UN unveils tool to track universities’ SDGs performance | University World News

On 15 July 2024, UNESCO unveiled its Sustainability Self-Evaluation Tool for Higher Education Institutions, or SET4HEI.

It is a free, online and open resource for higher education institutions to map their current and potential future contributions to the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which cover areas such as the eradication of poverty and hunger; combating climate change; the promotion of good health and wellbeing; clean and affordable energy; and gender equality.

Launched at an international gathering of sustainability-focused academics in New York, alongside the United Nations High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, SET4HEI is the result of a combined effort by three UN bodies – the UNESCO International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean, the United Nations Academic Impact initiative and the UN Higher Education Sustainability Initiative (HESI).

The tool features a collection of online self-assessments, in the form of multiple-choice questionnaires aligned to each of the 17 SDGs, for universities and colleges to complete.

Questions are based on ‘indicators’ of whether the institution is contributing to the achievement of the SDGs it has prioritised – for example, whether an institution that is nominally focused on SDG 1 (ending global poverty) offers courses on poverty alleviation.

Universities and colleges can also apply for SET4HEI certification, which the SET4HEI awarding body says is a “tangible and prestigious mark of excellence in sustainability”, which it hopes will encourage broader engagement with SDGs within higher education.

Read the full version of this article by Laura Syrett on University World News