Fewer than two-thirds of global universities assess their students¡¯ learning about sustainability, despite nearly all higher education institutions teaching courses explicitly aligned to the United Nations¡¯ global inequality challenges.

In a sign of higher education¡¯s growing engagement with the UN¡¯s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a record 91 per cent?of universities?(2,389) entering this year¡¯s Times Higher Education?Impact Rankings table for SDG 17 (partnerships for the goals) claimed that they?had dedicated courses that addressed sustainability and the SDGs,?which include ending poverty, improving health, reducing educational inequalities and protecting the environment.

Despite the ubiquity of SDG-infused courses, however, universities fared far less well on examining student awareness of these inequality challenges, with only 63 per cent stating that they evaluated?¡°students¡¯ ability to learn and retain key concepts of sustainability¡±?¨C a new question asked in the 2025 edition of the rankings (although?it currently has zero weight on institutions¡¯ scores). Furthermore, only a fifth of universities presented any relevant evidence that they had changed assessment practices to reflect courses¡¯ new focus on SDGs.

Canada was the best performer on this among large university systems in the ranking; more than half of Canadian universities provided relevant evidence showing that they assessed students on sustainability, while 42 per cent of the 24 ranked universities in the country scored full marks on this question (meaning that they provided specific, public evidence of this work).?

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Percentage of universities that assess students¡¯ sustainability literacy and provide relevant evidence

¡°Students are optimised for marks ¨C and understandably so, because they are continually examined and ranked by universities?¨C so if you don¡¯t put in place any assessment they won¡¯t do the work on sustainability,¡± reflected Wim Vanderbauwhede, professor of computing science at the University of Glasgow, where he successfully campaigned for students to learn about the carbon emissions?generated by cloud computing and data centres.

In Glasgow¡¯s computing courses, students are quizzed about the carbon footprint of machines and asked to write essays about the politics of cloud computing in light of their massive carbon emissions. Project-based learning has also seen teams provide more ecologically aware solutions for a real-life industry partner.

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Some might worry this emphasis on accruing degree credits impedes a more personal engagement with environmental issues, but Vanderbauwhede takes a different view. ¡°Summative assessment is the only way,¡± he said. ¡°Some students might view sustainability engagement as a way to gain marks but that¡¯s fine. The important thing is that you make this work worthwhile for students.¡±

However, assessment does not necessarily entail the drudgery of rote learning or the high-pressure stakes of timed examinations. Many universities submitted novel examples to the Impact Rankings of how students had been enthused by the SDG-related research projects on which they were assessed, while some institutions encouraged students to undertake schools outreach and industry engagement as part of sustainability-related assessment.

At UWE Bristol (University of the West of England), undergraduates on business and marketing courses used SDGs as a starting point to examine how industries such as tourism, events management and sport might tackle issues close to consumers¡¯ hearts. Among the student projects highlighted were an investigation into how to educate festivalgoers on the need for climate action, whether outdoor events attendees with special dietary requirements were catered for and how racism affects fan loyalty in football.

¡°This module allows you to open your mind out of the typical bounds of corporate or neoliberal theory,¡± commented one business school student, while another commended the taught content as ¡°extremely useful as sustainability will be engrained in every industry¡±.

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¡°We need to go beyond awareness of sustainability and move towards true engagement ¨C that means sustainability must be embedded in student outcomes from the start,¡± said Glasgow¡¯s Vanderbauwhede. ¡°This is starting but I wish more academics recognise this needs to happen.¡±

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com

The?Times Higher Education?Impact Rankings 2025 will be published?in late June.??