Sustainable Development Goals

Raising Awareness

A key objective of integrating the SDGs into university research and curricula is to raise awareness of the global challenges facing humanity. By familiarizing students with the SDGs and their ultimate goals, our partner universities are ideally placed to instill a sense of global citizenship and responsibility. This heightened awareness will offer researchers and students a unique opportunity to contribute to a more sustainable and equitable world. 

Promoting Interdisciplinary Research

The SDGs recognize that the world’s challenges are interconnected and require interdisciplinary solutions, e.g. in plant sciences. By incorporating the SDGs into curriculums across various disciplines, universities can promote collaboration between students and faculty from different fields. This interdisciplinary approach can lead to innovative solutions, foster a deeper understanding of the complexities of sustainable development, and prepare students for the increasingly interconnected nature of the global workforce. 

Encouraging Research and Innovation

Universities, through their research and teaching, are central hubs for research and innovation, an ideal position to contribute to the achievement of the SDGs. By integrating the SDGs into research agendas and supporting projects that address them, universities generate new approaches, knowledge, and essentially drive innovation in fostering sustainable development.

Establishing Partnerships:  

Incorporating the SDGs into university research and curricula reaches beyond education. Universities are central places to engage in broader outreach and establish partnerships with cities, local and regional organizations, government and ministries, as well as innovators and businesses to solve sustainability issues. These collaborations provide actors with applied skills and knowledge relevant for real-world scenarios furthering exchange of everyone involved as changemakers. 

The DWIH NY, in line with the SDGs, aims to promote cross-sectoral engagement and critical understanding of sustainable development issues in research and curricula, enhance tools for future forecasting, global governance capacity, and strengthen public awareness of their active role in contributing to the achievement of the SDGs. The DWIH NY seeks to support closing the action-knowledge gap to draw on existing best practices, knowledge and capacities required to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and support concrete outcomes and lasting impact at the university and higher education level.

Source: Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (UNDP, 2015)  

Event “Integrating the SDGs into Higher Education Curricula and Research”

On July 12, 2023, the Education Outreach Section from the UN Department of Global Communications and the DWIH New York invited higher education professionals and university alliance leaders to an informal lunch session on the efforts of the UN to support the integration of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into university curricula and research.

Takeaways Event “Integrating the SDGs into HIE Curricula and Research” (EN – PDF – 0.3 MB)

Disclaimer: The above list is indicative and neither exclusive nor exhaustive. The information provided on this page has been sourced from third party websites. The DWIH New York is not liable for the content of any websites run by third parties. The organizations listed here have not been asked for their permission to feature this information. By featuring these reports the DWIH New York does not promote these organizations.