Aligning Campus Strategy with the SDGs …
15
extensive contribution involves universities embodying the SDGs through organisational governance, operations and culture, as well as using their leadership role to
influence partners and stakeholders in the community. The paper (p. 9) also sets out
why universities need the SDGs: to demonstrate impact; capture demand for SDG
related education; to build new partnerships and to access new funding streams.
Their guide is to be applauded and suggests that what is required for the SDGs is a
strategic and integrative approach to sustainability, as has been argued previously for
sustainable development (e.g. Leal Filho et al. 2015; Sterling et al. 2013)—through
research, across the curriculum and in the extra-curricular sphere, and through working in the community to educate and encourage capacity building.
There are currently only a few early adopters of such an approach. One of the
partners in the Pacific Rim collaboration, Victoria University of Wellington, New
Zealand for example, has already mapped their current curriculum against the SDGs
with the aim to track their own contributions towards the global goals and improve
their offerings (Wilks and Van den Belt 2017). Similarly in the UK, the University of
the West of England (UWE) is leading the way in taking a strategic approach to the
SDGs and undertaking curriculum mapping to establish a benchmark for progress
(Gough and Longhurst 2018), as is Nottingham Trent University (Willats et al. 2018)
however, these examples are uncommon.
The 2017 Green Gown Awards UK and Ireland, a scheme delivered by the Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges (EAUC) that recognises exceptional
sustainability initiatives undertaken by university and colleagues, tasked applicants
with mapping the SDGs that their projects were delivering against. Canterbury Christ
Church University emerged as another example of how a strategic approach to sustainability is transforming their University, both operationally and academically, and
The London School of Economics and Political Science stated that sustainability
was a fundamental strand running through teaching, research, operations and public
engagement (EAUC 2017). However, not even at this high level of awards, was it
possible to see that a strategic and integrative approach to the SDGs is commonplace.
In the UK, 75% of student respondents in the National Union of Students (NUS)
et al. (2017) annual sector survey, reported that their institution had progressed action
linked to the United Nation’s SDGs initiative, seeing the SDGs as the biggest motivator of the initiatives listed. However, institutional innovators are in the minority and,
there are few examples of how institutions are implementing their approaches. Further, there is no evidence yet of the impact or success of approaches. More examples
are needed to share practice and particularly to extend conversations about aligning
strategy with the SDGs in a higher education setting in order to build momentum for
change.
4 Method
This paper adopts a case study approach (Yin 2014), and represents an empirical
inquiry into sustainable development progress within a particular setting, the case
15
extensive contribution involves universities embodying the SDGs through organisational governance, operations and culture, as well as using their leadership role to
influence partners and stakeholders in the community. The paper (p. 9) also sets out
why universities need the SDGs: to demonstrate impact; capture demand for SDG
related education; to build new partnerships and to access new funding streams.
Their guide is to be applauded and suggests that what is required for the SDGs is a
strategic and integrative approach to sustainability, as has been argued previously for
sustainable development (e.g. Leal Filho et al. 2015; Sterling et al. 2013)—through
research, across the curriculum and in the extra-curricular sphere, and through working in the community to educate and encourage capacity building.
There are currently only a few early adopters of such an approach. One of the
partners in the Pacific Rim collaboration, Victoria University of Wellington, New
Zealand for example, has already mapped their current curriculum against the SDGs
with the aim to track their own contributions towards the global goals and improve
their offerings (Wilks and Van den Belt 2017). Similarly in the UK, the University of
the West of England (UWE) is leading the way in taking a strategic approach to the
SDGs and undertaking curriculum mapping to establish a benchmark for progress
(Gough and Longhurst 2018), as is Nottingham Trent University (Willats et al. 2018)
however, these examples are uncommon.
The 2017 Green Gown Awards UK and Ireland, a scheme delivered by the Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges (EAUC) that recognises exceptional
sustainability initiatives undertaken by university and colleagues, tasked applicants
with mapping the SDGs that their projects were delivering against. Canterbury Christ
Church University emerged as another example of how a strategic approach to sustainability is transforming their University, both operationally and academically, and
The London School of Economics and Political Science stated that sustainability
was a fundamental strand running through teaching, research, operations and public
engagement (EAUC 2017). However, not even at this high level of awards, was it
possible to see that a strategic and integrative approach to the SDGs is commonplace.
In the UK, 75% of student respondents in the National Union of Students (NUS)
et al. (2017) annual sector survey, reported that their institution had progressed action
linked to the United Nation’s SDGs initiative, seeing the SDGs as the biggest motivator of the initiatives listed. However, institutional innovators are in the minority and,
there are few examples of how institutions are implementing their approaches. Further, there is no evidence yet of the impact or success of approaches. More examples
are needed to share practice and particularly to extend conversations about aligning
strategy with the SDGs in a higher education setting in order to build momentum for
change.
4 Method
This paper adopts a case study approach (Yin 2014), and represents an empirical
inquiry into sustainable development progress within a particular setting, the case