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H. Avery and B. Nordén
8 A Role for the SDGs in Higher Education?
The SDGs are comprehensive, covering most areas of human activity and impacts,
and designed for ease of communication across contexts. The SDGs also set concrete
targets and provide indicators to measure progress. However, they do not engage in
binding commitments for working towards sustainability; rather, they are intended as
soft power and as a common vision towards which efforts can be directed. Through
mechanisms of monitoring, states worldwide may be incentivised to work more
systematically towards the various targets. Within states, the various criteria could be
used for evaluations or in decisions on resource allocation. A major merit of the SDGs
is the broad emphasis on global equity, but from the perspective of sustainability, the
goals do little to reduce the immanent risk of environmental collapse. Additionally,
several of the goals are premised on the idea of continued growth (see Ruiz-Mallén
and Heras 2020; Vogt and Weber 2020) and the argument that economic growth will
liberate the resources needed to realise the SDGs.
Soft power and policy documents at supra-national levels, including the EU, the
OECD and UNESCO, have been shown to have a considerable impact on education
systems, notably through formalising qualifications that give access to professions in
the labour market. It can be expected that although they are not binding, the SDGs will
also affect HEIs through the way they are evaluated and possibly through financial
incentives. Higher education and research are most directly concerned with SDG 17,
which includes knowledge sharing globally (17.6).
Despite the limitations of the SDGs as a basis for supporting transitions towards
sustainability and global justice, two of the targets could be used as leverage in higher
education. The first is target 4.7 on education for sustainable development. The ethical
stance outlined in this target is in line with the values required to build a collaborative
paradigm (Waddell 2011) and can, therefore, be used to support transformation in
this direction.
The second is target 17.6, on knowledge sharing and access to technology. Unfortunately, in terms of implementation, the indicator for this target is limited to ICTs.
Nevertheless, although target 17.6 does not specify that global knowledge sharing
should focus on areas that will enable transitions to sustainable societies within planetary boundaries, HEIs can use this target within their respective national evaluation
systems to systematically support internationalisation, specifically aiming at global
justice and addressing sustainability challenges globally. To make actual contributions, however, internationalisation needs to go beyond its current forms, which are
largely geared to serve dominant Northern partners (Chan 2004; Holmarsdottir et al.
2013; Melber 2015). Furthermore, to the extent that mobility is also involved, benefits need to go beyond individual students, staff or research environments, which
supposes structures dedicated to spreading knowledge and know-how within the
sending and receiving institutions.
H. Avery and B. Nordén
8 A Role for the SDGs in Higher Education?
The SDGs are comprehensive, covering most areas of human activity and impacts,
and designed for ease of communication across contexts. The SDGs also set concrete
targets and provide indicators to measure progress. However, they do not engage in
binding commitments for working towards sustainability; rather, they are intended as
soft power and as a common vision towards which efforts can be directed. Through
mechanisms of monitoring, states worldwide may be incentivised to work more
systematically towards the various targets. Within states, the various criteria could be
used for evaluations or in decisions on resource allocation. A major merit of the SDGs
is the broad emphasis on global equity, but from the perspective of sustainability, the
goals do little to reduce the immanent risk of environmental collapse. Additionally,
several of the goals are premised on the idea of continued growth (see Ruiz-Mallén
and Heras 2020; Vogt and Weber 2020) and the argument that economic growth will
liberate the resources needed to realise the SDGs.
Soft power and policy documents at supra-national levels, including the EU, the
OECD and UNESCO, have been shown to have a considerable impact on education
systems, notably through formalising qualifications that give access to professions in
the labour market. It can be expected that although they are not binding, the SDGs will
also affect HEIs through the way they are evaluated and possibly through financial
incentives. Higher education and research are most directly concerned with SDG 17,
which includes knowledge sharing globally (17.6).
Despite the limitations of the SDGs as a basis for supporting transitions towards
sustainability and global justice, two of the targets could be used as leverage in higher
education. The first is target 4.7 on education for sustainable development. The ethical
stance outlined in this target is in line with the values required to build a collaborative
paradigm (Waddell 2011) and can, therefore, be used to support transformation in
this direction.
The second is target 17.6, on knowledge sharing and access to technology. Unfortunately, in terms of implementation, the indicator for this target is limited to ICTs.
Nevertheless, although target 17.6 does not specify that global knowledge sharing
should focus on areas that will enable transitions to sustainable societies within planetary boundaries, HEIs can use this target within their respective national evaluation
systems to systematically support internationalisation, specifically aiming at global
justice and addressing sustainability challenges globally. To make actual contributions, however, internationalisation needs to go beyond its current forms, which are
largely geared to serve dominant Northern partners (Chan 2004; Holmarsdottir et al.
2013; Melber 2015). Furthermore, to the extent that mobility is also involved, benefits need to go beyond individual students, staff or research environments, which
supposes structures dedicated to spreading knowledge and know-how within the
sending and receiving institutions.