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AusNZPac Regional Forum on Mainstreaming Education for the SDGs in Higher Education

By Lauren Barredo

On 22-24 February the SDSN Regional Network for Australia, New Zealand & the Pacific (SDSN AusNZPac) co-hosted the 2nd regional forum on mainstreaming education for the SDGs in higher education.

Providing all students, regardless of their professional path, with the knowledge, skills, and mindsets to address complex sustainable development challenges is one of the most important ways Higher Education Institutions can contribute to achieving the SDGs. This is also aligned with SDG target 4.7, which calls for ensuring that “all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development.”

A growing number of HEIs in the Australia, New Zealand and Pacific region are actively exploring and implementing ways to expand and mainstream their education for the SDGs offerings, but many challenges still remain for scaling up action.

The forum, organized in partnership with Australasian Campuses Towards Sustainability (ACTS) and the Australia-NZ Chapter of Principles from Responsible Management Education (PRME), brought together university leaders, education for sustainable development experts, and teaching staff from a wide range of disciplines to discuss good practices, challenges, and opportunities for advancing action in our region.

The forum focussed on five intersecting areas of action, spanning in scale from the classroom to the whole sector:

  • Institutional approaches
  • The global context and case
  • The role of networks and cross-institute collaborations
  • Innovative educational programs
  • Learning & teaching for climate change action

With 30 speakers and a highly engaged audience, the sessions shared a wide range of great initiatives and discussed a range of important issues and learnings about the case for institutional action, support for educators (and students), and the importance of cross-sector networks and collaborations in helping keep the momentum going. A number of follow up activities are already in the works.

A brief summary of the forum, and links to the agenda, session recordings and other resources, can be found on the forum webpage.

The forum was part of SDSN AusNZPac’s ongoing Accelerating SDG Practice Initiative , which aims to help our members engage better with the SDGs, and in follow up and support for the SDSN guide on Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities.