The contribution of the Australian University Sector to Australia’s implementation of the SDGs
A new statement from SDSN Australia/Pacific summarises how the Australian university sector is engaging with and contributing to SDG implementation in Australia, in support of the Australian Government’s Voluntary National Review process.
The Australian Government will be presenting its first National Voluntary Review (VNR) on national progress towards the implementation of Agenda 2030 and the SDGs to the UN High Level Political Forum in July 2018. The VNR will report, among other things, on how all sectors in Australia are contributing to the implementation of the SDGs, both domestically and internationally.
The Australian university sector plays a critical role in the implementation of all of the SDGs, and SDSN Australia/Pacific has been working to increase the visibility of the sector’s contributions in the VNR process. This has included running a VNR consultation session for the sector and facilitating the collection of case studies.
The new statement synthesises outcomes from these and other SDSN Australia/Pacific activities to provide an overview summary of how the university sector is already engaging with and contributing to SDG implementation in Australia. In particular it shows that:
- Universities provide a significant contribution to the SDGs through their core “business as usual” activities.
- Universities are showing commitment to the SDGS and have been going “beyond business as usual” to support them.
- There are significant opportunities for the sector to scale up its own contribution to the SDGs to support other sectors in their implementation efforts.
The statement has been provided for consideration to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, which is coordinating the drafting of the VNR.