Local Sustainability Indicators and Their Role in the Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in the HE Sector

Abstract

This research study focuses on the potential role of indicators in encouraging engagement with the implementation of the United Nation’s (UN) Sustainable Development Goals, also known as the Global Goals. The UN has a pledge and focus on the need for greater engagement at all levels as a key to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Engagement is also a major concern for the higher education sector, both internally with staff and students and externally with stakeholders, for example, across research impact and funding, quality assessment and Higher Education support agencies, with the aim to build collaborative partnerships and increase the capacity for evidence-based impact, public benefit and widening participation. In line with the focus on engagement there is also a need to be able to measure progress made towards the Sustainable Development Goals by the Higher Education sector. However, this paper argues that measurement in the HE sector tends to concentrate on ‘specialist data’ focusing on comparative league tables and key performance indicators, rather than engagement with the global, social and environmental issues of ‘public good’. The research is informed by learning from the application of sustainability indicators at a local level to engage specialist and non-specialist communities, encourage participation, and inform policy and strategy. The paper examines the scope and challenges in the introduction of sustainability indicators in parallel with current sustainability policies, programmes and projects, and makes recommendations for the greater application of indicators across the HE sector to encourage engagement with the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.