Why UN SDGs
Why engage with teaching with the UN SDGs
Just as the UN SDGs are interlinked, so, too, are all domains of university activity: teaching & learning, research, governance/culture/operations, and external leadership. Further, the SDGs are connected to all these areas (SDSN, 2017). Thus, the value proposition of engaging with the SDGs in teaching & learning is not limited to educators but, rather, expands to others in the learning ecosystem (students, the educational institution, and the communities it serves).
Engaging with the SDGs helps to increase their adoption. Given that the SDGs directly promote and advocate for quality education (United Nations, n.d.), more widespread support for their global adoption and implementation results in direct benefits for the education sector.
The SDGs are seeing growing engagement among public, private, and community sectors in most countries and are increasingly becoming part of private and public strategies, actions, and development plans (SDSN, 2017). Thus, learning about and working with the SDGs equips educators to engage with current and future global issues in a meaningful, relevant, forward-thinking, and effective way.
Higher education institutions (HEIs) have a mandate to create and disseminate knowledge and occupy an influential position within society, which enables them to have a direct, powerful, far-reaching impact on advancing the SDGs (SDSN, 2017). Teaching & learning is central to this. By engaging with the SDGs, educators can play a part in and share the benefits of accomplishing the following (SDSN, 2017):
- Creating and disseminating new impactful knowledge, which can lead to innovation, technical and social progress, a better understanding of present and future challenges and opportunities, and the development of novel solutions/pathways/roadmaps toward the SDGs
- Equipping students with the skills and passion to become potential change agents who can ensure continued, accelerated progress toward the SDGs
- Encouraging cross-sectoral dialogues/partnerships to educate the public and other sectors and advocate for the SDGs
- Increasing international development through global networks of international students and alumni and global partnerships
- Helping HEIs embody support for SDG principles and model what an SDG-aligned society could look like
Engaging with the SDGs brings great strategic value for HEIs, and the following advantages (SDSN, 2017) are directly relevant to teaching & learning in particular:
- Capturing demand for SDG-related education (SDG engagement puts HEIs in a good position to respond to increased demand for SDG-related education as public and private stakeholders push for improvements to society and the environment)
- Building new partnerships (SDGs as a common framework allowing identification of synergies across the university community and opportunities to collaborate with external organizations and other sectors)
- Accessing new funding streams (anticipated increase in funding related to SDGs)
- Demonstrating university impact and relevance (e.g., through communications with internal and external stakeholders, such as annual and sustainability reports)
- Defining a university that is responsible and globally aware (rethinking the role of the university beyond knowledge generation and dissemination, toward an institution that is responsive to societal needs and global challenges)