners – can contribute in different
ways to this process, and, in fact, all their contributions crucial for success.
Nonetheless, universities are likely to come up against a range of personal, orga-
nizational and external barriers and challenges relating to ESDGs being a relatively
complex and new agenda. Universities can take a range of actions to address
some of these barriers and challenges, but possibly not all of them.
A transformation in how the university operates may be needed to overcome all
the barriers to implementing ESDGs, and to ensure mainstreaming happens fast
enough and deep enough.
The scale of the change that needs to take place in order to mainstream ESDGs
across the sector is enormous and urgent, and an incremental approach like the
process described above may not be sufficient or fast enough. For this reason, a
transformation is also needed in how universities operate.
One approach to this transformation, which we propose here, is a “second operat-
ing system” within the university, which would focus solely on developing innova-
tive mechanisms and approaches to support ESDGs, and would complement the
existing governance system of the university. This approach can happen in paral-
lel to more traditional approaches.
1Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
ABOUT THIS GUIDE
In 2017, SDSN Australia, New Zealand & Pacific, in partnership with the Australasian
Campuses Towards Sustainability (ACTS) and the global SDSN, published Getting
Started with the SDGs in Universities: A guide for universities, higher education institu-
tions, and the academic sector [1]. That publication aimed to help the sector¹ under-
stand its critical role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the
many ways it can contribute to them through research, learning and teaching, campus
operations and leadership.
One of these ways is for universities to harness their learning and teaching functions
towards the creation of “SDG implementers”. By this we mean providing students and
people working in all professions with the knowledge, skills and motivation to tackle
the complex sustainable development challenges articulated by the SDGs through
whichever career or life path they take. In this guide we refer to this as “Education for
the SDGs” (or ESDGs).
While Getting Started included a short section on mainstreaming ESDGs in univer-
sities, it has become apparent since it was published that more detailed guidance
was needed to help clarify what is needed and how it can be done. There is a growing
recognition of how important ESDGs is for all learners in our increasingly complex
21st Century, and the unique abilities universities have to deliver ESDGs widely. This
has led to a notable increase in the interest of universities in ESDGs, in discussion
and development of resources for this across the sector, as well as in innovation and
experimentation by institutions, university staff and students. However, on a sector-
wide basis, it remains a largely niche activity. This is largely because the activities
and approaches needed to expand ESDGs in universities requires them to go beyond
traditional approaches of learning and teaching, to teach new things in new ways,
and to consider more fundamental transformations in how they operate in order to
better support these new activities.
The aim of this guide is to help accelerate the institutional process of mainstreaming
ESDGs in universities, by helping stakeholders within and outside universities under-
stand why they should pursue this goal, and how. It aims to expand, update and refine
the information provided in the previous guide [1] based on new resources, tools,
thinking, and learnings from universities working to implement ESDGs, to consider
what ESDGs mean for universities. The guide touches on the pedagogical aspects of
ESDGs, in terms of how they affect institutional approaches to ESDGs, but does not
attempt to provide a comprehensive review of them.
The Guide outlines the case for mainstreaming education for the SDGs at universi-
ties, what this does and could look like in practice, and the processes and activities
universities can take to support implementation. It also provides practical guidance,
resources, and case studies to inspire universities to take action and deepen their
practice.
1. While we use the term “university” throughout this guide, much of the discussion Is equally rele-
vant to higher education and tertiary institutions more broadly, including colleges, vocational training
schools, and so on.
2Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
• Chapter 1 introduces the overall case for why universities need to accelerate their
engagement with the SDGs, and specifically in the area of education for the SDGs.
• Chapter 2 unpacks what ESDGs means for a university, including the various
ways universities can deliver and accelerate education for the SDGs. It identi-
fies that some aspects of ESDGs are difficult to implement within the traditional
structure of universities.
• Chapters 3 and 4 provide guidance on how universities can support the implemen-
tation of ESDGs, including whole-of-institution approaches and tools to support
education activities towards the SDGs. Chapter 3 suggests a stepped approach
that builds on existing university structures and processes, whereas Chapter 4
discusses the concept of institutional transformation to enable universities to
greatly accelerate what they can do.
This Guide is for anyone who can contribute to or influence the implementation of
ESDGs at universities, including:
• Staff involved in the delivery of learning and teaching across all areas of the
university, such as instructors, teachers, professors, learning facilitators, curricu-
lum coordinators, education directors, and central learning and teaching support
services
• University leaders
• Campus and operational services, international engagement, fund-raising arms,
research and those supporting academic excellence
• Students and student clubs and societies
• External stakeholders that influence, participate in, or support learning and teach-
ing activities at universities, like governments, standards organizations, university
networks, professional associations, and university partners from other sectors
We hope universities and their stakeholders will find this guide a useful and inspiring
resource for their journey to accelerate education for the SDGs at their institution.
Case studies
As part of the development of this guide, we invited universities around the world to
submit case studies of how they are already implementing and supporting educa-
tion for the SDGs. A selection of the many innovative and inspiring case studies we
received is referenced in this guide and presented in full in the website, blogs.upm.
es/education4sdg. Each case study is mentioned once as an example in a relevant
section, but most fit multiple sections. We invite you to browse the website to explore
all of the case studies.
3Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
1. EDUCATION FOR THE SDGS: A CRITICAL MISSION
FOR UNIVERSITIES
Universities have a critical and unique role in helping society address the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs). This guide focuses on one area where their potential
contribution is particularly significant, but still largely niche, which is the develop-
ment of “SDG implementers” through Education for the SDGs (or ESDGs). This means
providing students and other learners within their sphere of influence with the knowl-
edge, skills and mindsets to address the SDGs through their current or future roles.
The need to greatly expand society’s capacity to solve complex challenges has never
been more important or more urgent, with just ten years remaining to the 2030 dead-
line of achieving the SDGs, the growing understanding of the urgency of addressing
climate change [2], and now the COVID-19 crisis, showcasing how interconnected the
environment, our prosperity and social wellbeing are. By expanding and mainstream-
ing ESDGs as part of a higher educational experience, universities can respond and
adapt to the needs of our “new normal”.
This chapter explains the case for why ESDGs is a critical mission for universities. It
provides an overview of ESDGs, the importance of mainstreaming it, and how univer-
sities can contribute to this. It explains why the role of universities is particularly criti-
cal in delivering ESDGs, and highlights some of the important benefits to universities
from developing and mainstreaming their delivery of ESDGs.
1.1 ESDGs: A critical enabler for SDG implementation
In September 2015, world leaders at the UN unanimously adopted Transforming Our
World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development [3], one of the most ambitious
and important global agreements in recent history. At the heart of the agenda are the
17 SDGs, with their 169 targets (Figure 1), which aim to guide all countries in trying to
solve together the world’s most pressing challenges by 2030, including ending poverty
and hunger; protecting the planet from degradation and addressing climate change;
ensuring that all people can enjoy prosperous, healthy and fulfilling lives; and foster-
ing peaceful, just and inclusive societies free from fear and violence.
The SDGs cover a wide range of complex social, economic, and environmental chal-
lenges and addressing them will require transformations in how societies and econ-
omies function and how we interact with our planet. Addressing these challenges
and achieving transformations requires all sectors to operate in more collaborative,
interconnected, systemic, and responsible ways [4].
4Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
To effectively play their part in achieving these changes, we need professionals and
citizens who have the skills, knowledge, and mindsets to effectively play their part.
The SDGs themselves recognize the importance of building the knowledge and
capacity of different sectors, and learners in general, to enable the achievement of
the SDGs, and these have explicitly been written into a number of SDGs targets, as
shown in Annex B. This is most strongly highlighted in SDG 4.7, which calls for “By
2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote
sustainable development…”
There is considerable discussion in global educational circles on how to implement
this agenda. Much of the discussion centers on the role of primary and secondary
education. Universities, as key components of society’s educational and professional
training system, have a significant role, opportunity, and responsibility to contribute
to the implementation of this agenda. However, as will be explained in more detail in
Chapter 2, many aspects of ESDGs are not currently considered part of a standard
education, let alone a university education.
1. Education for the SDGs: A Critical Mission for Universities
Figure 1: The Sustainable Development Goals.
5Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
1. Education for the SDGs: A Critical Mission for Universities
1.2 The role of universities in delivering ESDGs
Universities have a unique and critical role in delivering ESDGs to those within their
sphere of influence. It is well established that universities are a critical partner for
delivery of all the SDGs [1]. The capabilities of universities in education, research and
innovation, as well as their contribution to civic, societal and community-level leader-
ship, mean that they have a unique role in helping society address these challenges
(see Figure 2). Arguably, none of the SDGs will be fully achieved without the contri-
bution of the university sector.
Figure 2: Overview of university contributions to the SDGs (from [1])
2
RESEARCH
Research on the SDGs
Interdisciplinary and
transdisciplinary research
Innovations and solutions
National & local
implementation
Capacity building for
research
OPERATIONS & GOVERNANCE
Governance and operations
aligned with SDGs
Incorporate into university
reporting
EXTERNAL LEADERSHIP
Public engagement
Cross-sectoral dialogue
and action
Policy development and
advocacy
Advocacy for sector role
Demonstrate sector
commitment
EDUCATION
Education for sustainable
development
Jobs for implementing the
SDGs
Capacity building
Mobilising young people
6Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
While universities are already undertaking many of the activities highlighted in Figure
2 as part of their “business as usual” research and teaching activities, delivering the
ESDGs requires universities to both scale up existing activities as well as implement
and mainstream new types of activities that go beyond usual operations.
Since 2015, there has been great interest and activity in the university sector related
to the SDGs, from identifying and implementing pathways for universities to increase
their contribution to the SDGs across all academic and service functions, to devel-
oping new tools and resources to facilitate and accelerate action. This has resulted
in numerous publications, conferences, network activities, reporting frameworks,
commitments, and funding schemes, all focusing on the SDGs.² Many universities
have also embraced the SDGs as an opportunity to do things differently, from activ-
ities by individual researchers, teachers or students, to incorporating the SDGs into
the strategic mission of the university.
While this level of interest, innovation, experimentation and activity is highly encour-
aging, there is still a long way to go before the sector delivers on its full contribution to
achieving the SDGs. One area where there is a particular need to scale up and accel-
erate action is in the delivery of Education for the SDGs to help the development of
SDG implementers.
Universities are considered to have a moral imperative to support education for
the SDGs as part of their social mission of providing people with professional and
personal skills and capabilities. What students learn at their university will have a
direct impact on them as citizens, professionals, consumers as well as on businesses
they will work for or create. Universities need to help students develop the knowledge,
skills, attitudes and values they will need to address global challenges as responsible
professionals and citizens.
The following are some of the key features of universities that endow them with a
unique and critical ability – and responsibility – for helping society address the SDGs
through ESDGs:
• Reach: In 2015, 214 million students were enrolled in university education world-
wide [5], a very significant number and opportunity to influence a whole genera-
tion of professionals and leaders.
• Responsibility in the direct areas covered by ESDGs: As part of their educational
mission, universities have responsibility for providing people with professional
and personal skills and capabilities for professional employment and meaning-
ful contributions to society.
• Access to learners at all stages of learning: Universities have access, and oppor-
tunities to expand their access, to learners at all stages of life, including people
who are already working. This is through undergraduate and graduate degrees,
vocational training, professional training, executive and adult education, online
learning, outreach activities, and community engagement.
1. Education for the SDGs: A Critical Mission for Universities
2. These are far too numerous to cite here, but some of the key resources are listed in Annex C.
7Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
• Learning and teaching expertise: Universities have significant practical expertise
in learning and teaching methodologies, and capacity to undertake research on
pedagogy and trial new approaches and methodologies.
• Broad expertise: Universities, through their schools and faculties, have broad
academic and content expertise relevant to teaching all areas of the SDGs.
• Special role in society: Connections to all other sectors and an increasing focus
on public mission and impact.
While these capabilities and responsibilities should be sufficient to convince uni-
versities to aim to increase their action to deliver ESDGs, it is useful to note that
there are also many side benefits to this action:
• Relevance and reputation: The SDGs are becoming part of the everyday language
and structure of national and subnational governments, multilateral organiza-
tions, funding agencies, civil society, and the private sector. Those who are not
familiar with them are at risk of being left behind.
• Increase the appeal of the university to help draw in students – who want to be
change makers.
• Help facilitate and deepen relationships and collaborations with other sectors,
and provide an avenue for universities to be involved in solving actual sustain-
able development problems.
• Help facilitate collaborations across different faculties and functions of the
institution.
• Demonstrate the important role of universities, demonstrate the impact, demon-
strate the societal responsibility.
• Future-focused: The education for the SDGs supports other useful tools for fram-
ing a new university paradigm; teaching future-ready skills. The new skills that
employers want/need.
• Competitiveness: Universities are increasingly being measured on and compared/
ranked by engagement with SDGs.
• SDGs can be a great opportunity to overcome barriers that hinder the inclusion
of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in formal teaching, such as lack
of motivation and funding.
• Financing: funders – including government agencies, international banks, and
philanthropists – are increasingly framing funding calls around the achievement
of the SDGs.
• Act on commitments: Implementing aspects of ESDGs is an important compo-
nent in the range of commitments to the SDGs or climate action that many
universities have signed up to recently (see Section 3.1 and Annex C.6). With the
growing global concern about lack of progress on the SDGs and climate, univer-
sities need to demonstrate that they are acting on these commitments beyond
business as usual.
1. Education for the SDGs: A Critical Mission for Universities
8Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
• Attracting/retaining talent: University staff are increasingly aware of the SDGs
and the challenges of our planet and are seeking to make a difference. Universi-
ties with innovative plans to incorporate the SDGs in their operations, educational
plans and research endeavors, will be more attractive to staff and students alike.
• Living labs: Many transformations in practices of consumption, production,
investment, housing, and interacting are needed to implement the SDGs. New
practices can be fostered, tested and shared across campuses as evidenced by
the many campus experiences such as “living labs”.
• Innovative partnerships: The SDGs call for a balanced consideration of the inter-
ests of all actors in the ecological transition. Universities can respond to this new
demand by offering training for the jobs of the future, while supporting employers
in the transformation of the workplace.
Universities clearly have compelling reasons and a unique opportunity to lead the
education for the SDGs. This guide addresses some of these opportunities, allow-
ing readers from different contexts and in different positions within the university
to choose a path that makes the most sense to them, considering the available
resources.
However, putting ESDGs into practice can have many challenges. As will be shown in
Chapter 2, which considers in greater detail what ESDGs is and what implementing
it could look like in a university, many aspects of ESDGs do not represent or fit well
within universities’ “business as usual” learning and teaching structures. Chapter 3
aims to provide universities with practical guidance on implementation, including over-
coming some of these challenges within existing structures. Further to this, Chapter 4
proposes some ideas on how universities can think through a deeper transformation
to become societal leaders on this topic.
1. Education for the SDGs: A Critical Mission for Universities
9Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
2. UNPACKING EDUCATION FOR THE SDGS IN
UNIVERSITIES
Education for the SDGs can take a wide range of forms within a university. The term
itself includes several distinct elements, and these can be implemented through a
range of pathways, with varying degrees of depth, to a wide range of potential learn-
ers. There is no one-size-fits all for what delivering ESDGs at universities looks like,
and each institution has to find its own way.
The aim of this chapter is to lay out the range of possibilities for delivering ESDGs at
universities, to help institutions think broadly and ambitiously about how they can
contribute, and to enable them to identify the options and pathways that best suit
their context.
In order to identify the potential options for implementing ESDGs in a university, we
start by considering different aspects of what ESDGs is and how these relate to univer-
sities. These are covered in Sections 2.1–2.4. Section 2.5 provides some general
principles on how to select from among these options, and summarizes the main
approaches for implementing ESDGs in universities. The structure of the chapter is
summarized in Figure 3.
While the chapter touches on the pedagogical aspects of ESDGs, such as what it
includes and teaching methods (particularly in Sections 2.1 and 2.2), the focus is on
how they affect institutional approaches to ESDGs. A comprehensive review of the
pedagogical aspects of ESDGs is beyond the scope of this guide, and some further
resources on these can be found in Annex C.
10Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
Figure 3: Identifying the main approaches to delivering ESDGs at universities
2. Unpacking Education for the SDGs in Universities
2.1 Elements of ESDGs
As explained previously, we define ESDGs as education that provides people, regard-
less of their chosen profession or path in life, with the skills, knowledge and mindsets
to address the challenges captured by the SDGs and to contribute to the transforma-
tions needed in society.
These challenges are characterized by complexity, uncertainty, and conflicts of values,
and contradiction. Many of these challenges have so far proven hard to address,
partially because of people’s (and institutions’) tendencies such as reductionist think-
ing, working in silos, and ignoring uncertainty. Education needs to provide individuals,
communities, and institutions the capability to understand, adapt and to respond to
these challenges [6].
3
Elements (2.1)
Knowledge, skills,
mindsets
Transformative
approaches (2.2)
Interdisciplinarity,
multi-actor,
action-based
ESDGS
Learners (2.3)
Students, staff,
professionals,
community
Avenues (2.4)
Formal,
co-curricular,
campus, community
Considerations for
implementing and
mainstreaming ESDGs (2.5)
Priorities, depth, reach
and main approaches
11Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
There are no exact definitions yet of what ESDGs includes, however it is generally
accepted that ESDGs is aligned with the more general and very well-established field
of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) [7, 8], and in many ways builds on its
approaches and methodologies. The body of knowledge and experience developed
by the ESD field should be the backbone of efforts to implement ESDGs [7].
Despite ESD being a key component of ESDGs, we deliberately chose to use the
broader and less well-defined term of ESDGs in this guide. There are two main reasons
for this: First, a number of educational approaches beyond ESD are being seen as
crucial for the SDGs, and therefore ESDGs incorporates a broader agenda of issues,
objectives and methodologies than ESD. Examples of these include Global Citizenship
Education [9, 10], Jobs for the Future [11], innovation and entrepreneurship [12], indig-
enizing and decolonizing the curriculum [13], Theory U [14], and social and emotional
learning [15]. Second, this guide aims to respond and build on the incredible increase
in engagement across the university sector with the SDGs, and this term reflects this
unique situation and opportunity.
Based on ESD [7] and these other educational approaches, there are a number of
distinct elements for what comes under ESDGs. These include:
• Cross-cutting skills and ‘key competencies’ that are relevant to the general
education of all learners in addressing the SDGs, such as (but not limited to):
systems thinking, critical thinking, self-awareness, reflection, integrated prob-
lem-solving, and anticipatory, normative, strategic and collaboration competen-
cies; creativity; entrepreneurship; curiosity and learning skills; human-centered
design thinking; social responsibility; partnership competencies; interdisciplinar-
ity skills; critical-ethical analytical skills; influencing change; behavioral insights;
cross-cultural skills; empathy; and communication.
• A basic “cross-cutting” understanding of key sustainable development issues,
relevant to learners across all disciplines and professions. This includes under-
standing of the concept of sustainable development and related concepts, such
as human rights, social justice, planetary boundaries, models of nature-soci-
ety-economy interactions and dependencies, diversity, gender equality, sustain-
ability, global citizenship, and inequality. It also includes understanding of the key
global and local sustainable development challenges, such as climate change
and inequality, and their causes, dynamics and interconnections [16].
• An understanding of the SDG framework and how it can be used to address
long-standing and intractable sustainable development challenges, including
what the SDGs and Agenda 2030 are, their purpose and importance, and their
relationship with other global commitments; the universality and relevance
of the SDGs to all countries; key SDG concepts such as “leave no one behind”,
inter-connectedness, synergies and trade-offs, and indivisibility; how the frame-
work is currently being used at different scales and by different actors; and how
the framework can be used as a tool to enhance positive impact on sustainable
development.
2. Unpacking Education for the SDGs in Universities
12Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
• Profession-specific knowledge and skills, including understanding how the
SDGs and global sustainable development challenges are relevant to a particular
profession (or discipline or subject), and specific knowledge and skills that will
help the learners advance the SDGs through this profession. Examples include
management [17], engineering [18], public policy [19], academic research [20],
health [21], teaching [22], information and communication technology [23], etc.
• Mindsets and agency: Learning the framework of the SDGs or sustainable devel-
opment does not in itself guarantee changes towards the SDGs. ESDGs must also
inspire and empower learners to want to create positive change on sustainable
development and become agents of change.
• Networks: Addressing the SDGs and complex sustainable development chal-
lenges more generally will require extensive collaboration within and across
sectors. This can be significantly facilitated through networks of peers and
experts that students could draw on as they engage in the world. Universities
can have a significant role in helping learners develop these networks, as they
are large, diverse, multi-disciplinary, and highly-connected organizations.
While this is a large and diverse list, many of the cross-cutting skills and mindsets
can be – and in fact need to be – addressed simultaneously through transformative
learning approaches, which are described in Section 2.2.
2.2 Transformative learning approaches for ESDGs
Universities cannot approach ESDGs as they would do with any other subject or
stream of study. This is because the SDGs cover a very broad range of topics, they
are interconnected, their status in the real world is constantly evolving, they are at
the frontiers of human knowledge, they are universal but need to be adapted to local
contexts, they require a whole range of cross-cutting soft skills (Section 2.1), require
cross-sectoral collaboration, and solutions vary across the world. Furthermore, the
goal of ESDGs is to empower and motivate learners to become active actors in shap-
ing a sustainable future [7].
To address these aspects of the SDGs, ESDGs activities need to employ a number of
transformative learning approaches that are not currently standard practice within
universities [24]. These are interdisciplinarity, action-based learning, and multi-actor
involvement. This section briefly explains why these approaches are important in the
ESDGs context and provides an overview of what they could look like in the context
of a university.
Part of the reason why these approaches are not commonly used in universities is
that they can be difficult to implement through the linear and often silo-based struc-
tures of most universities. Chapters 3 and 4 discuss approaches and strategies to
overcome these difficulties.
2. Unpacking Education for the SDGs in Universities
13Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
2.2.1 Interdisciplinarity
Interdisciplinary approaches are crucial for teaching the SDGs for two main reasons:
• The SDGs cover a wide range of topics that span far beyond what is usually
covered by a particular discipline or within the expertise of a particular lecturer.
Therefore, providing even a basic overview of the SDGs framework requires
utilizing expertise from other disciplines, which are typically housed in different
departments and schools of study.
• The SDGs are interconnected, so that each of the goals can be influenced by
the other goals both positively (synergies) and negatively (trade-offs). This
implies that successfully addressing a particular goal requires understanding
and simultaneously managing consequences for other goals [25]. The same
principle extends to ESDGs. Crucial relationships cut across each of the goals
and the underlying issues that govern them. This offers multiple opportunities
for universities, such as bringing together different departments and schools in
innovative arrangements that can better serve the educational needs and the
search for solutions of future societies.
Therefore, ESDGs activities, even if they focus on just one area of the SDGs, should
always attempt to meaningfully draw linkages across different fields of study to
explore interconnections with other goals and get a holistic systems-view of the
issues involved.
This could be done through, depending on the topic, guest lectures from other schools
or external experts, joint projects or activities involving interdisciplinary teams from
different faculties and programs, and other activities/courses that teach students
systems thinking and how to think of interconnections in a practical manner.
2.2.2 Action-based learning
The complexity and multi-dimensionality of solving SDG-related challenges cannot
be pursued through a lecture-based approach alone. Structuring ESDGs activities
around real-world projects or solving real-life challenges – for example in students’
lives, on campus, in the community, in local organizations, or in other contexts – can
bring many benefits, including:
• Allowing students to see first-hand how solutions for the SDGs can be imple-
mented, and the practical concerns that emerge when seeking to transform
theory into action.
• Allowing students to delve deeply into real issues around the SDGs and under-
take detailed research and analysis can enable students to deepen their analyt-
ical understanding of the SDGs.
• Creating opportunities for students to exercise not only technical or specialist
knowledge, but also ESDGs cross-cutting skills and competencies.
• Helping students see the applicability of the SDGs to their lives and their future
careers, and showing them how they can be part of the solution.
• Providing an opportunity for personal and professional development for faculty
members and others involved in supporting teaching and learning.
2. Unpacking Education for the SDGs in Universities
14Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
• Enabling multidisciplinary collaboration within the university, new research oppor-
tunities for faculty members, as well as partnerships with new institutions.
• Helping make the learning current and topical.
• Producing practical ideas and initiatives to address sustainable development
challenges on campus or in the wider community, that could be implemented by
either the university or students.

These activities can be incorporated into a range of teaching and learning activities,
including formal curriculum activities, extra-curricular activities, and student-led
activities, and can take many forms, including:
• Providing partner organizations with research, advisory services, and practical
advice to implement aspects of the SDGs through internships, action-based units,
and practice-based graduate research programs
• Multi-stakeholder research and implementation projects, such as campus and
community-based “living labs” [26, 27]
• Hackathons and entrepreneurship initiatives for students to devise and poten-
tially implement solutions to these problems
• Study trips, model UN activities, and exchanges with universities in other coun-
tries
2.2.3 Multi-actor involvement
Engaging actors who are involved in addressing sustainable development challenges
and implementing the SDGs in the “real world” has an important place in ESDGs
activities. Such actors can provide deep insights on the challenges and strategies
of putting knowledge learned in the classroom into complex real-world situations,
provide inspiration for and testament to the relevance of ESDGs outside the univer-
sity, bridge knowledge gaps in teaching resources, bring issues to life, and make the
offerings more current and topical. Engaging these actors can also allow universities
to increase their internal and external networks, reach and impact.
These actors can be leaders and experts from government, civil society, or the private
sector; community members; or experts from other units within the university, such
as those focusing on university sustainability, social inclusion, entrepreneurship, and
industry relations.
They can be involved in a range of ways, such as:
• Providing expertise, advice or case studies on the development of learning materi-
als; as guest teachers; or as interviewees in classroom settings, online resources,
or student projects
• Providing project ideas, mentorship, feedback or judging student projects
• Providing internship opportunities
• As project partners or team members in living labs or other multi-stakeholder
collaborative research/implementation projects
2. Unpacking Education for the SDGs in Universities
15Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
Case studies: Transformative learning
• Developing coursework and supplementary activities (University of Pennsylvania)
• Honey Bee Initiative (George Mason University)
• Introducing the Sustainability Bootcamp and the SDGs (Western Sydney Univer-
sity)
• Leveraging local knowledge through global practice (Harvard University)
• Making the makers and innovators for the SDGs (University of Geneva & Tsing-
hua University)
• Positive Energy Fund (Millersville University)
• SDG Impact Assessment Tool (Chalmers University of Technology)
• SDGs in practice: Innovation and social impact (Thiagarajar College of Engineer-
ing)
• Smart Campus Newton (Centro Universitário Newton Paiva)
• Sustainable solutions: Students localize the SDGs in Philadelphia (University of
Pennsylvania)
• “Your move” - The gamification of the SDGs (Dublin City University)
2. Unpacking Education for the SDGs in Universities
2.3 Learners
The elements of ESDGs described in Section 2.1 have relevance to all people, because
every person is affected to some extent by some or all of the challenges of the SDGs,
and therefore every person – either as a professional or a citizen – can contribute
to addressing them. In fact, SDG 4.7 calls for all learners to gain the knowledge and
skills to promote sustainable development.
This section aims to map out the range of “learners” that universities can reach so as
to help universities think broadly and creatively about how they can maximize their
contributions to this area.
As complex and often large institutions with multiple functions and extensive links
to the local, national and global community, universities have access to a wide range
of potential “learners”. These include:
• “Traditional” students enrolled in undergraduate, graduate or research degree
programs, who are the most obvious, and most significant, group of learners for
universities. Students also have an important role in helping implement ESDGs
in the university.
• University staff, including faculty, professional staff and senior leadership. Under-
standing ESDGs is relevant for them as they all have an important role in imple-
menting ESDGs in the university, as well as a role in promoting sustainable devel-
opment more broadly in their personal and professional capacities.
16Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
• Students and participants in non-degree programs offered by the university,
such as executive education or summer schools. These can be professionals
from other sectors, including government, the private sector, and civil society.
They can also be academics and students from other universities, including from
developing countries, which are particularly highlighted in the SDGs.
• Partners in collaborative university projects from other sectors, such as govern-
ment, the private sector, civil society and the community.
• The community at large, including the university’s local community and other
communities it is connected to through academic and university networks or
industry partnerships.
2. Unpacking Education for the SDGs in Universities
Case studies: The community at large
• EduKid-CE: Inspiring young generations with circular economy (United Nations
University & Cairo University)
• Enabling communities to use SDGs as a reference frame for local development
(University of Applied Sciences St. Gallen)
• ODSesiones (University of Murcia)
• SDGs Ambassador Program (Universität Hamburg)
2.4 Avenues for implementing ESDGs
While the range of learners described in Section 2.3 is large, the range of avenues
through which they can be reached is also large. Given the breadth and cross-cut-
ting nature of the knowledge, skills and mindsets associated with ESDGs, elements
of ESDGs can be a natural fit for and add value to most formal and informal learning
and teaching activities in universities.
Table 1 summarizes the main avenues for reaching the different groups of learners
described in the previous section.
There are two main options for implementing ESDGs through these avenues [28]:
1. To develop new subjects, programs or initiatives that focus specifically on
the SDGs and the knowledge, skills, and mindsets needed to implement them.
This option is useful for providing a broader or fundamental understanding
of sustainable development across all the SDGs, and for interdisciplinary or
cross-university settings.
2. To integrate relevant elements of ESDGs into the existing curriculum and other
activities. This option helps reduce timetabling pressure, and is also useful for
profession-specific contexts and to demonstrate and reinforce the relevance
of the SDGs across most areas of study.
17Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
Table 1: Potential ESDGs learners for universities, and potential avenues for reaching them.
2. Unpacking Education for the SDGs in Universities
Learners Avenues
“Traditional” students • Through the curriculum, including lecture material, assignments, class
activities, class projects, study trips, etc.
• Foundation courses or Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)
• Co-curricular and student engagement activities
• Clubs and societies and student-led activities
• Welcome and orientation activities
• Volunteering programs
• Living lab initiatives on or off campus
• Graduate research student training
• Scholarships, internships, and exchange programs
• Hackathons and entrepreneurship initiatives
• University website and student-oriented communications
• Unit/course/program handbook/catalogue
• Learning & teaching support services, such as libraries
• Signage on campus facilities
University staff • New staff orientation
• Professional development
• Sustainability programs for staff
• University website and staff-oriented communications
• Signage on campus facilities
• Staff engagement activities on the SDGs
Students and
participants in non-
degree programs
• Executive education, professional development, adult education
• Vocational training
• Adult education
• Language proficiency courses
• Bridging courses
• Summer schools
• MOOCs
The community at large • Public events and community outreach and engagement activities
• Performances and exhibitions
• High-school extension programs
• Living labs initiatives outside campus
• Seminars, conferences
• MOOCs
18Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
2.5 Considerations for implementing and mainstreaming ESDGs at universities
Sections 2.1 to 2.4 identified a range of elements – knowledge, skills and mindsets
– that are included in ESDGs, and a wide range of potential learners and avenues
through which they can be conveyed. While universities should aim to mainstream
ESDGs, there is no one avenue that would fulfil this task on its own, so universities will
need to look to implement a combination of approaches. The aim of this following
section is to identify some of the common and effective approaches for implementing
ESDGs (or aspects of it), and provide universities with a general framework to strate-
gically assess and identify the combination that is most suitable for their own context.
2.5.1 Common approaches to implementing ESDGs
Universities have been experimenting with a wide range of approaches to implement
ESDGs. Below are examples of some of the most common approaches, but this is
not an exhaustive list. While they aim mostly at “traditional” students, many of them
can be used to engage with other types of learners.
• Awareness raising: Awareness raising activities, such as social media campaigns,
signage, articles in staff or student publications, public events, and so on, can be
a relatively simple way to provide staff and students with basic information on
the SDGs, and help reinforce a university’s commitment to the SDGs.
• Interdisciplinary introductory units: At a more detailed level, cross-university
interdisciplinary short courses or units can provide a broad overview of sustain-
able development and SDGs in an interdisciplinary setting to any student (or staff)
at the university. These can range from short informal and voluntary courses, for
example as part of student or staff welcome activities, to semester-long for-credit
units. The courses can be online [29], blended, in person or through an interactive
website. To support the mainstreaming of ESDGs, courses should be compulsory
to all incoming students, or something they are highly-encouraged to take – such
as a core optional unit, or a prerequisite for students or staff seeking to apply for
leadership programs and so on.
• Discipline-specific units and programs focused on the SDGs: Special units, or
event whole degree programs, can focus on how students can advance the SDGs
through their chosen discipline or profession. They can include introductory or
core units, electives, project-based units, program streams, and whole degrees
programs.
• Integration into the existing discipline curriculum: Core ESDGs concepts, princi-
ples and examples can be integrated into the curriculum across the most appro-
priate disciplines and units. Including ESDGs does not necessarily mean adding
more topics to the course syllabus, rather ESDGs can be integrated by orienting
elements of the curriculum to the SDGs - for example, by using cases and applied
problems that relate to the SDGs, class assignments that encourage reflection
on the SDGs, and so on. ESDGs fundamentals, as relevant to a discipline, can
also be included into core foundation units for that discipline. To support this
integration process, ESDGs concepts should be incorporated into graduate attri-
butes and learning outcomes.
2. Unpacking Education for the SDGs in Universities
19Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
• SDG-focused project-based units: This involves embedding sustainability and
SDGs into general project units, capstone projects, or work placements. Through-
out the process, students must embed sustainability criteria or references to
some specific SDGs, and reflect on the project purpose, impact and affected
stakeholders. They must also consciously minimize the negative consequences
and effects of their projects and encourage positive ones.
• SDG-focused co-curricular activities: Co-curricular activities, such as entrepre-
neurship challenges, campus improvement projects, living labs, and the like, are
particularly important for providing students with opportunities to develop the
skills and mindsets of ESDGs, because they allow a degree of design innovation
that can be difficult to implement in the formal curriculum.
• SDG-focused leadership programs: Such co-curricular programs focus on devel-
oping students’ change-agent and leadership skills for sustainable development,
within a disciplinary setting or for a cohort from across the university.
• Student-led activities: Students across the world, through programs like SDSN
Youths’ SDG Student Program or through their own initiative, have been initiating,
designing, and leading activities to engage their fellow students (and university
staff) with the SDGs. As activities by students for students – which often capture
and harness students’ entrepreneurial behavior, creativity, idealism, passion, and
desire to make a difference – such activities can be particularly engaging for
students. Universities can support and encourage these activities, for example
by providing guidance, mentorship, subject expertise, training, funding, space for
events, access to potential partners, and so on [30, 31].
• MOOCs and other online content: Universities can use MOOCs and other
web-based content to reach many learners, including beyond the university.
Conversely, universities can use online content developed by others (such as
the SDG Academy) to fill gaps in ESDGs for which there is no in-house expertise,
provided the content is used imaginatively and carefully, and backed by resources
for faculty members to respond to student needs.
• Sustainable development degrees: Undergraduate, Masters and Doctoral
degrees focused on developing expertise in sustainable development and across
all the SDGs aim to develop experts in solving sustainable development chal-
lenges, in bringing different stakeholders together to solve these problems, and
in influencing organizational and societal change.
2. Unpacking Education for the SDGs in Universities
20Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
Case studies: Common approaches
Awareness raising
• Communication campaign on the SDGs: “Set your SDGoals! YOU are part of the
chain towards sustainability!” (Universitat Politècnica de València)
• SDGs at the Theater (University of Brescia)
Co-curricular programs
• Leave No One Behind (Monash University)
• Positive Action: Incorporating SDGs in social service community projects
(Tecmilenio)
• SDGs Mobility and Global Citizenship Awareness Program (Universidad
Autónoma de Madrid)
• Sustainability Challenge (University of Economics and Business, Vienna)
Disciplinary curriculum
• Calling future educators to action through the SDGs (Arizona State University)
• Connect the dots! Bring SDGs into the classroom through active learning and
industry participation (Monash University Malaysia)
• Embedding SDGs content in existing courses (Monash University Malaysia)
• National SDGs: Budgets, audit and accountability (Universidad Pública de
Navarra)
• Re-imagining the purpose of business: Embedding SDG 1: No Poverty (The Univer-
sity of Sydney)
• SDG Explorer - A new course on sustainability using SDGs as a guide (Business
School Lausanne)
• The right to health in the global world (Universidad de Cantabria)
2. Unpacking Education for the SDGs in Universities
21Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
Interdisciplinary curriculum
• Embracing interdisciplinarity: The SDGs as a route to cross-disciplinary dialogue
in the classroom (University of Bristol)
• Integration of the SDGs in a cross-faculty interdisciplinary Masters course
(Monash University)
• Interdisciplinary learning for intersectional goals (James Cook University)
• SDG Index as a tool to learn about sustainable development (Tyumen State
University)
• Seminar: Sustainability at the university - actions for the 17 SDGs (University of
Applied Sciences Düsseldorf)
• Sustainability: Criteria and decision-making course (King Juan Carlos University)
• Sustainable Sainji: Experiencing the SDGs first-hand (Anglia Ruskin University)
• Sustainable solutions to Los Angeles’ wicked problems: Using human rights to
implement the SDGs in LA (University of Southern California)
• Value Creators, transformative learning and transdisciplinary approach to SDGs
(Windesheim Honours College)
Online content
• Adapting SDG Academy Course to the Institutional Learning Curriculum (Kepler)
• Democratizing knowledge - MITx MicroMasters programs (Massachusetts Insti-
tute of Technology)
• Whakawhitinga Kōrero: Interdisciplinary education on the SDGs through place-
based video production (Victoria University of Wellington)
2. Unpacking Education for the SDGs in Universities
22Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
2.5.2 Framework for assessing ESDGs implementation options
The potential avenues identified in Section 2.4 are not all equal in terms of their suit-
ability and effectiveness for ESDGs. Table 2 identifies some principles to help univer-
sities compare and prioritize different options.
Table 2: Principles for helping universities compare and prioritize different options for implementing
ESDGs.
2. Unpacking Education for the SDGs in Universities
Priority For the groups of learners identified in Section 2.3, universities should prioritize the
comprehensive implementation of ESDGs for the groups they have the greatest access
and educational responsibility for. These, in order, are the “traditional” students, university
staff, students and participants in non-degree programs, partners in collaborative
projects, and the community. Universities should still aim to reach these other groups,
when opportunities arise.
Suitability Different pedagogical methods and avenues may be more suitable for implementing
some of the elements of ESDGs (Section 2.1) than others. In particular, it might be useful
to distinguish between:
• General knowledge, which covers a basic “cross-cutting” understanding of key
sustainable development issues and the SDGs. This type of “sustainability literacy”
can be incorporated in a wide range of cross-university or specialized avenues, from
campus signage to lectures and co-curricular activities.
• Profession-specific knowledge, which is most suited to discipline-specific contexts
(whether through formal teaching, co-curricular or student-led activities).
• Transformative learning approaches (Section 2.2), which are needed to help learners
develop cross-cutting ESDGs skills, competencies, mindsets and networks. As
discussed in Section 2.2, these are best delivered through hands-on interdisciplinary,
multi-actor project-based activities – such as course-related projects, co-curricular
activities, placements, living labs, etc. – rather than as classroom lecture material.
Depth The avenues described in Section 2.4 are not equal in terms of the level of knowledge,
skills and mindsets that they can help learners develop – for example between a campus
awareness campaign and a degree specializing in sustainable development.
Low-depth activities can still be useful, as they are often less intensive to implement, can
reach more students, and can help reinforce the importance the university places on
sustainable development and the SDGs. However, on their own they are not sufficient to
develop “SDG implementers”.
Very high-depth activities, such as sustainable development degrees, can help develop
specialists who can facilitate others to focus on sustainable development. However, by
their nature, these activities are only suitable for a relatively small number of students.
Reach The avenues are also not equal in terms of how many learners they can potentially reach.
Reach is often inversely proportional to depth, particularly for transformational learning
activities, a challenge for mainstreaming this aspect of ESDGs.
23Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
Table 3 provides an indicative assessment of how the common approaches to ESDGs
discussed earlier in Section 2.5 perform against each of these principles.
This assessment highlights some key points, with important implications for how
ESDGs could be mainstreamed at universities:
• There is no single approach that reaches all the learners and provides all
the elements of ESDGs to them. Each approach has different strengths and
weaknesses. Therefore, universities will need to implement a combination of
approaches.
• The approach that covers most (but not all) bases in terms of reach and elements
of ESDGs is the integration of ESDGs into the existing disciplinary curriculum
across all relevant disciplines.
• Transformative learning approaches have the strongest relationship between
reach and depth, in that these activities work better with a limited number of
students. Therefore, to increase the number of learners who can participate in
these programs, universities should either help increase the number of these
programs that are offered at the university, or develop innovative programs that
can deliver the same results at scale.
Ultimately, the best way to approach mainstreaming ESDGs is through a universi-
ty-wide strategic approach, which is the subject of the next chapter.
2. Unpacking Education for the SDGs in Universities
24Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
Table 3: An indicative assessment of potential reach and depth of different types of common
approaches to implementing ESDGs at universities. Lots of caveats, because it all depends on how
they are designed and delivered…
Approach
Potential reach
(in one “instance”
of the approach)
Potential depth
General
knowledge
Profession-specific
knowledge
Transformative
learning
Awareness raising High Medium Low Low
Interdisciplinary
introductory units
Low/Medium
(unless
compulsory)
High Low Medium/High
Integration into the
existing discipline
curriculum
High High High Low
SDG-focused project-
based units
Low Medium High Medium
SDG-focused co-
curricular activities
Low Medium Low/Medium High
Student-led activities Low/Medium Medium Low High
MOOCs Very high High High Low
SDG-focused
leadership programs
Low High Low/Medium Very high
Sustainable
development degrees
Low Very high High Very high
25Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
3. EXPANDING AND DEEPENING IMPLEMENTATION
OF ESDGS IN UNIVERSITIES
There are many ways in which universities can implement ESDGs, as shown in Chapter
2, and many universities or areas within universities already do some of these things
for some of their learners. However, as outlined in Chapter 1, for society to success-
fully address the SDGs, there is a significant need, and opportunity, for universities
to maximize the breadth and depth of their ESDGs offerings across as many learners
as they can within their sphere of influence.
This is not an easy task. Expanding ESDGs requires universities to add new activities
or modify their existing activities at a university-wide scale. While there are many
approaches for doing this, as outlined in Chapter 2, there is no single approach that
reaches all the learners and provides all the elements of ESDGs to them, and there-
fore each university will need to identify the combination of approaches and the
pathway that best suits its own context. Furthermore, incorporating some of the key
ingredients that are needed – namely action-oriented learning, interdisciplinarity, and
multi-actor collaboration – can be challenging, because they represent a significant
shift from how the teaching and learning domain is currently organized and delivered.
This chapter aims to help universities expand and deepen their implementation of
ESDGs by suggesting a strategic step-by-step process they could follow (Section
3.1), based on the five steps identified in Getting Started with the SDGs in Universities
[1]. In addition, it identifies some of the common barriers and challenges universities
are likely to come across, and some potential solutions (Section 3.2); and outlines
how different stakeholders, both within and outside the university, can support the
process (Section 3.3).
The five-step process suggested in this chapter builds on the traditional ways univer-
sities currently operate. However, there is a growing discussion that this approach will
not get us as far as we need to go or as quickly as we need to get there. Instead, what
is needed is a transformation in how universities operate [14]. Chapter 4 discusses
what this transformation could look like, why it is needed, and suggests a pathway
for reaching it that can happen (and needs to happen) in parallel with the more tradi-
tional approach described in this chapter.
26Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
3.1 Steps for implementing ESDGs
Getting Started with the SDGs in Universities [1] identified three levels for university
engagement with the SDGs – recognition, opportunistic alignment and organizing
principle. Adapted to the context of ESDGs, these are:
• Recognition: Identifying and acknowledging what the university is already doing
in the ESDGs space.
• Opportunistic alignment: Different areas across the university recognize the
usefulness and importance of ESDGs and find opportunities to implement
aspects of it within discrete activities and programs, without an overall univer-
sity strategy.
• Organizing principle: The university as a whole makes a commitment to making
ESDGs part of ‘business-as-usual’ for the university, and integrates this commit-
ment into all relevant university governance structures and frameworks, under-
takes a strategic process to identify how to maximize its contribution to ESDGs,
and provide sufficient resources and support to operationalize this strategy.
With these levels in mind, Getting Started suggested the five-step process for deep-
ening engagement with the SDGs, which is depicted in Figure 4. These five steps can
also be applied specifically to the implementation of ESDGs, as described below.
Figure 4: Overview of the step-by-step process to deepen and expand implemen-
tation of ESDGs (Adapted from [1]).
3. Expanding and Deepening Implementation of ESDGs in Universities
4
RECOGNITION
OPPORTUNITIES
ORGANIZING PRINCIPLE
1. Map what you are already doing
2. Build capacity and ownership of the SDGs
3. Identify priorities, opportunities and gaps
4. Integrate, implement and embed the SDGs
5. Monitor, evaluate and communicate
27Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
Step 1: Map what you are already doing
Identifying what the university is already doing on ESDGs is very important, as this
will help the university understand its starting point in the ESDGs process, identify
gaps that need to be filled, assess potential pathways for moving forward, and iden-
tify resources and expertise that can support the process. An understanding of what
is already being done and how different initiatives complement each other will also
help to efficiently build on what is already in place and increase impact.
For example, universities can undertake an ESDGs audit to identify:
• What is already being done: Who is working on it (units, professors, departments,
research groups, educational innovation groups, student groups, etc.), and results
(skills, contents, key competencies, learning objectives, graduate attributes, etc.).
• What elements of ESDGs (General knowledge, Profession-specific knowledge,
Transformative learning) are already being undertaken within formal and infor-
mal learning and teaching activities, and who/how many learners they already
reach (Section 2.5).
• Key resources and experts on specific SDGs, on ESD/ESDGs, on transformative
learning approaches, etc. that already exist in the university and can be drawn on.
• SDG champions and allies among students, staff, clubs and societies. Liaise with
them to see how to amplify the impact of their work.
• The level of sustainability literacy (e.g., with Sulitest [16]) and awareness (e.g.,
with surveys [32-34]) among students and staff as a baseline and to track prog-
ress on implementing ESDGs.
The audit will provide input into the next steps of the process.
Step 2: Build capacity and ownership for ESDGs
Successfully expanding and deepening ESDGs in a university requires support,
collaboration and involvement from a wide range of internal and external university
stakeholders (see Section 3.3.). These include obvious groups, such university and
faculty/school leaders, who are needed to provide high-level institutional support and
mandate on ESDGs; and teaching and curriculum development staff across most
faculties/schools, who will need to identify opportunities for implementing ESDGs in
the curriculum and put it into practice. But it also includes other stakeholders, such
as students and student engagement areas of the university, who can help in devel-
oping, delivering, and championing ESDGs.
Building ownership for a complex agenda such as ESDGs can be challenging, often
because awareness and/or capacity to take action are low. Section 3.2 discusses
these personal barriers to action, and identifies a number of potential ways to over-
come them.
3. Expanding and Deepening Implementation of ESDGs in Universities
28Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
Step 3: Identify priorities, opportunities and gaps
The mapping done in Step 1 can be the basis for each university to identify the main
gaps between its current situation and what it wishes to aim for (for example, in terms
of offering comprehensive ESDGs or related to the way the organization performs
according to organizational frameworks such as the one presented in Laloux [35]).
Involving a range of university stakeholders in this discussion can be a useful way to
build capacity and ownership, as well as develop a more robust outcome.
Pointing out the gap between what is mapped and what should be done according to
the SDGs. The gap could be related either to contents and skills that are relevant for
ESDGs or the organizational aspects of the university to promote SDG implementation.
Step 4: Integrate, implement and embed the SDGs
Once a university knows its starting point and where it wants to get to with ESDGs,
the next step is to establish a roadmap to improve the organization (including prior-
ities, strategies and sequencing) and implement it using tools for change (such as
ideating, testing/piloting, and upscaling).
There are many pathways universities can take to implement ESDGs, depending on
university characteristics, starting point, strengths, weaknesses, and priorities. A clear
roadmap that can be adapted to institutional needs or traditional activities may be a
good way to spread awareness of the SDGs and encourage working towards them
in a multi-actor manner.
Below are examples of activities that universities could consider when developing
their roadmap towards implementation of ESDGs. Each institution will decide which
are more relevant for them, their priorities, and the way to effectively implement them.
• Addressing barriers and challenges: As described in Chapter 2, expanding and
deepening ESDGs in universities requires them to do new things in new ways –
that often don’t fit well within the way universities function – and to do this at
scale. Therefore, universities are likely to come up against a range of personal,
organizational and external barriers and challenges that will hinder implemen-
tation of their ESDGs roadmap. Some of these barriers will be easy to anticipate,
others will become apparent while implementing the roadmap. In both cases,
the institution needs to be ready to acknowledge them and adapt. Sometimes,
this may require additional funds or innovation resources, a change in internal
procedures, review of incentives for individuals to become actors of change or
even awareness-raising initiatives to increase understanding and acceptance
towards ESDGs. Section 3.2 describes some of the most common barriers and
challenges to implementing ESDGs at universities, and provides some potential
approaches to addressing them.
• Whole of institution approaches: A university can use the SDGs to define a holistic
vision of the institution, permeating all operations, including research, operations
and leadership. Moreover, the SDGs can be an institutional commitment reflected
in campus governance. In this sense, the creation of specific structures provides
a greater visibility to institutional efforts and facilitates the attraction of resources.
3. Expanding and Deepening Implementation of ESDGs in Universities
29Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
• University commitment: Making a public commitment or pledge to the SDGs
at the highest institutional levels can help set the stage and provide an impetus
for more comprehensive strategic processes and support across the organiza-
tion. It is also a way to show internal and external stakeholders the importance
of the sector in working towards addressing the SDGs. There is no official way
for universities to “sign up” to the SDGs. Universities can choose to develop their
own or sign one of a range of informal commitments that have been initiated
over the past few years (see Annex C.6).
• Iconic strategic measures: Deploying iconic strategic measures can raise the
profile of ESDGs within the university, and help attract new allies and champions.
Step 5: Monitor, evaluate and communicate
Reporting on progress in implementing the ESDGs-related actions identified in Chap-
ter 2 and previous sections of this chapter is an important part of tracking progress
and supporting accountability in implementation, evaluating the effectiveness of the
measures implemented, as well offering an opportunity to demonstrate and show-
case the impact of the university and its wider role in society.
There is no globally agreed standard for how universities should measure and report
on their progress in implementing SDG 4.7 and ESDGs more generally. This is because
ESDGs has a wide range of different interpretations, as discussed in Section 2.1, and
many aspects of it can be difficult to measure – or at least measure at the scale.
Over the last couple of years, a number of SDG-aligned reporting frameworks, many
created specifically for the higher education sector, have attempted to develop
useful measures for progress in ESDGs. A list of those can be found in Annex C.5.
The ESDGs-related measures in these frameworks use different methodologies and
measure different aspects of ESDGs. They each have different strengths and disad-
vantages. Most attempt to measure the extent that ESDGs is being implemented,
rather than the learning outcomes. Universities might find it useful to review the
different frameworks to find or adapt an approach that suits their context and their
strategy for ESDGs implementation.
3. Expanding and Deepening Implementation of ESDGs in Universities
30Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
Case studies: Enabling ESDG implementation
• Case studies to integrate and promote global issues in STEM education (Univer-
sitat Politècnica de Catalunya)
• Education for sustainability: Initiatives from the Network of Universities for
Sustainable Development (RUS) (Politecnico di Torino / RUS)
• Improving university governance by accelerating progress towards the SDGs
(Politecnico di Torino)
• Infusing Education for Sustainable Development into curricula: Efforts of the
School of Education (The University of the West Indies)
• Introducing the SDG on the educators training plan: Short course on how to intro-
duce SDGs in lectures (Universidad de Cantabria)
• One SDG at month, Sustainability Antennas project (Universidad Politécnica de
Madrid)
• SDG Lab Campus UAM (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid)
• The formation of the university community as a first step for the contribution to
the SDGs (Universitat Politècnica de València)
• University-wide SDGs Project (RMIT University)
3. Expanding and Deepening Implementation of ESDGs in Universities
3.2 Common barriers and challenges, and potential solutions 
This section identifies some of the common barriers and challenges that universi-
ties may face trying to implement the ideas presented in this guide. Identifying these
is important in order to find ways to address them and eventually make necessary
structural changes to transition into an environment where the SDGs can become
the principal framework of action.
Most of these barriers and challenges arise because sustainable development and
the SDGs are a complex agenda that is not broadly familiar or understood, even within
universities, and that ESDGs requires universities and individuals to do new things
in new ways.
We find it useful to classify these barriers and challenges according to three main
types: personal, organizational and external. According to these categories, we
discuss some common barriers and challenges below. For each, we also suggest
some potential solutions or ways of addressing them – noting that these are often
very context dependent.
31Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
3.2.1 Personal barriers
As discussed in Section 3.1 (Step 2), expanding and deepening ESDGs at the university
requires the support and cooperation of a wide range of individuals, including insti-
tutional leadership, learning and teaching staff, and students. However, for a variety
of reasons, these stakeholders may not be interested or able to provide this support
and cooperation. These lead to two main personal barriers, which are closely linked:
• Mindsets, including resistance to change, and not seeing the benefit or relevance
of ESDGs to themselves.
• Capacity, including lack of time and funding for new endeavors; lack of knowledge
on what sustainable development is; lack of knowledge on what ESDGs consists
of and how to implement it; misunderstanding of the relevance of sustainable
development or the SDGs; lack of access to appropriate resources; lack of skills
or access to innovative teaching methods; and lack of access to appropriate
partners.
Here are some possible approaches universities can take to address these barriers:
• Articulate/showcase the benefits of implementing ESDGs, for example by:
‣ Presenting ESDGs as an opportunity to advance the goals of the institution or
school (e.g., through the benefits identified in Section 1.2), or the goals of indi-
viduals (e.g., developing important new skills and professional development,
increasing personal impact and satisfaction).
‣ Showcasing existing ESDGs activities and their outcomes within the university
(e.g., in forums, award submissions, communications).
‣ Enlisting staff and student champions.
• Provide resources and support for personal development around ESDGs, such
as:
‣ Provide access to training courses on what sustainable development is and
how to develop and run ESDGs activities.
‣ Introduce new ways to train and support staff and student leaders around how
to design ESDGs-related activities that are active, collaborative and personally
engaging, such as mentoring; interdisciplinary groups that work together to
design activities; participation in SDG-related projects, where they can share
their knowledge and experience; and peer networks or communities of practice
to share experiences (within the university or with other universities).
‣ Share or develop ESDGs teaching resources, including teaching materials and
case studies, that can be accessed by staff and students across the university.
‣ Allocate funding and time for staff (and students) to integrate or develop new
ESDGs-related activities.
‣ Reassure Faculty members that their role when teaching competences in SD is
being a guide throughout the learning process – as opposed to being required
to convey very specialized knowledge.
3. Expanding and Deepening Implementation of ESDGs in Universities
32Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
• Provide incentives for staff and students to engage in ESDGs, such as:
‣ Recognition for participating in ESDGs activities, including formally (e.g., in
promotion consideration, or awarding of degrees) or informally (such as
awards or badges)
‣ Access to funding, leadership development opportunities, and other benefits
3. Expanding and Deepening Implementation of ESDGs in Universities
3.2.2 Organizational barriers
Institutional structures, policies, and processes, and lack of leadership, capacity and
resources, can limit or slow down universities’ ability to introduce new ESDGs activ-
ities across the university. This is particularly the case because of the breadth and
interdisciplinary nature of the material, and the need to implement transformative
learning activities that require interdisciplinary settings and multi-actor partnerships.
Some of the main organizational barriers and challenges include:
• Barriers to institutional change, such as rigidity in processes (such as curricu-
lum development, timetabling, hiring), slowness in adaptation processes, lack of
consistency between levels (faculty members, decision makers, administrators),
outdated hierarchical structure, lack of innovative vision, misaligned incentives,
cultural norms, and lack of leadership (top-down and bottom-up).
• Silos that hinder collaboration across disciplines or university areas (learning &
teaching, research and operations, student clubs & societies).
• Lack of institutional capacities and resources to implement ESDGs, including
financial resources, human resources, technical capacities, and knowledge and
expertise across all areas of the SDGs.
Universities can address these barriers and challenges in a number of ways, such as
those below. However, some of these barriers can be very difficult, or very slow, to
overcome within the traditional structure of universities, and require a more transfor-
mational approach (Chapter 4).
• Set up institutional mechanisms to ensure/encourage the success of a strate-
gic process for ESDGs, such as:
‣ Ensure there is a high-level commitment by the university to undertake this work,
and that this is reflected in key strategic and planning documents.
‣ Allocate sufficient funding and human resources for carrying out the process
and for implementing its recommendations.
‣ Establish a cross-university working group to steer the process, with represen-
tation from all key areas and stakeholders within the university.
‣ Track and report on progress in implementing ESDGs to ensure accountability.
• Support cross-university, interdisciplinary collaboration on ESDGs, for example:
‣ Develop standard equitable structures for resource sharing (of both expenses
and income), timetabling, credit allocation, and assessment for ESDGs activi-
ties that involve multiple faculties or schools.
33Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
‣ Create spaces, opportunities and incentives for interdisciplinary and cross-uni-
versity engagement, such as campus-based living laboratory initiatives, both
with the specific purpose of developing ESDGs activities and with the aim of
creating a general culture and relationships that will lead to future collabora-
tions.
‣ Draw on expertise and coordination capacity of interdisciplinary sustainable
development innovation, research and education centers or institutes, as they
have expertise in both sustainability and interdisciplinary work and studies.
‣ Promote interdisciplinary ESDGs working groups as part of the University’s or
School’s overarching strategies (sustainability, educational innovation, action
research, etc.)
• Identify and draw on expertise from across the university and from outside the
university, such as:
‣ Map expertise available within the university by SDG, and make that available
to curriculum designers.
‣ Invite guest lecturers from other faculties, universities or organizations.
‣ Partner with other universities to create joint degrees or joint resources.
‣ Draw on online resources such as MOOCs or other web-based content to
supplement existing gaps.
‣ Sign the university up to national and international networks that support the
implementation of ESDGs in universities, such as SDSN and Principles for
Responsible Management Education (UN PRME).
• Set up institutional mechanisms to help develop and maintain multi-actor part-
nerships for ESDGs, such as:
‣ Provide financial support (e.g., to finance dedicated positions), technical
support (such as partnership agreement templates and access to partnership
brokers) and professional development support (for developing partnership
and cross-sector collaboration skills) to develop new partnerships and look
after existing partnerships for ESDGs activities.
‣ Help those designing ESDGs activities to access existing university partner-
ships and connections, such as those developed through industry partnerships
offices, workplace-integrated learning units, sustainability institutes, flag-
ship collaborative research initiatives, and sustainable development-related
networks of which the university is a member.
3. Expanding and Deepening Implementation of ESDGs in Universities
34Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
3.2.3 External barriers
Universities operate within a complex external context that may not be aligned with
the required changes needed to deepen or expand ESDGs, and thus hinders or discour-
ages universities from taking action. This includes:
• Institutional environment: The multi-layered set of rules and requirements to
which universities must conform in order to receive legitimacy, resources and
support can fail to encourage, or actively discourage, universities from imple-
menting ESDGs. This environment involves a diversity of official and non-offi-
cial mechanisms and actors, such specific legislation; funding and contracting
schemes; official quality assurance frameworks which require the evaluation or
accreditation of programs and institutions by external bodies; other non-official
accreditation or labelling bodies such as professional accreditation bodies or
thematic accreditations awarded by international standards organizations; and
national and international sectorial rankings. Universities are also influenced by
the institutional environment of other levels of education, such as primary and
secondary education, which determines the base level of ESDGs that students
come into the university with.
• Social, cultural, political and economic contexts can influence what agenda
universities feel they are able to pursue and invest in. While the SDGs have
been adopted by all 193 UN member nations, priorities and support for different
aspects of the agenda can vary locally or among different groups. Market forces
and the economic situation can also significantly affect what universities can do.
• Knowledge (or lack of knowledge) context: The SDGs are new, so are still lack-
ing standard methodologies and conceptualizations for teaching them. Much of
what happens now around ESDGs is experimental, may not be evaluated rigor-
ously, and the learnings are not shared widely.
3. Expanding and Deepening Implementation of ESDGs in Universities
While the external context can be difficult for universities to change, here are some
potential actions they can take:
• Advocate for changes in the institutional environment to support ESDGs, for
example:
‣ Work with policy makers, quality assurance agencies, accreditation bodies,
mass media and other regulatory and opinion bodies to make the case for
change and to design alternative policies, regulations, standards, and so on
that create an SDG-friendly institutional context.
‣ Exercise the university’s role as an involved stakeholder in policy discussions,
individually or through sector-related associations and peak bodies.
‣ Advocate for greater inclusion of core ESDGs concepts in primary and second-
ary education, to ensure that students are coming in with a higher level of
understanding.
35Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
• Evaluate and learn from ESDGs-related efforts within and outside the univer-
sity, for example by:
‣ Develop suitable measures and tools to help educators assess the quality and
impact of ESDGs activities, and ensure they have sufficient time to undertake
monitoring and evaluation.
‣ Establish mechanisms to share learnings within and outside the university,
such as forums, communities of practice, case studies, publications, confer-
ences, and so on.
‣ Encourage academic research on ESDGs and the university’s experiences with
implementing it.
‣ Enlist ESD/ESDGs educators to help keep track of, and share key lessons from,
the growing academic and case study literature on ESDGs.
3.3 Stakeholders
While we often refer to “the university” in the previous sections as the main agent in
implementing ESDGs, universities are made up of many different stakeholders. Each
of these stakeholders can contribute in different ways, and the engagement of all of
them is crucial to ensure that ESDGs is implemented at the scale and pace needed
to spread the SDGs across the society.
This section, in Table 4, identifies some of the key groups of stakeholders and what
they can do to contribute to accelerating ESDGs in universities. It aims to highlight a
number of key points:
• Pretty much anyone within the university (and many external stakeholders) can
contribute to implementing ESDGs in the university in one way or another.
• Many stakeholders can take actions to implement ESDGs within their sphere of
influence, without waiting for a university-wide mandate.
• Stakeholder groups without direct control of decision making at the university
or faculty/school level can still have a significant influence by championing and
pressuring the university to act.
• The potential impact from stakeholders goes far beyond the university walls.
3. Expanding and Deepening Implementation of ESDGs in Universities
36Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
Table 4: How different university stakeholders can contribute to accelerating education for the SDGs
in universities.
3. Expanding and Deepening Implementation of ESDGs in Universities
Stakeholders How they can contribute to accelerating ESDGs in universities
University leadership • Make a university-level commitment to delivering ESDGs to all learners
within the university
• Mandate and resource a strategic process to develop a university-wide
approach to ESDGs and to implement it
• Recognize and promote what the university is already doing in
the ESDGs space, including acknowledging staff and student SDG
champions
• Create incentives for all stakeholders to act
• Measure how the university is progressing on delivering ESDGs
Learning & teaching
leadership and support
services for the university as
a whole and at the faculty/
school level
• Provide training, resources and incentives to support teaching staff to
implement ESDGs
• Include SDG skills as required competences for graduation
• Break down silos between departments, fostering and incentivizing
multi-disciplinary collaboration
Teaching staff, including
lecturers, unit/program
coordinators, curriculum
developers, and so on
• Include SDG areas, concepts, cases, and skills in syllabi
• Use active learning methodologies (like Project Based Learning)
• Incorporate external professionals to courses (as guest lecturers,
mentors, training hosts, etc.)
• Connect and reinforce research to solve global challenges with teaching
• Incorporate interdisciplinary challenges to courses
ESD experts • Support/mentor others in the university to understand sustainable
development and the latest pedagogical thinking on how to integrate it
into learning and teaching activities
• Help facilitate/support faculties/schools to a strategic approach to
integrating ESDGs
• Help monitor and evaluate the success of ESDGs-related activities in
the university, and draw and share the learnings from them
Cross-university
sustainability/sustainable
development centers
• Help build internal capacity and support in the university on the SDGs
and the need for the SDGs
• Help the university run strategic planning to expand ESDGs
• Provide coordination (and if needed, hosting) to interdisciplinary and
cross-university ESDGs activities
• Provide opportunities for students to get involved in real-world, multi-
actor interdisciplinary projects run by the center
• Help other areas of the university access external stakeholders and
partners to strengthen ESDGs activities
• Showcase alternative governance systems
• Prototype, experiment with different processes, methodologies and
projects to massively implement the SDGs in close collaboration with
local stakeholders (locally rooted, but globally connected)
37Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
Student support services,
university operations,
student engagement units
• Map co-curricular, student-led, and other university activities relating to
ESDGs that are available to students, and make this information readily
available to students
• Integrate elements of ESDGs into existing co-curricular initiatives, and
develop new activities that help students develop ESDGs knowledge,
skills and mindsets
• Develop an SDG-related experience roadmap for every student during
his/her stay in campus
Students • Make access to ESDGs a criterion in how you select where to study
• Advocate to your university or faculty/school leadership, course
coordinators and lecturers to incorporate ESDGs
• Take every opportunity to join co-curricular activities that provide you
with elements of ESDGs
• Integrate and promote ESDGs into the activities of existing clubs and
societies
• Organize activities to educate your fellow students on the SDGs
Governments and policy
makers
• Promote the use of campuses as living labs, test beds and sandboxes
for public policies
• Create appropriate incentives to foster transdisciplinary research and
teaching attached to the SDG challenges
• Encourage collaboration between universities
• Develop spaces for radical collaborations between universities, multi-
scale governments, private companies and civil society
University networks and
associations
• Provide opportunities for mutual sharing and learning about the
practicalities of implementing ESDGs among universities by organizing
symposia, webinars, case study collections, guidance documents,
communities of practice, etc.
• Showcase the role of universities in delivering ESDGs to governments,
multilateral agencies and other external stakeholders, and advocate for
greater support for universities to be able to deliver on this role
• Develop shared resources that could be used by any university
Professional associations,
educational quality
assurance organizations,
and university reporting
schemes
• Incorporate ESDGs-related criteria into graduate attributes and
standards
• Incorporate meaningful ESDGs-related measures into assessment,
reporting and ranking schemes 
• Advocate to universities the importance of implementing ESDGs, and
help universities integrate these into their curricula
Industry, government and
civil society partners
• Collaborate in research and teaching
• Create/expand opportunities for students to undertake projects or work
placements with your organization
• Work with universities to develop doctorates focused on advancing the
implementation of the SDGs in your organization
Donors • Link donations to impact on SDGs and keep universities accountable for
that
• Demand SDG-oriented investments for endowments
3. Expanding and Deepening Implementation of ESDGs in Universities
38Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
4. TOWARDS UNIVERSITY TRANSFORMATIONS FOR
ESDGS
In the previous chapters we have shown how universities can start integrating
elements of ESDGs into traditional organizational structures and processes (incre-
mental approach). Many universities are already taking this approach, as shown by the
case studies in Chapter 2. This approach is widely used, because it is relatively easy
to get started. In this sense, Chapter 3 provides a classical change theory process
for how universities can get started on this approach.
However, the scale of the change that needs to take place is enormous. The SDGs
require deep and radical transformations in each country and a Copernican turn in
the way we approach every one of our activities. Even more, incremental approaches
are not enough to tackle the urgent and complex challenges associated with the
SDGs and real transformation of universities. Classical approaches will not be fast
or deep enough. In that sense, Waddell [36] considers that the systemic transforma-
tional changes needed will require new ways of working beyond simple incremental-
ism. Such systemic transformational changes are also needed in how universities
operate [14]. For this reason, we are devoting this last chapter to showing what this
transformation could look like.
As discussed throughout this guide, universities and higher education institutions can
play a critical role in developing new systemic and transformative solutions through
multi-stakeholder collaboration. They could offer “new platforms and new capacities
that upgrade our mental and social operating system” [14]. However, to play this role,
they will need to embrace transformation of varying scales and depths.
In some cases, universities are century old institutions, that have developed sophis-
ticated systems to deliver high quality education and research while remaining inde-
pendent from political and economic changes. These characteristics often go hand
in hand with structural constraints to rapid change. However, the SDGs can offer a
framework to trigger this change.
Many higher education institutions are already embracing the SDGs as a source of
transformation and re-invention. But is the sector, as a whole, acting fast enough and
are the changes sufficiently deep, given the pace and scale of change and the time-
line signaled by the SDGs?
39Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
4.1 A “Second operating system” approach to university transformations
Since universities need to continue to deliver their essential mission, implementing
organizational reform at scale must not come at the expense of a delay or halt to their
day-to-day activities. Universities need to ensure continuity in the effective manage-
ment of quality and risks throughout the transformational period.
For this reason, one approach could be to develop a kind of “second operating system.”
This second operating system would be focused solely on designing the appropriate
transformation that could complement the existing governance system of the univer-
sity. While the traditional hierarchy of the university ensures continuity, the second
operating system can work as “an agile, network-like structure and a very different
set of processes” [37] that “complements, rather than overburdens the traditional
hierarchy.” This way, the “traditional hierarchy”, or the existing governing system of
the university, can continue leading the daily functions of the university but it will do
so in close liaison with the second operating system that would, in the meantime, be
charged with thinking through and devising mechanisms to implement the neces-
sary transformation.
The main features of this second operating system, including some references for
further information, are as follows:
• a community convened around shared purpose [38];
• minimum viable size: number of people, structure, objectives;
• new functions at the center of the organization: integration; caring; facilitation;
deep listening and conversation; curiosity, compassion, and courage [14];
• a “holding environment” to foster critical daily practices (hard conversations,
accountability, information flow, etc.) [39];
• promotion of self-management, wholeness, and evolutionary purpose [35];
• new governance and organization (from centralized to ecosystem) [14];
• development of demonstrative/inspirational projects;
• diverse and legitimated members; and
• quick wins.
The second operating system must, in itself, operate with an innovative philosophy
and work methods. As briefly mentioned in the previous list, it would comprise a
minimum of 15-20 people from different branches and levels of the university that
will represent the diversity of the institution and promote diversity of ideas and
approaches. The specific structure of the organization could take various forms as
reflected in the case studies shown in this chapter.
4. Towards University Transformations for ESDGs
40Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
This second operating system will influence how the university governance works.
Ideally, it will refresh the structures and processes through people who move in and
out of both systems, acting as conduits to the new ways of working. This process has
been used in a number of organizations that faced risks by not being able to quickly
adapt to a changing environment [37].
Alternatively, universities may be able to implement transformative actions using
their existing hierarchies if there is a strong alignment of vision and a shared sense
of purpose across different groups: university administration, faculty, university staff
and students. In this second model, a strong leadership can help promote action
around the shared vision.
Throughout the world, universities are starting to try different methods to accomplish
deep transformations. We will now present some cases of such attempts (Section
4.2). All of them have the following characteristics in common:
• They engage faculty members across the university, thereby breaking disciplinary
silos;
• They have created spaces for multi-stakeholder engagement and partnerships;
• They focus on real world challenges trying to address them through doing perti-
nent research and education (transdisciplinarity);
• They actively use the campus as a living lab.
Three of the cases presented have followed the model of creating a “second operating
system” to catalyze change and propose innovative actions. The fourth case show-
cases strong leadership in a scenario of shared vision. These are all recent cases and
findings will evolve with time. We believe that a key factor in scaling up change will
be sharing knowledge and experiences amongst universities. This guide offers a first
tool to facilitate such exchanges, and, throughout the Decade of Action, SDSN will aim
at being a useful platform for universities from across the world to share knowledge,
learn from others, and connect initiatives in order to foster deep transformations.
4. Towards University Transformations for ESDGs
41Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
4.2 Case studies
4.2.1 itdUPM, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
The Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) recognizes the need for a systemic
transformation to implement the SDGs, and there is a realization that, at present, this
is not happening. The main reasons are related to the existence of two-way block-
ages inside the internal behavior of the University (see Figure 5). On the one hand,
top-down initiatives, such as university-wide strategies approved at the Government
Council level, are rarely implemented fully due to a variety of reasons including: lack
of engagement of faculty members or students in the planning phase that results
in unrealistic strategies; resistance to change from faculty members who are over-
burdened; or because these strategies propose no accountability mechanisms to
evaluate progress or adequacy. These blockers prevent profound change coming
from the leadership team alone. On the other hand, relevant actions developed
by groups of students, faculty members or staff are not getting traction or being
upscaled to the whole university because they are not interconnected, do not have a
systemic approach, or do not have enough political support from above. Therefore,
the bottom-up stream of initiatives cannot itself provoke a transformative process
of the university as a system. As a consequence, there is a need for an intermediate
structure that operates as a connecting tissue, accelerating the change processes
that come from both the “top” – formal and institutional initiatives, and the “bottom”
– spontaneous impulse of the academic community.
4. Towards University Transformations for ESDGs
Figure 5: Two-way blockers in the internal behavior of the University.
5
BLOCKERS
Impeding success of top down
initiatives:
• Lack of engagement from the
broader university community
• Resistance to change
• Lack of legitimacy
• Resistance to authority
• Inadequate communication
• Cultural aspects (“egosystems”)
• Lack of Institutional support
• Rigidity
• Inadequate accountability
BLOCKERS
Impeding success and transforma-
tive impact of bottom up initiatives:
• Lack of resources
• No systemic thinking
• Marginality vocation
• Lack of hope in systemic change
• Risk aversion
• “Egosystems”
• Control addiction (power)
• Bureaucracy
• Lack of appropriate spaces
• Career development incentives
TOP
• University leadership
• Strategic plans or agreements
• Curricula development
UP
DOWN
• Students
• Faculty
• University staff
• Society
BOTTOM
Multiple initiatives that are
disconnected amongst themselves
and to the university as a whole
Creating an intermediate structure
or tissue to regenerate these
relations and foster change in a
collaborative manner
42Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
In this sense, the itdUPM [40] emerged as a second operating system (as framed
by Kotter [37] [41]) with a clear intention to restore those organizational systems, by
addressing complex problems of sustainable development and co-creating prac-
tical solutions involving agents from all spheres. Since 2014, through a variety of
projects, the itdUPM has evolved from being a small center developing a handful of
innovation and educational projects – operating through a non-conventional, open
and horizontal, organizational structure – to an attractive and recognized space that
contributes to incorporating interdisciplinary and innovation practices in a variety
of research and teaching programs at the whole UPM. The center is part of a new
university-wide tissue that connects previous silos and initiatives that have been
traditionally isolated. The relational work model has produced the following results
that highlight the abovementioned blocks:
• Creation of a different type of organization: In 2012, an ad hoc regulation was
designed that allowed faculty members and researchers to simultaneously
belong to their disciplinary research centers and to itdUPM, preventing a misalign-
ment of incentives. This means, for example, that peer-reviewed papers can be
counted at both centers without lowering the ranking position of the research
group.
• Design of a new Master Program [42]: Through this innovative program, an inter-
disciplinary teaching community was developed, which worked together to set
up a high-quality teaching program where faculty members can deploy their
credit hours in an innovative way – for example to develop a project-based learn-
ing semester [43]. As a critical additional benefit, a new community of engaged
students and alumni was established, which became the main source of talent
to build the itdUPM management team.
• Shire Alliance [44]: a radical collaboration alliance with experts in various fields,
companies, civil society organizations and public administration was established
to provide access to energy in a refugee camp in Ethiopia. This project broke down
disciplinary silos and helped show the relevance of socially conscious initiatives
in a major technical university. The Shire Alliance started raising the profile of
itdUPM within the university as a center that could connect existing initiatives,
enriching their scope, maximizing their social impact and making them visible
to a larger audience.
• Iberdrola Chair [45]: while the university had established chairs with private
companies in the past, this one moved away from the regular transactional model
to a transformational approach. Both itdUPM and Iberdrola agreed to use this rela-
tionship to transform their operations and to launch projects that entail some level
of risk (e.g. including achievement of SDGs as a metric for senior management
bonus). In turn, this innovative and successful relationship with a major private
company as an ally, helped itdUPM gaining legitimacy vis-a-vis the governance
of the university while also making an impact outside of the university.
4. Towards University Transformations for ESDGs
43Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
• Cities Platform: a platform to work on transformation of cities towards climate
neutrality as part of a deep demonstration project financed by EIT Climate-KIC
[46]. Via this project, itdUPM began to participate in a transformative program
of the city of Madrid, in collaboration with other local agents (especially the city
council) showcasing the role that universities can have beyond their regular activ-
ities. This helped students visualize that change is possible, brought prestige to
the leadership of the university, provided faculty members with a motivational
incentive to engage, and also connected citizens with the university as a place
of knowledge, discussion, and action.
• SDGs seminars [47]: a program in operation since October 2018 based on the
concept of “mission-oriented” research [48, 49] adopted by Horizon Europe
[50] (2021-2027), the new European framework program for funding R&D&I. It
promotes a culture of collaboration between researchers from various disciplines
and at different points in their academic careers (from professors to doctoral
students). They work in workshops (in a relaxed and horizontal environment
and thinking more about what unites them rather than what separates them) to
propose a common mission of the Agenda 2030 (for now, “energy transition” and
“circular economy”) to be fulfilled in 2030, creating a research community related
to the transversal topic. For example, the energy transition community (which is
a top-down initiative) aims at achieving carbon-neutral campuses by 2030 and
it opens up a space for bottom-up ideas for Carbon-neutral proposals that, when
approved at the community level, move up to the university leadership.
In summary, these and other projects at itdUPM have served as a “sandbox” to test
other forms of relationship from the governing structures of the university, towards
its centers and faculty members. The result is that the leadership of the university is
now reaching out more to faculty members to co-design university-wide strategies.
In addition to this, individual initiatives started by student or faculty groups are now
seeking to be connected to each other and to the governance of the university. All of
this has been made possible by applying a number of working principles developed
at itdUPM that have contributed to reinforce the aforementioned connecting tissue
that allows permeability. Mostly, itdUPM aims to create a context, as described below
(and Fig. 6), where people can work with meaning (purpose), mastery (developing
deep skills) and membership (community honoring individuality) [51]:
• Sharing its values of collaboration, permanent listening and respect to diversity
of thought, interpretation and actions.
• Creating a meaningful physical space: a building with experimentation areas, no
closed doors and walls made of glass to enhance the collaborative environment.
• Being mindful and meticulous in the management of time and resources and
respecting personal relationships.
• Creating a network of faculty members, researchers, companies, alumni, and
freelancers (+250 people) who are respected and called upon for exciting oppor-
tunities.
• Demonstrating that another way of doing things is, in fact, possible and great.
• Putting focus on creativity for every process, creating a professional and fun
environment.
4. Towards University Transformations for ESDGs
44Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
4. Towards University Transformations for ESDGs
Figure 6: itdUPM role as an (intermediate) connecting tissue.
TOP UP
DOWN BOTTOM
ITD AS THE INTERMEDIATE
CONNECTIVE TISSUE
HOLDING ENVIRONMENT
• Shared principles & values & methods
• Physical space: An inviting building
• TEAM: integrate + facilitate + care
existing assets inside and outside of ItD
• Society
• Network (+250 researchers)
• Knowledge management
• Leading by example
• Focus on creativity in processes:
seriously fun environment
6
45Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
4.2.2 The Monash Sustainable Development Institute
Monash Sustainable Development Institute (MSDI) is a cross-university institute that
harnesses research, education and engagement to catalyze sustainable develop-
ment solutions to global challenges and the SDGs. In many ways, the Institute might
be considered as a second operating system within Monash University, which has
enabled it to undertake many innovative initiatives, including towards education for
the SDGs.
MSDI was created by Monash University in 2006 as an interdisciplinary space to work
alongside, and in collaboration with, faculties and external stakeholders to innovate,
experiment, coordinate and host new initiatives that address the complex and inter-
connected challenges posed by the SDGs. It now has over 150 staff and PhD students
and a range of unique and well-regarded flagship programs, including:
• ClimateWorks Australia, a partnership between Monash University and a philan-
thropic foundation that acts as an expert, independent advisor committed to help-
ing Australia and the Asia/Pacific region transition to net zero emissions by 2050.
• BehaviourWorks Australia, a research enterprise that brings leading behaviour
change researchers and practitioners together to find behavioral solutions to
real-world problems.
• MSDI Water, which supports interdisciplinary research and action on urban water
from faculties and institutes across Monash.
• Revitalising Informal Settlements and their Environments (RISE), a multi-stake-
holder partnership that is developing and testing a localized, water-sensitive
approach to improve both the environment and people’s health in informal settle-
ments in Indonesia and Fiji.
• The UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) Regional Network
for Australia, New Zealand and Pacific, hosted by MSDI, which works with univer-
sities and other stakeholders in the region and globally to mobilize support and
action towards SDG implementation.
• A public policy innovation program, which seeks to embed innovation and systems
transformation approaches and capabilities in public policy.
• Sustainable Development Education, which delivers postgraduate courses and
PhD supervision alongside executive education, capacity development and
student leadership activities.
4. Towards University Transformations for ESDGs
46Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
Some of the key principles that help guide MSDI’s work and contribute to its success
are:
• A focus on real-world problems and needs. The Institute measures its impact
by its ability to apply research to practical problems and to influence change in
policies and practice.
• Partnerships and collaboration with others, both within Monash University and
beyond it across academia, industry, government and civil society. These are at
the center of everything the institute does. There is particular focus on collabora-
tion and mutual learning with the users of our work, on everything from problem
identification, to project co-design and delivery.
• An institutional culture that is open to innovation, entrepreneurship, experimen-
tation and learning in how initiatives are designed, to ensure that they best fit the
problem being addressed and its context.
• Taking a systems transformation view of sustainable development challenges,
and in the development of pathways and solutions to solve them, bringing in all
relevant disciplines and stakeholders.
Being an external-facing, impact-focused institute has driven MSDI’s flexibility in the
kinds of projects it pursues, the partnerships it forms and the ability to undertake proj-
ects on short timelines, in line with the ways government and business operate. It has
also given MSDI the ability to gather high-caliber project staff with diverse academic
and non-academic backgrounds to meet its purpose. This includes people who have
worked extensively in government, business and community sectors, who under-
stand how these sectors work and have extensive networks. It also includes people
with expertise in, and a passion for, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research,
education and engagement. All of these are important factors in MSDI’s success.
Education for the SDGs is a core focus of MSDI, through its Sustainable Develop-
ment Education Program and as an important component of its other programs.
As a non-faculty aligned institute, MSDI has drawn on its unique position, structure,
networks, and capabilities – including staff who are ESD and transformative learn-
ing experts – to develop and collaborate on unique interdisciplinary educational
programs at Monash that focus on developing participants’ practical skills, knowledge
and mindsets to contribute to and lead sustainable development transformations.
These include formal degree programs and units, co-curricular programs, graduate
research, professional development, and capacity building programs for traditional
students and other audiences both within and outside the university. Examples of
these programs are:
• Master of Environment and Sustainability, a cross-faculty degree program deliv-
ered in collaboration with the Faculties of Science and Arts, Monash Business
School and MSDI. MSDI runs the Master’s Leadership for Sustainable Develop-
ment stream, a core unit on sustainable development, and an interdisciplinary
project-based unit in collaboration with industry partners.
4. Towards University Transformations for ESDGs
47Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
• Green Steps, a co-curricular leadership program for Monash students that seeks
to equip and transform them to become effective sustainable development
leaders. The program is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2020, and its original
focus on environmental sustainability has been extended and now covers the
whole SDG agenda. It is delivered through experiential workshops and ‘real world’
sustainability consultancy projects.
• Behaviour Change Graduate Research Industry Partnership (GRIP) program,
which supports PhD candidates to work with practitioners in government and
non-government agencies to address public policy issues through behaviour
change. The students are co-supervised by academics from MSDI and faculties
across the university.
• “Teaching our future health workforce about environmental sustainability and
its impacts”, a joint project between MSDI and the Faculty of Medicine, Nurs-
ing and Health Science, which is building ESD development capabilities among
academics to teach climate change literacy and green skills to emerging health
professionals.
• Climate Change and Business Risk, an executive education course for senior
corporate managers and executives on how to develop a strategic approach for
successfully integrating climate into business strategy.
• The McKinnon Institute, a new non-partisan and not-for-profit organization estab-
lished through a partnership between the university and a philanthropic founda-
tion. It is dedicated to providing professional development programs for state
and federal politicians working in an increasingly complex world.
• Embedding SDG-related knowledge and skills in business teaching through
several practical and experiential units taught by MSDI in Monash Business
School programs. One unit, in collaboration with B Corp, gets students to under-
take sustainability impact assessments on real life businesses.
• Leave No One Behind, a social entrepreneurship program led by MSDI and run in
collaboration with the Faculties of Arts, Law, Education, Business, and Art, Design
and Architecture, which gives Monash students the opportunity to address social
inclusion challenges in the community by developing social business ideas.
4. Towards University Transformations for ESDGs
Case studies: MSDI ESDGs initiatives
• Leave No One Behind
• Integration of the SDGs in a cross-faculty interdisciplinary Masters course
The university and MSDI have worked collaboratively and have navigated structural
challenges to get to this point where MSDI is able to undertake such a broad range
of innovative and impact-driven work. This journey is ongoing as the institute, the
university and the world around it evolves.
48Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
4.2.3 Sunway University
Environmental Sustainability is indelibly ingrained in the DNA of Sunway University.
The university is part of an academic complex that is located on the rim of what was
once a barren hole in an area of mined-out wasteland. Today, this rehabilitated mining
hole is the center of Sunway City, a smart, digital city that is expanding by adopting
sustainable urbanization practices. For example, a network of elevated walkways
with a solar-paneled roof connects all parts of the township, an internal bus rapid
transit system links the township to two key nodes of the mass transit systems of
the Klang Valley, a rain-harvesting system has made the Sunway education complex
self-sufficient in water, and urban farming ventures are starting up.
Sunway University was established in 2011, the culmination of an expansion and
upgrading process that began with the establishment of Sunway College in 1986, and
Sunway University College in 2004. Sunway University is the only non-profit univer-
sity in Malaysia that is owned by a charity foundation, the Jeffrey Cheah Foundation
(JCF). Jeffrey Cheah himself is, by instinct, a practitioner of Sustainable Development,
and through experience, is a believer in that advancing educational access is the key
driver to the development of a good society.
Sunway City was born from a vision to rehabilitate the land to become an ecological-
ly-balanced city that is economically dynamic, socially progressive, culturally vibrant,
and participatory in local governance. Today, it is an educational hub (e.g. Taylor’s
University and Monash University are also located in Sunway City) as well as home
to the headquarters of many businesses that are technologically innovative and envi-
ronmentally friendly (e.g. healthcare, recreation, digital).
The sustainability initiatives of Sunway University predated the adoption of the United
Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015. Individual departments, of
their own accord, saw the need for resource-use modifications that could help thwart,
if not prevent, further environmental degradation. It banned polystyrene food contain-
ers in 2010 - seven years before a state-wide ban; and has had a recycling program
in place since 2012.
In 2016, the formal incorporation of the SDGs into the mission of the Sunway Group
gave Sunway University further impetus to institute a “second operating system” in
its governance structure. The Sunway Smart Sustainable Campus Committee (SSCC)
was set up in 2017 to brainstorm, innovate together and make recommendations to
guide campus-wide policies and initiatives.
4. Towards University Transformations for ESDGs
49Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
The SSCC comprises representatives from top management, the various shared
services departments, academic schools and the student body. The inclusion of
diverse representatives was deliberate - to form a consolidated force that will propel
campus-wide green activities and initiatives. Inter-departmental collaboration and
engagement with relevant stakeholders happened from the start, with discussions
typically around identifying the best ways to implement operational and infrastruc-
tural adaptations and retrofits, and campus-wide messaging to influence behaviour
change. Once launched, initiatives quickly become standard operating practices
because of departmental champions who incrementally push for better outcomes
while streamlining and fine-tuning processes.
In its first two years, the SSCC produced several campus initiatives. One example is
the campus’s solar energy project implemented in 2018 with the multiple objectives
of generating energy savings; lowering dependence on the national carbon-inten-
sive grid; and providing an educational and R&D platform for students and research-
ers. Sunway University invested over RM2 million in the current installed capacity of
600kWp and a payback period of 6 years from energy savings. This is the first step in
an ongoing effort to fully transition to renewable energy in the long term.
In addition to this, Sunway University fully appreciates that education is one of the
most important drivers of creating a sustainable future. It has therefore quickly
become Malaysia’s premier university focusing heavily on education for sustainable
development. Notable achievements in this area include:
• The Jeffrey Sachs Center on Sustainable Development (JSC) was launched in
2016 as a regional center of excellence in research and education on sustain-
able development. In 2018, it launched its Master in Sustainable Development
Management (MSDM) to empower individuals with the necessary skills to
become pioneers in advancing sustainable development. JSC also conducts
executive training programs customized for various industries including manu-
facturing, financial services and government. The MSDM will incorporate a fully
online track in 2020 that will serve remote learners across Asia and Oceania.
• Sunway iLabs was set up in 2017 as an innovation hub to challenge students to
undertake entrepreneurial and technologically-based approaches to generating
products and services as solutions to real-life sustainable development chal-
lenges.
• The Future-cities Research Institute, launched in 2019, complements the work
of JSC in developing sustainable urban environments, using Sunway City as a
living lab. The institute focuses on urban challenges of pollution, traffic conges-
tion, crime, public health and the digital divide.
• As of 2019, the Academic Standards and Quality department has redesigned the
ministry-required compulsory undergraduate courses to have a dedicated focus
on sustainable development.
4. Towards University Transformations for ESDGs
50Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
• Sunway University was made host of the Sustainable Development Solutions
Network Malaysia Chapter in 2019, a vehicle to convene and advance multi-party
efforts in solving national SDG challenges. From late 2020, it will also host the
SDSN-Asia headquarters, thus scaling-up to serve the wider Asian region.
• In the next 12 months, SDSN-Asia will also be the new host of the SDG Academy,
a global knowledge hub that has, since 2014, been creating and curating free
massive open online courses on sustainable development and offering them as
a global public good.
Sunway University’s alignment with the SDGs necessitate a sound strategy to posi-
tion itself not just as an institution that embraces the SDGs, but one that graduates
students with the knowledge and motivations to build careers grounded in sustain-
able development; and one that partners with policy-makers, businesses and civil
society to be collective agents of meaningful change. After three years of attaining
quick wins, the organization is now primed for a shift from being an incubation space
for trying novel concepts locally, to translating the learnings for greater national and
regional impact.
4. Towards University Transformations for ESDGs
Figure 7: Sampling of ten smart and sustainable initiatives as a means of embracing
and embedding culture of sustainability in the campus community
Paperless Event Registration App
An in-house QR Code Generating App has been created to enable paperless event registration
Paperless Marketing
Introduction of 'Zap' feature in university prospectus to reduce paper printing
F & B Vendors Say No to Plastic
Single-use plastic bottles have been removed from all cafeteria outlets and vending machines
F & B Vendors Say No to Straws
No single-use straws are given out on Sunway Campus
Last Straw Water Stations
Last Straw Campaign to reduce use of single-use plastic bottles on campus. Provision of
water stations to reduce purchasing of bottle water
Orientation Gift
Sunway University and College provides all incoming students in 2019 a reusable water bottle
as an orientation gift
Sta Green Living Practices
Staff are encouraged to adopt Green Living practices. Sunway Education Group has provided
all staff a complimentary flask for reduction of single-use plastic on campus
Recycling and Waste Separation
Practicing waste separation between recycling waste and general waste
Responsible Fabric Waste Disposal
Responsible disposal of fabric at three permanent collection chutes. Donated fabric is
repaired, pelletized for fuel, upcycled or donated for further use by Life Line Clothing Malaysia
Sdn Bhd
Responsible Electronic Waste Disposal
Responsible disposal of eWaste and fluorescent tube lights at six permanent collection points
for delivery to Meriahtek (M) Sdn Bhd, a department of Environment licensed eWaste
treatment facility. The Sunway family is invited to drop off larger items twice a year at the
loading bay
51Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
4.2.4 University of Pretoria
As a research-intensive university that is an integral part of society, the University of
Pretoria focuses on developing people and creating knowledge to meet current and
future societal needs. Working in the sustainable development arena and in align-
ment with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) flows naturally
from our purpose, and this is given expression through our core functions of research,
teaching & learning, and engagement.
Recognizing the importance of achieving the SDGs, and their inherent complexity, the
University has been actively involved with the goals from their launch in 2015. The
journey has entailed an array of activities, as we have sought to mobilize action, inte-
grate and embed the work into the University’s core functions, and create leverage for
greater impact beyond the University’s immediate scope of influence (see Figure 8).
Figure 8: The University of Pretoria pathway to accelerating achievement of the SDGs
4. Towards University Transformations for ESDGs
8
MOBILIZATION
• Setting direction
• Shaping the tone
INTEGRATION
• Focus on core functions
• Enabling a
transdisciplinary
approach
• Innovation for next
generation practices
LEVERAGE
• Engagement
• Establishing platforms
& strategic initiatives
• Partnering
• Influencing
52Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
Mobilizing SDG action
Our focus on the SDGs is driven from the highest level, the University’s Strategic Plan
– 2025, which considers inter alia, strengthening the interface with, and contribution
to society for social and economic upliftment; partnering and collaborating at multi-
ple levels to enhance impact; and strengthening focus on sustainable development.
This direction is congruent with the fundamental pillars of the SDGs – People, Planet,
Prosperity, Peace and Partnership.
To support its direction, the University has outlined a set of guiding principles that
shape the tone across the institution and enable deep engagement with the SDGs.
These include nurturing transdisciplinarity, collaboration and innovation; embracing
diversity and inclusivity; and ensuring ongoing relevance of our work and offerings, in
line with changing societal needs. Various multi-stakeholder governance structures
and processes have been put in place to support relevance, transparency, integrity
and accountability within the University.
Integrating and embedding
Integrating sustainability and SDG related knowledge and practices into the work of
the faculties is central to developing people and shaping intellectual leaders with a
social conscience and global outlook. This work also seeks a positive societal impact
on social and economic development.
Having identified SDG and related work relevant to their areas, a wide array of activities
has been undertaken across the institution. These include aligning teaching activities
to the SDGs; embedding community engagement modules into academic programs;
research activities contributing to achieving the SDGs – focused on addressing
community and public sector needs; community outreach initiatives; various training
and short courses to public sector entities on governance and sustainability-related
matters; public lectures; and enabling open access to learning materials.
The University embedded a transdisciplinary approach into its philosophy as a key
means to address the complex challenges underpinning and associated with achiev-
ing the SDGs. Transdisciplinarity is formalized through the identification of Insti-
tutional Research Themes that deal with complexity and have the attention of the
University leadership. Additionally, Communities of Practice are established and
encouraged in various areas of research.
Innovations in the academic program for next generation practices have included
enhancing community-based learning experiences, using innovative audience interac-
tion technologies, and the agile shift to virtual teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic.
4. Towards University Transformations for ESDGs
53Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
Generating leverage for greater impact
The ongoing process of integrating and embedding provides a foundation for gener-
ating and applying leverage for greater impact. A myriad of leverage activities cover-
ing the spectrum of the SDGs are being undertaken along the lines of engagement,
establishing platforms and strategic initiatives, partnering with academic and non-ac-
ademic stakeholders and networks, and influencing policy and practices at local,
national, regional and continental levels. Notably, the University of Pretoria has devel-
oped and launched three transdisciplinary collaborative platforms (Future Africa, the
Javett Art Centre and the Engineering 4.0 development) to drive partnerships, and is
currently working on a fourth platform – Innovation Africa@UP.
A few examples of the University’s leadership role include hosting the South African
SDG Hub, which collects and tags South African open access research on the SDGs;
hosting the United Nations’ Academic Impact Hub for SDG 2; being a champion for
the United Nations’ Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME); and
active collaboration in the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) on issues
such as food security and food system transformation.
The work has led to the University receiving various awards for sustainable develop-
ment related issues, and a favorable ranking in the Times Higher Education Impact
Rankings and the recent UniRank Listing.
Going forward
The University of Pretoria will continue to pursue the path outlined. We continually
seek to learn from our experiences and from those of others. We believe that the itera-
tive cycle of integrated thinking, doing, learning and reporting will increase coherence
of action, and will continue to enhance our contribution to achieving a better world.
4. Towards University Transformations for ESDGs
54Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
ANNEX A: ACRONYMS & TERMINOLOGY
Notes on terminology
Some common university-related terms are used differently in different parts of the
world. Below are notes on how we used them in this guide to avoid confusion.
Course Because the term “course” has different usages in different regions,³ we
will use the following terms instead:
• Unit: a semester-long unit of studies (also referred to as “subject” and
“module”)
• Program: A collection of units that make a degree program
Faculty The term “faculty” can mean (1) a division of the university and/or
(2) academic/teaching personnel in different parts of the world. We
therefore use the following terminology to distinguish between the two,
respectively:
• Faculty/school
• Faculty members
University Throughout this guide, the term “university” is used as a shorthand
to cover a range of tertiary educational institutions, including higher
education institutions, colleges, vocational training schools, and so on.
Acronyms
ESD Education for Sustainable Development
ESDGs Education for the SDGs
MOOC Massive Open Online Course
PRME Principles for Responsible Management Education
SDGs Sustainable Development Goals
SDSN Sustainable Development Solutions Network
UN United Nations
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Course_(education) (last accessed August 6, 2020)
55Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
ANNEX B: ESDG-RELATED SDGS AND TARGETS
The following SDGs and targets recognize the importance of new knowledge and
skills to achieving the targets.
SDG Target
4.7 By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and
skills needed to promote sustainable development, including,
among others, through education for sustainable development and
sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion
of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and
appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to
sustainable development
8.3 Promote development-oriented policies that support productive
activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity and
innovation, and encourage the formalization and growth of micro-,
small-and medium-sized enterprises, including through access to
financial services
12.8 By 2030, ensure that people everywhere have the relevant
information and awareness for sustainable development and
lifestyles in harmony with nature
13.3 Improve education, awareness-raising and human and
institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation,
impact reduction and early warning
13.b Promote mechanisms for raising capacity for effective climate
change-related planning and management in least developed
countries and small island developing States, including focusing on
women, youth and local and marginalized communities
16.a Strengthen relevant national institutions, including through
international cooperation, for building capacity at all levels, in
particular in developing countries, to prevent violence and combat
terrorism and crime
17.9 Enhance international support for implementing effective
and targeted capacity-building in developing countries to support
national plans to implement all the Sustainable Development
Goals, including through North-South, South-South and triangular
cooperation
56Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
ANNEX C: SELECTED RESOURCES
There is a huge number of online resources relating to ESDGs – and its precursor,
ESD – and this number is growing daily. To help universities navigate this sea of
information, this annex provides links to some of the key resources to support the
implementation of ESDGs in universities.
C.1 General references
• SDSN Australia/Pacific (2017) Getting started with the SDGs in universities: A
guide for universities, higher education institutions, and the academic sector.
Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Edition. Sustainable Development Solutions
Network – Australia/Pacific, Melbourne.
• UNESCO (2017) Education for Sustainable Development Goals: Learning objec-
tives. UNESCO, Paris.
• UNESCO (2014) Roadmap for Implementing the Global Action Programme on
Education for Sustainable Development. UNESCO, Paris.
• HOCH-N (2019) Sustainability Governance at Higher Education Institutions (beta
version) [English version]. Sustainability at Higher Education Institutions: develop
– network – report (HOCHN), Berlin.
• PRME (2020) Blueprint for SDG integration into curriculum, research and partner-
ships. Principles for Responsible Management Education, New York.
• Verhoef, L & Bossert, M (2019) The University Campus as a Living Lab for Sustain-
ability: A Practitioner’s Guide and Handbook. Delft University of Technology, Hoch-
schule für Technik Stuttgart.
• Several publications from the Elsevier World Sustainability Series, edited by Walter
Leal Filho, contain many case studies on ESDG-related topics. Recent examples
include Universities as Living Labs for Sustainable Development, Sustainability
on University Campuses: Learning, Skills Building and Best Practices, and Imple-
menting Sustainability in the Curriculum of Universities.
C.2 Case study collections
• Accelerating Education for the SDGs: Case study website contains all the case
studies referenced in this guide.
• The International Conferences on Sustainable Development has, for the past few
years, included sessions devoted to the role of universities in implementing the
SDGs, including through education. Papers presented can be found in the Confer-
ence proceedings: 2019, 2018, 2017
• PRiMEtime Blog shares best practices from PRME participants on how to main-
stream sustainability and responsible leadership into management education
globally.
• International Sustainable Campus Network (ISCN) Sustainable Campus Best
Practice reports: 2018 WEF-ISCN Report: Educating with Purpose and 2017
WEF-ISCN Report: Educating for Sustainability.
57Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
• Several publications from the Elsevier World Sustainability Series, edited by Walter
Leal Filho, contain many case studies on ESDG-related topics. Recent examples
include Universities as Living Labs for Sustainable Development, Sustainability
on University Campuses: Learning, Skills Building and Best Practices, and Imple-
menting Sustainability in the Curriculum of Universities.
C.3 Online resources & tools
• SDSN’s SDG Academy creates and curates free massive open online courses and
educational materials on sustainable development and the SDGs.
• Digital Learning for Sustainable Development is a collection of online resources
and online courses from Hamburg University of Applied Sciences relating to the
introduction of the SDGs into higher education teaching.
• Campus as a living lab provides general guidance, tools, resources and support
for helping transform campuses into test-beds of sustainability.
• SDG Impact Assessment Tool is a free online learning tool that guides users,
including teachers and students, to undertake an assessment of how an activity,
organization or innovation affects the SDGs, and then visualize the results.
• Sulitest is an online test tool for measuring sustainability literacy. The tool is
designed so that higher education institutions can aggregate results across
different student cohorts, for example for measuring progress and monitoring
and reporting.
C.4 Global networks and programs
• SDG Academy – Community of Practice is creating a community of higher educa-
tion institutions, NGOs, for-profit businesses, and relevant government entities
dedicated to advancing education for sustainable development through peer
learning and the sharing of best practices, customized resource development,
and opportunities for research and thought leadership.
• SDSN Youth – SDG Students Program is a global network of student hubs, where
students can come together to learn about, engage with, and take action on the
SDGs.
• Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) is a UN-supported
initiative that works with business schools around the world to equip business
students with the understanding and ability to contribute to achieving the SDGs.
• AIM2Flourish, from Case Western Reserve University, is a program that supports
management schools to teach students about the SDGs through a professor-fa-
cilitated curriculum focusing on positive business impact. Students use the SDGs
as a lens to research an organization, interview a business leader or social entre-
preneur, then write and publish positive business innovation stories.
58Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
C.5 SDG-related measurement and reporting frameworks
• Official UN SDG indicators: In late 2019, the UN approved a qualitative assess-
ment method for measuring SDG indicator 4.7.1, the “Extent to which (i) global
citizenship education and (ii) education for sustainable development, including
gender equality and human rights, are mainstreamed at all levels in: (a) national
education policies; (b) curricula; (c) teacher education; and (d) student assess-
ment.” While the methodology is aimed at country-wide reporting, it includes
ESDGs in the tertiary sector.
• Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS): A program of the
Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE),
STARS provides a self-reporting framework to measure institutions’ sustainability
performance across different areas of operation, including ESDG-related areas,
such as curriculum and campus engagement. AASHE recently released a publi-
cation [52] outlining how STARS institutions’ impact on the SDGs.
• Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings: Published for the first time in
2019, the Rankings aim to measure universities’ success in delivering the SDGs.
Compulsory indicator 17.iv, added for the 2020 rankings, is specifically on Educa-
tion for the SDGs [53].
• SDG Accord: The Accord has developed a qualitative self-assessment survey for
signatories to capture institutional integration, contribution and impact on the
SDGs across all areas of the university, including areas relating to ESDGs.
• PRME Sharing Information on Progress (SIP) Reports: PRME SIP reports aim to
communicate business school progress in implementing the PRME principles
through academic activities, curricula, and organizational practices. Many reports
now integrate the SDGs [54].
• The SDG Dashboard: The Dashboard is a reporting, visualization, and data analyt-
ics tool developed by Saint Joseph’s University for PRME and other global busi-
ness schools to showcase their contributions towards advancing the SDGs,
including through teaching.
• Indicator system of university social responsibility: A detailed indicator system
developed by PRME Latin America and the Caribbean Chapter to quantitatively
measure business school contributions to social responsibility and the SDGs,
including through education.
• Sulitest: An online test tool for measuring sustainability literacy. The tool is
designed so that higher education institutions can aggregate results across
different student cohorts, for example for measuring progress and monitoring
and reporting.
• Existing institutional reporting: Universities may already be reporting on indica-
tors relevant to learning & teaching for the SDGs through their existing reporting
processes - such as annual reports, sustainability reports, diversity and inclusion
reporting processes, and so on.
59Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
C.6 University SDG-related commitments
Below are examples of university commitments and declarations that include ESDGs
elements. While all these commitments call for universities to support and advance
the SDGs through their research, teaching, operations and public role, they differ
somewhat in their focus, their compliance and reporting requirements, the support
they offer for implementation, and their regional focus. Institutions can choose among
the various frameworks based on which is most aligned to their needs.
• University Commitment to the SDGs, led by SDSN Australia, New Zealand and
Pacific
• SDG Accord, by the Global Alliance of university and college sustainability
networks
• Declaration on University Global Engagement, a joint effort from the UN Institute
for Training Research and the Association of Public & Land-grant Universities
• Declaration on the role of Universities in the implementation of the UN SDGs,
Initiated by the Big Tent Consortium, a global network of universities and their
community partners
• ISCN Sustainable Campus Charter 2018, by the International Sustainable Campus
Network
• University Global Coalition, which builds on the Declaration on University Global
Engagement
60Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
ANNEX D: SDSN PROGRAMS SUPPORTING ESDGS
AT UNIVERSITIES
D.1 SDG Academy
The SDG Academy is the flagship education initiative of SDSN, with the mandate of
creating and curating the best available educational content on sustainable develop-
ment and making it available as a global public good. Since 2014, the SDG Academy
has created 30 courses, which have reached approximately 300,000 learners from
more than 190 countries. Delivered as MOOCs and curated resources, its content is
available for a diverse global audience. Learners include students, researchers, profes-
sionals, policymakers, organizations, and other interested members of the public.
The SDG Academy’s global faculty comprises leading experts in sustainable develop-
ment who believe in the power of sharing knowledge to improve the lives of everyone.
All courses are pitched at an introductory Master’s level and most are multi-faculty,
drawing instructors from different geographies, perspectives, and traditions, with
a mix of academicians and practitioners. They assume no prior knowledge of the
issues discussed, but expect that by the time a course is completed, learners will gain
extensive knowledge and understanding of some of the most complex and pressing
global challenges of our times.
Its current program offering includes the University Partnership Program (UPP), which
gives support to select SDSN member universities to build capacity and support
faculty in improving the quality of teaching of sustainable development and related
topics. To date, over 20 universities in 16 countries have participated. Additionally,
the SDG Library houses over 1,200 lecture videos available as stand-alone teaching
resources to fill a critical interdisciplinary gap in sustainability content for under-
graduate and graduate classrooms. Moreover, the Global Master’s in Development
Practice (MDP) is a global association of 36 universities that share a global curricu-
lum on teaching development practice. Forthcoming projects include an Online SDG
Encyclopedia and an online Master’s Program in Sustainable Development.
61Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
D.2 SDSN Youth
SDSN Youth educates young people about the SDGs and the Paris Agreement, and
provides opportunities for them to pioneer innovative solutions to achieve the goals.
With a membership of more than 1000 organizations, ranging from student associa-
tions, youth-led and youth-focused organizations and other institutions dedicated to
youth empowerment in over 85 countries, SDSN Youth creates platforms for young
people to connect and contribute to regional and national pathways for the imple-
mentation of the SDGs and the Paris Agreement.
Member organizations have expertise in one or more areas related to sustainable
development and commit a substantial amount of their own work towards finding
and/or implementing solutions for sustainable development. SDSN Youth hosts and
participates in various events focused on youth empowerment and the advancement
of the SDGs. Its representatives facilitate workshops and seminars and partake in
high-level conferences and summits around the world, including the Vatican Youth
Symposium, The Youth Assembly, World Youth Day, and many more. With over 400+
speeches and presentations given, the program ensures that youth are included in
the conversation, policy-making, and solution-based initiatives necessary to achieve
the 2030 Agenda.
SDSN Youth’s current program offerings include:
• Global Schools Program, which provides the necessary tools and resources for
schools and teachers to educate their students on the SDGs, particularly focused
on grade levels K-12;
• Youth Solutions Program, which promotes and offers support to innovative proj-
ects tackling the world’s toughest challenges around the SDGs, all led by young
professionals and students;
• Local Pathways Fellowship, which is a training program and peer-to-peer learn-
ing network that provides young urban innovators with the tools to design and
implement programs that champion local pathways to sustainable development
by exchanging knowledge and ideas with leading urban development experts,
grassroots organizers, and academics; and
• SDG Students Program, which creates spaces on university campuses where
students with no prior experience or engagements with the SDGs can come
together to learn about, engage with, take action on the SDGs, and ultimately carry
the importance of sustainability into their future work upon graduation.
62Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities
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