Sustainable Development Goals and Higher Education Institutions 75- Moral obligation: universities are morally bound to create change
through preparing graduates to deal with environmental
problems; - Public outreach: universities should apply their knowledge in
solving the problems of society in the communities in which they
reside; - Sustainable physical operations: greening the campus is
considered a key component in becoming more sustainable; - Ecological literacy: there is need for universities to aid the
development of an environmentally literate people to help in
understanding the functions of world, human impacts on the
biosphere and the translation of understanding to action; - Develop interdisciplinary curricula: subjects studies should show
a link to the environment to help students become more
environmentally literate; - Encourage sustainable research: encourage research that
contributes to local, regional and global sustainability; - Partnership with government, non-governmental organisations
and industry: this is an encouragement for coordination of efforts
at all levels, since the university cannot necessarily create social
change on its own; - Inter-university cooperation: this will facilitate sharing of
information and cooperation in pursuit of practical solutions to
the sustainability problem.
Despite the expressed commitments, change on the part of the higher
education sector has been slow. Some of the challenges that have been
identified in relation to the implementation of sustainable development
in higher education institutions include a lack of strategic leadership,
drive and commitment in the institutions and government; low demand
and perceived irrelevance from students and staff; limited staff
awareness and expertise; academic and professional silos which inhibit