14
C. Shiel et al.
• Goal 5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
• Goal 6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation
for all
• Goal 7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for
all
• Goal 8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and
productive employment and decent work for all
• Goal 9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
• Goal 10. Reduce inequality within and among countries
• Goal 11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
• Goal 12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
• Goal 13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts*
• Goal 14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for
sustainable development
• Goal 15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
• Goal 16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development,
provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive
institutions at all levels
• Goal 17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development.
Of the seventeen SDGs, only Goal 4 explicitly references education however
Mader and Rammel (2015) suggest that universities have a much wider transformative role to play to achieve sustainable development. In their opinion, the most
pertinent SDGs for education are Goals 4, 9, 12, 16 and 17. Although they highlight
specifically just five goals, what is of overarching importance is that all students need
to understand the implications of the entirety of the framework; all students need to
develop the knowledge and skills required to live sustainably, within environmental
limits. Further, meeting the SDGs will require universities to provide appropriately
skilled graduates (Association of Commonwealth Universities 2015) and this will
require rethinking the curriculum. Dramatically more globally relevant curricula are
needed in all countries if students are to meet employability requirements and to
address the social, environmental cultural, economic and health challenges that the
world faces (Hall and Tandon 2013).
An inspiring publication by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network in
the Pacific Rim (SDSN Australia/Pacific 2017) exemplifies what needs to happen
in regard to the SDGs. The paper reinforces that universities (as knowledge creators) must play a vital role in developing those who will be the current and future
implementers of the SDGs; “Addressing the challenges of the SDGs will require new
knowledge, new ways of doing things, hard choices between competing options, and
in some cases profound transformations” (p. 8). Further, the paper suggests that an
C. Shiel et al.
• Goal 5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
• Goal 6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation
for all
• Goal 7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for
all
• Goal 8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and
productive employment and decent work for all
• Goal 9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
• Goal 10. Reduce inequality within and among countries
• Goal 11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
• Goal 12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
• Goal 13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts*
• Goal 14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for
sustainable development
• Goal 15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
• Goal 16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development,
provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive
institutions at all levels
• Goal 17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development.
Of the seventeen SDGs, only Goal 4 explicitly references education however
Mader and Rammel (2015) suggest that universities have a much wider transformative role to play to achieve sustainable development. In their opinion, the most
pertinent SDGs for education are Goals 4, 9, 12, 16 and 17. Although they highlight
specifically just five goals, what is of overarching importance is that all students need
to understand the implications of the entirety of the framework; all students need to
develop the knowledge and skills required to live sustainably, within environmental
limits. Further, meeting the SDGs will require universities to provide appropriately
skilled graduates (Association of Commonwealth Universities 2015) and this will
require rethinking the curriculum. Dramatically more globally relevant curricula are
needed in all countries if students are to meet employability requirements and to
address the social, environmental cultural, economic and health challenges that the
world faces (Hall and Tandon 2013).
An inspiring publication by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network in
the Pacific Rim (SDSN Australia/Pacific 2017) exemplifies what needs to happen
in regard to the SDGs. The paper reinforces that universities (as knowledge creators) must play a vital role in developing those who will be the current and future
implementers of the SDGs; “Addressing the challenges of the SDGs will require new
knowledge, new ways of doing things, hard choices between competing options, and
in some cases profound transformations” (p. 8). Further, the paper suggests that an