SDGs – A unique opportunity for universities

 "MDGs, SDGs and Higher Education"

"The SDGs provide a unique opportunity to higher education institutions to demonstrate their willingness and capability of playing an active and meaningful role in the development of their respective countries and in contributing towards global sustainable development. They also provide an opportunity for collaboration and partnerships – South-South and North-South. Such opportunities should not be missed", says Professor Goolam Mohamedbhai , President, International Association of Universities ( IAU)

In September 2015, the United Nations adopted the Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs, which have now become the post-2015 global development framework up to 2030, replacing the Millennium Development Goals, or MDGs, that covered the period 2000-15. The SDGs comprise an ambitious set of 17 goals and 169 targets, compared to only eight goals and 21 targets in the MDGs. Also, while the MDGs targeted mainly low-income countries, the SDGs are directed to all countries of the world.

The process of arriving at the SDGs also differed from that of the MDGs. The latter were drafted by a relatively small group, with limited consultations with the relevant stakeholders, whereas the SDGs were crafted by a group of no less than 70 countries, including developing ones, which took into consideration the recommendations of not just governments but also eminent persons in academia, the private sector and civil society.

Higher education and MDGs

The end result is that the SDGs are now better known to the higher education sector than were the MDGs in 2000.

Indeed, during the first five years following the launch of the MDGs, most higher education institutions did not know much about them; those that did felt that eradicating extreme poverty, achieving universal primary education, reducing child mortality etc, were really the responsibility of governments and most academics had difficulty in relating higher education to achieving such goals.

Also, the beginning of the 21st century witnessed a massive increase in enrolment in higher education in developing countries, especially Africa, which also had to address the revitalisation of the sector from the point of view of access, funding, quality and relevance, leaving the institutions little time to deal with the issues of the MDGs.

While higher education institutions have, without doubt, contributed to the MDGs, such contributions, where measurable, have been mostly unplanned and tangential, rather than planned and targeted. Few institutions actually developed a deliberate strategy for contributing to the MDGs.

Higher education and SDGs

Are higher education institutions then better poised now to contribute to the SDGs? The answer is definitely yes, for several reasons.

First, there is wide acceptance, more than ever before, that higher education institutions have a crucial role to play in national development, especially in developing countries.Second, the concept of sustainable development is now better understood. Third, higher education institutions, again mostly in developing countries, are receiving support at national, regional and international levels to better equip them to respond to development challenges. Fourth, a quick look at the SDGs shows that they cover a very wide range of specific areas such as agriculture, health, gender equality, water and sanitation, energy, industry and innovation, infrastructure, etc, and under almost all of them, higher education institutions can make a positive contribution, whether in teaching, research, community engagement or advisory services.

In fact, many of them are already actively contributing to these areas. The pertinent question, therefore, is what strategy should higher education institutions adopt for their contribution to the SDGs to be targeted, effective and meaningful?

SCCN is one of such strategic approaches, where the campus contributes to SDGs not only by learning about them but also 'acting ' on them in the campus.

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