Advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals through Education Abroad
doi.org/10.36366/G.978-1-952376-09-2 | ISBN: 978-1-952376-09-2
In support of the 2030 Agenda, the guidelines for Advancing the UN SDGs through Education Abroad are free and available to the public. Log in to the store to download at no cost.
Download the GuidelinesWorkshops on the UN SDGs
Introduction
These guidelines serve to direct the education abroad sector toward social, economic, and environmental
Aligning practices with the United Nations SDGs is crucial to The Forum on Education Abroad’s mission to “cultivate educators who champion high quality education abroad experiences that ignite curiosity, impact lives, and contribute to a better world.” The SDGs are global and aspirational, representing a monumental change in practices, values, and priorities resulting from ground-level action across all nations and sectors. By aligning with the SDGs, education abroad can be carried out in a way that not only benefits people but also enriches the planet.
This document is intended to supplement the Standards of Good Practice for Education Abroad. These guidelines can be used in many ways, including:
- As a resource to advocate for change within organizations
- To guide program design, development, and review
- As a resource to promote incorporating the SDGs into education abroad curricula
- To aid in the establishment and review of institutional and community partnerships
- As a benchmarking tool to map institutional and organizational progress
These guidelines are for individual practitioners, institutions, and organizations. The guidelines apply to:
- Undergraduate, graduate, professional, continuing education
- For credit and not-for-credit programs
- All education abroad program types
- Faculty and researchers
- Institutional and organizational administrators
- National and international organizations
- External leadership and community partners
Ideally, institutions would take a holistic approach to the SDGs, embedding their themes across the curriculum and all programs, activities, and operations, empowering staff, instructors and students to take action on them. However, these guidelines recognize that this may not always be feasible and aim also to support learning and thinking about the SDGs, and acting on them, in a wide range of academic and logistical contexts where perhaps only targeted or gradual steps are possible. The SDG Impact Table for Education Abroad that follows these guidelines provide examples of how education abroad may advance each SDG. Practitioners are invited to use the Impact Table Worksheet to make additional or different connections between their programming and the SDGs.
Check out this session from The Forum’s 17th Annual Conference in March, 2021, for an overview of the guidelines, Impact Table, and examples of how different Forum members are applying them.
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- The 17 Goals
- The 2030 Agenda
- Primer on the Sustainable Development Goals: A Basic Guide to the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs
- Accelerating Education for the SDGs in Universities (Sustainable Development Solutions Network)
- Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE)
- Atlas of Sustainable Development Goals (World Bank)
- Australasian Campuses Towards Sustainability
- Climate Action Network for International Educators (CANIE)
- Getting Started with the SDGs in Universities (Sustainable Development Solutions Network)
- Global Alliance of Universities on Climate
- Higher Education Sustainability Initiative (HESI)
- “How Can We Achieve the SDGs? Strategic Policy Directions”
- Integrated Solutions for Sustainable Development
- International Universities Climate Alliance
- Local 2030: Tools and Solutions to Achieve the SDGs at the Local Level
- ODS Territorio Ecuador
- Sustainable Development Solutions Network
- Underestimating the Challenges of Avoiding a Ghastly Future (https://doi.org/10.3389/fcosc.2020.615419)
- Adrienne Fusek, San Diego State University, Climate Action Network for International Educators, co-chair
- Valeria Albani, Rhode Island School of Design
- Maria Dietrich, Northampton Community College
- Elizabeth Frohlich, The Forum on Education Abroad, co-chair
- Rikke Kolbech, DIS – Study Abroad in Scandinavia
- Kevin Murphy, University of New Haven Tuscany Campus
- Daniel Ponce-Taylor, Intercultural Outreach Initiative (IOI)
- Ravi Raj, Authentica
- Uttiyo Raychaudhuri, The University of Denver
- Leo Rowland, Studio Arts College International (SACI)
- Karla Torres, Go Experience Travel (GET) Ecuador
- Karen Williams, Drake University