PLGUS_EN

Sustainable University Leadership and Governance Program

Educational authorities involved

Training hours

Renewed Institutional Strategic Plans

Universities

Higher education institutions play a fundamental role in the training of future professionals, responding to global challenges and a changing world. International agreements, governmental and from different sectors have agreed on this challenge and have developed commitments that seek to facilitate the transition towards university sustainability, identifying mobilizing actions that must be taken to ensure quality education, collaborate in reducing the degradation of the natural environment, favor regeneration, care for ecosystems and the permanence of humanity.

The course “Leadership and sustainable university governance. Road towards the 2030 Agenda” is part of the Leadership, Management and Training Program for Sustainable Higher Education (ESS) developed by the UNESCO International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (IESALC) and developed from the IESALC Campus platform.

The main purpose of this program is to build capacities in institutions to support their sustainable transformation process. To this end, universities generate joint synergies, putting their capacities and international networks at the service of developing and strengthening the urgent efforts towards sustainability and quality education for all.

General objectives

Guide university governance teams to understand the opportunities offered by the SDGs and structure a roadmap that enables the contribution to sustainability and responds to the 2030 Agenda.
Provide knowledge and solutions that support the implementation of the SDGs in the university.
Incorporate the principles of the SDGs through governance, management and university culture.
To learn about conceptual and methodological frameworks to advance the SDGs within the university and with them the 2030 Agenda.
Identify and analyze good practices carried out by other universities in training, research, institutional management and university extension.
Encourage peer learning and the generation of alliances, as well as cooperation on sustainability issues.
Design an implementation plan as a roadmap with concrete activities aimed at achieving the commitments made in the 2030 Agenda.

Phases

Face-to-face component

A series of reflection and collaborative work sessions were held at Casa de América, Madrid, Spain, with the participation of the rectors and representatives of the participating universities. During these sessions, experiences were exchanged with two leading universities in the implementation of a strategy aimed at achieving the goals of the 2030 Agenda, in order to learn first-hand about the implementation model. Finally, the institutional commitment document was signed in favor of the alliance of universities for sustainability.

Virtual component

During the activities planned within the virtual course, first a self-diagnosis of the level of maturity of the institution (teaching and learning, governance, research and social leadership) in terms of sustainability was carried out, in order to establish the baseline of work with each of the participating institutions. Subsequently, the training began through synchronous and asynchronous virtual sessions, where they learned about integrative models of the SDGs and discussed with experts to strengthen their own Institutional Strategic Plan (ISP) with a view to sustainability.

At the end of each module, participants worked on the sections corresponding to the IAP, based on the reflections made in each module. Afterwards, a roadmap was created with the activities and goals established for 2024, which will be followed up and monitored within 6 months after the end of the course. After this time, a new meeting is expected to be held to share progress and measure impact. All the training was accompanied by mentors for the articulation of the institutional roadmap. Throughout the eight weeks, the university team, composed of the rector and two leading university managers, participated in virtual activities with world experts and mentoring sessions, to learn first-hand about good practices aimed at implementing sustainability, within its Institutional Strategic Plan as an articulating axis to respond to the 2030 Agenda.

Training modules

Module 1. Sustainability at the core of the strategy

Linking sustainability to the university’s strategic axes – teaching, social projection, internationalization, research, governance, where and how do the priorities of my university connect with sustainability?

Module 2. Accelerating the SDGs in universities.

This module provides a clear vision of how universities can contribute to implementing the SDGs through their own functions such as: education, research, governance and social leadership..

Module 3. Governance and sustainable leadership.

This module will delve into the leadership model needed to strengthen strategic planning processes and thus sustainability.

Module 4. Challenges and pathways to 2050.

Using their unique position within society, universities, both individually and collectively, can help lead, guide, and support local, national, and international responses to the SDGs.

Certification

Obtaining the certification and digital badge was based on active participation and attending at least 80% of the videoconference sessions, as well as the completion of a final project on how to implement the Roadmap in their university based on the deliverables provided in each module. At no point in the course did we seek to evaluate participants on the content. Our main objective is to make the knowledge available to the rectors in order to generate a deep transformation process.

Slide

“It has been an extremely motivating program, it has allowed us to recognize our own sustainability-oriented policies that need to be rethought, and we have been able to find endless opportunities for improvement. This comes at a special moment in university life, as we are starting to build our new PAI which will surely be made up of various actions oriented towards sustainable development.It has been an extremely motivating program, it has allowed us to recognize our own sustainability-oriented policies that need to be rethought, and we have been able to find endless opportunities for improvement. This comes at a special moment in university life, as we are starting to build our new PAI which will surely be made up of various actions oriented towards sustainable development.”

Marcelo Fernando Figari
Rector
University Institute Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires

Slide

“Quality, relevance and good practices were the constant for us, at the Cooperative University of Colombia, to make the decision to start working in a network in our multicampus system where we will give a resignification to the concept of sustainability and in a decisive way contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals.”

Maritza Rondón
Rector
Cooperative University of Colombia

Slide

“This UNESCO-IESALC program provides a strategic and integrative approach to sustainability to be consolidated through projects and actions in the short, medium and long term. It also represents a forum for dialogue, exchange of content, tools and best practices among experts and educational institutions. The positive impacts will be reflected in my institution in the following areas: Governance, Culture, Academia, Campus Management, Liaison and Social Responsibility.”

Fernada Llergo
Rectora
IPADE and Panamerican University

Relevant news