How Universities Can Integrate the Sustainable Development Goals

The Sustainable Development Goal Blueprint shows pathways to integration for university curricula, research, and partnerships.

This session was part of the NBS Sustainability Centres Community (SCC) Workshop 2021. The SCC connects business school sustainability centres worldwide.  

“Five years after the United Nations launched the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development along with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), it is time to evaluate how business and management schools around the world have responded to this ambitious agenda.” That statement comes from the introduction to a “Blueprint” guide for integrating the SDGs into universities.

At the 2021 SCC workshop, Fara Azmat and Harsh Suri  (Deakin University) led a session presenting this “Blueprint for SDG Integration into Curriculum, Research, and Partnerships.” Azmat and Suri were part of the team that developed the guide, an effort of the UN Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) community.

The Blueprint lays out frameworks, guidelines, examples and suggestions to support integration of the SDGs. In this session, the presenters focused on practical applications of the SDG Blueprint. They also facilitated discussion about different strategies that business schools take to integrate the SDGs across curriculum and partnership. 

Watch the Session Video

About the SCC Workshop 2021

Every two years, the NBS Sustainability Centres Community Workshop connects leaders of business school sustainability centres for learning and action. This session was a part of the most recent Workshop in July 2021: “Designing the Business School Sustainability Centre of the Future.” See the main Workshop page for an overview and to access additional sessions.

The 2021 Workshop was hosted by the Center for Sustainability Transformation and Responsibility (STaR) at the Vienna University of Economics and Business and the Institute for Business Ethics and Sustainable Strategy (IBES) at the FH Wien University of Applied Sciences for Management & Communication.

See the Sustainability Centres Community homepage for additional information and to join the group.

Banner photo is taken by Marius Brand of WU Vienna, who gave us a great sense of what our conference would have felt like in Vienna, had it not been virtual.

About the Session Leaders

Fara Azmat, Deakin University

Dr. Fara Azmat is an Associate Professor in the Department of Management at Deakin University, Australia. Within the broader domain of social responsibility, her research interest includes: sustainable development with a focus on the UN SDGs alongside social inclusion, social entrepreneurship, social responsibility and migrant/women entrepreneurship. She has published in top tier journals such as Journal of Business Ethics, Business & Society, Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, Australian Journal of Management, and Journal of Consumer Affairs. She currently serves as a member of the Editorial board of Social Responsibility Journal, and a fellow member of the ESRC, Peer Review College UK and has won multiple international research awards. She has contributed to the Blueprint for SDG integration into curriculum, research and partnerships as a research theme lead. Fara has also co-edited a special issue of Social Business on integrating SDGs across research and curricula.

Harsh Suri, Deakin University

Associate Professor Harsh Suri, PhD, has published in top-tier journals on ethics, sustainability, responsibility and inclusivity in research methods, systematic reviews, higher education and graduate employment. She has won two international research awards and has authored a Routledge research monograph. She leads a team supporting teaching and learning initiatives including SDGs integration into curriculum at Deakin Business School. Several initiatives she has co-led have been recognised for excellence institutionally, nationally and internationally through awards such as two Vice-Chancellor’s awards, 2018 ACTS Green Gown Awards Australasia, 2020 PRME award for Excellence in SIP reporting and 2020 AAUT Citation Award. As the Curriculum Theme Lead, she contributed to the Blueprint for SDG integration into curriculum, research and partnerships. She is on the PRME ANZ Chapter Steering Committee. She co-found and is co-leading the Australasian Business Ethics Network Qualitative Research and Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education Business Education SIGs.