Yvette from Oxford EMI highlights the importance of sustainability to universities.
On the ten-year anniversary of the adoption of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Oxford EMI’s Yvette reflects on how prospective students view sustainable universities, how universities contribute to and are assessed on the SDGs, and how our teacher training programmes help universities contribute to the SDGs.
The Growing Importance of Sustainability in University Choice
A recent report by QS, ‘Shaping Sustainable Futures: Students, Universities and Green Skills’, reveals that almost half of prospective students say they would choose to study at a sustainable university over one ranked in the top 100. And over two-thirds would choose a sustainable institution over those ranked in the top 500 or 1,000.
This signals a clear message that students are seeking institutions that reflect their values by actively contributing to a more sustainable future.
Universities and the UN Sustainable Development Goals
This aligns with the global framework established by the United Nations in 2015—The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. At its core are 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), designed to address global challenges including poverty, inequality, climate change, and quality education.
SDG 4 is of particular relevance to higher education as it aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education for all. Universities, however, also have an important role to play across all the SDGs—through their research, innovation, teaching, campus operations, and community engagement. As knowledge hubs, universities are uniquely positioned to lead, influence, and drive sustainable progress, both locally and globally.
Measuring Impact: The Role of THE Impact Rankings
To recognise and assess the contributions universities are making towards these goals, Times Higher Education (THE) introduced THE Impact Rankings in 2019. These rankings complement the longstanding THE World University Rankings (since 2004) by offering a different lens—one that focuses on sustainability and societal impact.
The Impact Rankings evaluate institutions across four key areas:
- Research – Examining the volume and impact of research related to the SDGs.
- Stewardship – Assessing how institutions manage their own resources, staff, and communities.
- Outreach – Looking at how universities engage with stakeholders beyond campus boundaries.
- Teaching – Measuring how universities prepare graduates to address global challenges and integrate sustainability into their future work.
A university’s overall score in the Impact Rankings is determined by its performance on SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals)—which emphasises collaboration—and its three strongest results among the remaining SDGs.
Sustainability is a key issue for universities
Sustainability is a key issue for universities—it is central to the identity and strategy of leading universities worldwide; and increasingly, it is central to the decisions of students.
As institutions continue to respond to this demand, we expect higher education to become more aligned with global priorities, increasingly responsive to societal needs, and even more committed to building a better future for the next generation.
Sustainability and Oxford EMI
Sustainability also plays an important role for us at Oxford EMI.
Our courses can help universities contribute to the SDGs, for example by training EMI teachers to actively promote cross-cultural communication, improve the quality of learning, and ensure all students have equal opportunities to participate and learn.
A key example of this is the role the SDGs play in the microteaching sessions of our face-to-face courses in which course participants, working in groups of three or four, plan and deliver a 20-minute lesson. As part of the detailed plan each group collaborates on, they must address at least one SDG their lesson.
Caption: Title pages from microteaching slide decks from courses at the University of Montpellier and Waseda University
However, we also integrate ideas on SDGs throughout our own course design and delivery, especially SDGs 4, 8, 10, 16 and 17. If you’d like to find out more about how Oxford EMI can help universities contribute towards the SDGs, please do get in touch.
Blog writer
Yvette Selwyn is the Projects & Sustainability Manager at Oxford EMI. You can find out more about her on the Meet our team page.