Integrating the Sustainable Development Goals into the strategy of higher education institutions

Abstract

Despite the relevance of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the fact that universities may make valuable contributions towards their implementation, there is a paucity of international studies which may allow an assessment of their degree of engagement or their performance against the SDGs. This paper reports on an international study among a sample of 128 members of higher education institutions (HEIs) located in 28 countries, which aimed at ascertaining the extent to which the SDGs are being integrated into the strategy of HEIs. The focus of this paper is on the means which have been deployed by various universities in order to embed or include the SDGs in their activities. More specifically, this paper explores 1) the scope of integration, 2) the organisational influences, and 3) strategic influencing factors. The research identified the fact that, whereas many organisations are aware of the need for and the relevance of sustainable development and consider it as part of their institutional settings, the same cannot be said for the SDGs, whose level of emphasis is many HEIs is comparatively somewhat limited. In addition, there seems to be a shortage of training opportunities focusing on the SDGs, which could equip university staff to handle this topic. Against this background, the paper describes some measures that may be implemented to make the SDGs more present in HEI programmes, hence maximising their contribution to addressing the global sustainability challenges.

Perceptions of the academic community on the performance of sustainable development initiatives in higher education

“…Many actions have been implemented for an extended period, which positions them in a suitable stage of maturity. The institution's current major challenge is integrating sustainable development initiatives into an integrated, holistic system (Leal Filho et al, 2023). There are two main areas for improvement in achieving this goal.…”

Los objetivos del desarrollo sostenible y su inclusión al currículo universitario: una revisión de literatura

“…La investigación de (Leal Filho, Simaens, et al, 2023) realizada IES de 28 países, identificó el hecho de que, mientras que muchas organizaciones son conscientes de la necesidad y la relevancia del desarrollo sostenible y lo consideran como parte de sus entornos institucionales, no se puede decir lo mismo de los ODS, cuyo nivel de énfasis es que muchas IES son comparativamente algo limitadas. Además, parece haber una escasez de oportunidades de capacitación centradas en los ODS, lo que podría equipar al personal universitario para manejar este tema.…”

A 5 pillars approach to the sustainable development goals performance and reporting in Portuguese higher education institutions. Proposal for an applied framework

“…The studies by Leal Filho et al (2023b) with HEI members in several countries revealed that, although many organizations are already aware of the importance of sustainable development and integrate it in their institutional mission and vision, the integration of SDGs in operational processes remains limited. Thus, although there has been some progress, the existence of barriers has delayed SDG implementation in higher education; these barriers include lack of training, financial and human resources, policies and government commitment (Aleixo et al , 2018b; Leal Filho et al , 2019; Serafini et al , 2022).…”