Sustainable Development Goals as a Framework for Postgraduate Future Research Following COVID-19 Pandemic: A New Norm for Developing Countries

Abstract

Purpose and Significance: Education is regarded as the key to economic development, and COVID-19 has provided all universities the unique opportunity to urgently address their fitness for purpose. Universities can play a significant role in contributing to a more sustainable world by mainstreaming Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at postgraduate levels. The opportunity to utilize United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) as the framework for postgraduate projects in solving real world’s challenges in our communities after the COVID-19 pandemic was explored. Main Body: One way of ensuring concomitant attainments of the SDGs with community development is that post-COVID-19 postgraduate projects should be purposively driven to address UN SDGs to make positive social impact in our communities. Through this, higher education institutions (HEIs) will be contributing in no little measures to human capital and social development with sustainable developments driven through interdisciplinary approach. Conclusion: The research products upon the completion of master’s and doctoral studies from our different universities should be purposively designed in accordance with the UN SDGs and universities’ visions to solve real-life challenges and therefore make social impacts in our communities. All HEIs should embrace an integrated approach by designing courses with learning objectives that are clearly focused on holistic approaches to sustainable societal development.

How Higher Education Institutions Walk Their Talk on the 2030 Agenda: A Systematic Literature Review

“…They often prioritize the dominant SDGs based on the different field/courses and future job profiles, as well as incorporate general sustainability concerns (e.g., gender equity and poverty) into coursework (Baena-Morales et al, 2020;Castro et al, 2020;Gómez-Llanos and Durán-Barroso, 2020;Manolis and Manoli, 2021;Orozco-Messana et al, 2020a, b;Perales Jarillo et al, 2019). The studies that consider all SDGs involve the application of innovative solutions and technologies (i.e., course-tailored and scaffolded methods), along with the redesign of majors and courses to integrate SDGs (Adach-Pawelus et al, 2021;Ashraf and Alanezi, 2020;Ličen and Jedlicka, 2020;Priyadarshini and Abhilash, 2020;Useh, 2021) Table 3 summarizes the main takeaways from the literature on teaching and SDGs at the micro-level.…”

Integrating the United Nations sustainable development goals into higher education globally: a scoping review

“…Of the 20 publications, the greatest number of them were published in 2021 (40%) [ 24 , 26 , 27 , 29 , 30 , 35 , 42 , 80 ]. In general, the number of articles published has increased since 2018.…”

“… Others Projects development linked with the community to evaluate the impact of the SDGs in local and global contexts. 20 Useh [ 26 ]. South Africa Postgraduate, master, and PhD Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics Others Transdisciplinary research which focuses on social needs.…”

A systematic bibliometric review of the United Nation’s SDGS: which are the most related to higher education institutions?

“…The main keywords are “sustainable development goals,” “education,” “COVID-19,” and “competences.” COVID-19 has compelled HEIs into strategizing new plans in facing the detrimental impact of the pandemic on education. HEIs should develop intervention by mitigating COVID-19 impact by integrating HEIs’ curriculum and actual societal life problems through the SDGs framework in the communities (Useh, 2021). Cluster 5 (purple).…”