The Alignment of Universities With Sustainable Development Goals: How Do Academics Perceive the Progress (Not) Made?

Abstract

The sustainable development goals (SDGs) and the 2030 Agenda have acted as a global unifying force to address social, economic, and environmental sustainability concerns. Higher education institutions (HEIs)/universities have been envisaged to play an important role in the advancement of this agenda; however, the progress made so far has been less than desired. This is primarily due to a lack of guidelines on the integration of sustainability/SDGs in the education system. One way the required guidelines can be evolved is through the understanding of how different stakeholders perceive sustainability/SDGs and how committed they are to their alignment with them at the microlevel and macrolevel. Thus, a qualitative study was conducted to examine the faculty's perception with regard to the extent of the permeation of the SDGs into different aspects of the functioning of HEIs/universities. A content analysis of the data collected from 47 faculty members of HEIs/universities in the U.K. uncovered interesting themes. The findings revealed that although the awareness of sustainability/SDGs had increased, the integration and implementation of sustainability-oriented practices and SDGs at these campuses and in the teaching-learning process remained limited. This article offered actionable solutions to advance the SDG agenda in the education system.

Keyword Education for sustainable development (ESD), Higher education institutions (HEIs)/universities, Sustainability, Sustainable development goals (SDGs), Teaching-learning process