The University of Strathclyde has become the first Scottish university – and one of only three in the UK – to be accepted as a signatory to a global platform established to support the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Strathclyde has signed up to the University Global Coalition, which comprises universities and other higher education organisations committed to working together and in partnership with the UN’s Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and other relevant organizations, in support of the SDGs.
The Coalition aims to achieve lasting solutions to the SDGs through multidisciplinary, cross-sectoral, collaborative approaches, which require new ways of thinking, new talent, and new ideas.
Strathclyde is a signatory to the SDGs, which the UN has set to pursue justice, peace, good health, responsible use of resources and the eradication of poverty and hunger. The University was ranked joint 32nd in the world and first in Scotland in the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings 2021, which measure how more than 1,100 global higher education institutions are working towards the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
Strathclyde Principal Professor Sir Jim McDonald said: “We are honoured to have been accepted as signatories to the University Global Coalition. This will provide us with an invaluable platform for sharing and enhancing expertise, as well as informing policy development, with partners worldwide who have the common and critically important aim of attaining the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
“This is a vast, complex mission which affects people around the world. As an international technological university founded as ‘the place of useful learning’, we are proud to be working alongside our partners in business, industry and the public to make a positive impact on the global communities we serve.
“As our home city of Glasgow prepares to host COP26, the UN Climate Change Conference, we are redoubling our efforts to develop the technology and practices needed to deliver sustainable development in all its forms.”
The Coalition has been signed up to on behalf of Strathclyde by Dr Tracy Morse, Head of the University’s Centre for Sustainable Development. This Centre, launched in 2020, brings together all of the University’s education, research and knowledge exchange activity on sustainable development within a single strategic approach.
The University Global Coalition is to host its annual conference on 28-29 September.