Date/Time
Date(s) - 11/08/2021
10:00 am - 11:00 am
Categories No Categories
Description:
Dr. Tandon began by giving participants a brief overview of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The United Nations (UN) adopted the SDGs in 2015 as targets to be achieved by 2030. Agenda 2030 establishes 17 Goals which are universally applicable for all countries of the world. It deals with social, economic & ecological development. Specific targets on poverty, hunger, education, water & sanitation, urban infrastructure, climate action etc are included under the UN SDGs. Education is one of the key aspects of the SDGs (SDG 4): “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”.
In terms of climate change, Goal 13 (Climate Action) calls for urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts. It is intrinsically linked to all 16 of the other Goals. Paris agreement was adopted by all 196 countries at COP 21 in December 2015 to limit global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius. India ratified Paris Agreement in October 2016. As the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its Sixth Assessment Report recently, Dr. Tandon urged all participants to read and analyse it. He also gave a macro and micro perspective of SDGs, referring to State SDG action plan reports as well as the National SDG Dashboard. Dr. Tandon spoke of the role of faculty as professors, as adult educators to support prevention and adaptation to climate change and implementation of other SDGs.
He spoke of capacity deficits in achieving SDGs, from ensuring sustained support from political leadership, inadequate resources, limited institutional and human capacities and knowledge deficit. He then spoke of reorienting higher education’s missions of teaching and learning, knowledge and research and service towards an integrated approach. He then gave examples of how each SDG can be incorporated in the 3 missions. The NEP 2020 supports integrating SDGs into teaching and research.
Finally in terms of ways in which HEIs can be more responsive to SDG implementation, he made a few suggestions:
- University leaderships to encourage mainstreaming of SDGs in all aspects of its functioning
- University/teacher associations; student associations; international networks to press demands for SDGs engagement
- HEIs could identify areas in which they want to support explicit efforts to emphasize the three missions for the next five years, and commit economic and political resources to supporting learning, generating knowledge and empowering change
- HEIs can recognize empowered changes in reward systems
- Engagement of HEIs with civil society to engage with SDGs
Find the complete ppt here.