GLOBAL
Science was in the spotlight at this year’s main United Nations event monitoring progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals – advancing science-based solutions was in its theme. Global higher education gathered to craft a greater role for universities in shaping the post-2030 sustainability agenda.
Higher education and science have battled for years for a seat at the sustainable development table, arguing that they educate tomorrow’s leaders – who many universities are imbuing with sustainability knowledge and skills – and also produce much of the research, innovation and analysis that generate solutions for sustainability challenges.
The High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF 2025) was held from 14 to 23 July, under the theme “Advancing sustainable, inclusive, science- and evidence-based solutions for the 2030 Agenda and its SDGs for leaving no one behind”.
But was the inclusion of ‘science- and evidence-based solutions’ for the SDGs strongly advocated in the ministerial segment in the last three days of HLPF 2025? Did it amplify the role of higher education in the minds of leaders of the UN and country delegations?
Not really, said Professor Charles Hopkins, UNESCO Chair in Reorienting Education towards Sustainability at York University in Canada. “While the science- and evidence-based solutions are there, higher education’s role is not explicitly mentioned,” he told University World News.
International Association of Universities Secretary General Dr Hilligje van’t Land told University World News that the voice of higher education has become stronger at the UN in recent years and the sector is welcome. “Our sessions are well attended, including from the government side.
“So there is a shift, I believe, and a positive one. We really hope the future will involve higher education as a key sector. The international science community is already well represented. And since the sciences are being developed at universities, there is a legitimate and normal path to including higher education much more strongly in conversations moving us forward.”
At HLPF 2025, Van’t Land said: “What has been very positive is people speaking up about where they see the future agenda going. It was also good to hear many different perspectives, approaches and appreciations of the current Agenda 2030 and the SDGs. Because we have to look at the world in its broad diversity and richness.”
According to Jayashri Wyatt, UN Chief of Education Outreach in the Department of Global Communications: “It’s fair to say that certain countries who were self-reporting did speak to how important science- and evidence-based solutions actually are. In the main ministerial sessions, several people spoke about this.”
Each year, some countries self-report on their progress toward the SDGs; this year there were 35. Many of those countries include professors and scientists, and so in that way universities are of value to member states.
Also, Wyatt said, in the Pact for the Future, adopted by UN members states in September 2024, “science, technology and evidence-based solutions are certainly referenced very well.”
The HLPF on sustainable development
HLPF 2025 was held under the auspices of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Most of the action during the 10-day forum was at the sidelines, but after their three-day gathering UN members states formally adopted a Ministerial Declaration on 23 July 2025.
The declaration says in its preamble: “We commit to bridging the digital, science, technology and innovation divides and the responsible use of science, technology and innovation as drivers of sustainable development.”
Later, it reaffirms the essential role of scientific knowledge in policymaking, innovation and capacity building, and calls for more collaboration across borders. There is no mention of higher education, although universities and research are major contributors to critical aspects of the SDGs such as capacity building and implementing the goals.
Each year the HLPF charts progress on a set of the 17 SDGs. This year it was SDG 3: Health and well-being; SDG 5: Gender equality; SDG 8: Decent work and economic growth; SDG 14: Life below water; and SDG 17: Partnerships for the goals.
What is widely stressed in country self-reports is the need to accelerate action in order to address the SDG challenges more and better by 2030, said Van’t Land.
“The overall sense is that we’re way below target. There’s much more work that needs to be done. There is constant, important reference made to the fact that the sciences are key and should be better explained to the broader public.” But given the clear connections between higher education and sustainability, most countries should place much more emphasis on this.
Indeed, progress is generally disappointing. The UN Secretary General’s 2025 progress report, based on SDG indicator data from 137 targets, showed that 18% of targets have regressed below baseline levels of 10 years ago; 47% of targets are moving too slowly or show no progress; and 35% of targets are on track or showing moderate progress.
Education for Sustainable Development
SDG 4 is not under review this year, and so education was not under the spotlight. But, Wyatt told University World News the UN General Assembly has noted on numerous occasions that Education for Sustainable Development (SDG 4.7) is a key enabler of other SDGs.
“And of course higher education has a unique value proposition in that evidence-based research and scientific inquiry really does come out of these institutions, which are national treasures of most governments.”
For Charles Hopkins it is more specifically Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) that is the key enabler for progress towards the SDGs. “We’re working with the organisations and institutions of higher education that have started down the path of reorienting education to address sustainability.”
There is an important distinction to be made between education and ESD. Because, as UNESCO Futures of Education (2021) pointed out: “Currently, education attainment and completion correlate with unsustainable practices.” The world’s leaders in general are university graduates, and so educating for sustainable development could make a big positive difference for the future.
Global Higher Education Symposium
Education organisations attend the HLPF as civil society. There were many interesting side events this year involving higher education, and to increase their impact – and make it through highly competitive event selection – global higher education organisations collaborated with each other and with individual universities.
One of the key events for universities was the first new Global Higher Education Symposium. The matter of a growing role for universities in the global sustainable development policy and delivery sphere was an important topic.
Katrin Kohl, UNESCO co-chair with Hopkins at York, told University World News that the symposium came about because of deep concerns around lack of progress on the SDGs and a likely post-2030 agenda.
“Higher education needs to organise very early, to come up with positions and important points and priorities that we would like to bring forward when the post-2030 discussion starts to happen. We need to be able to come out with concrete statements and concrete ideas of what higher education’s value proposition could be.”
The symposium was coordinated by UN Academic Impact, which Wyatt oversees. It is a UN initiative that connects academia, students and an impressive 1,800 universities in 160 countries with UN principles and SDG goals, encouraging social impact through education and research.
Other partners in the symposium were the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, International Science Council, International Association of Universities, German Center for Research and Innovation New York, York University in Canada, UNESCO, UNITAR and the Higher Education Sustainability Initiative (HESI).
The symposium had scholars from around the world, the scientific community and the private sector, among many others, to talk about what the post-2030 agenda could look like. It was held under Chatham House rules, though not strict rules as a UN report on the symposium suggests
The symposium conversation really was very open, said Van’t Land. “It was a first conversation at that level. We made a special effort to bring together voices from all continents, in order for dialogue to be as inclusive as possible.”
It became clear that a better case about the value of higher education needs to be made to society and to governments, “to see higher education as an ally and not as contradicting or opposing political developments.
“People reaffirmed the opportunity of a sector delivering education and research and involving so many people from around the planet, providing a unique space for safe and open dialogue and exchange, and for offering the knowledge everybody needs to become citizens the future needs.”
Wyatt said president-elect of the International Science Council Robbert Dijkgraaf – a physicist and former Minister of education, Culture and Science minister in the Netherlands – pointed out that a lot of science, research, innovation and technology comes out of universities, and is part and parcel of higher education.
“Seeing the symbiotic relationship between the two is important,” said Wyatt. Quoting Fanta Aw, the CEO of NAFSA, she underlined that: “The other message that was coming out was how important it is for institutions of higher education and for international science organisations to be very mission- and purpose-driven.”
According to Hopkins, during a discussion around branding, a private sector contingent said universities are not seen as the go-to place for science. “It’s just not explicit that universities are included in national strategies, in planning. That’s what we’re trying to change.”
So, universities are seen by governments, the private sector and others as a key enabler for SDGs progress, but not as needing to be involved at an early stage or very explicitly.
“Higher education also produces the leadership for the future. From the political aspect, it is really important to have a knowledgeable society that will politically support enlightened legislation, should it come along. That’s an undercurrent of a knowledgeable society.”
Sustainability experts such as Hopkins often feel governments become stalled because they do not have the public support to bring in enlightened legislation. “We’re learning how to talk about this, which means not so much involving the natural and physical sciences but social sciences, to find out how we build an enlightened consumer and enlightened political support.”
Implementing SDG 8
The International Association of Universities (IAU) co-hosted a session on implementing SDG 8, titled “SDG 8: Inclusive and Sustainable Economic Growth – The role of higher education”.
Other partners included the International Labour Organisation, Gothenburg University in Sweden and University College Dublin, as well as the UN Academic Impact, UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and its SDG Academy, and the universities of Gothenburg, Auckland, Nigeria Nsukka and Makerere.
SDG 8: Decent work and economic growth is a pillar SDG, linked to the SDGs on education, health and well-being, sustainable cities and others, she explained.
At the event, “some key messages were around how universities and academia are catalysts for transformation. How they need to be capacitated and supported in their work, how member states ought to enable the different dynamics of education and research to drive transformation towards decent jobs, and how international organisations like the IAU can scale up successful initiatives.”
In the IAU’s Global Cluster on Higher Education for Sustainable Development, the University of Gothenburg in Sweden is the highly active lead on SDG 8, led by Dr Gunnar Köhlin. At the event Gothenburg presented a new open access book on achieving SDG 8.
A recurring theme in the session was the need for interdisciplinary approaches which, said Van’t Land, remain underused despite having “extraordinary potential for positive transformation”.
The International Labour organisation called for strong academic partnerships. The session also stressed that universities ought to prioritise collaboration over competition, rigorously develop strategies for sustainable economic growth, and empower young people to lead change.
Into the future
Universities want to be in the debate before the start of work on the post-2030 agenda. But what might universities want to see in a future sustainable development agenda? How might they contribute? As always, the future is uncertain. It is too soon to say, since the Global HE Symposium was convened to ask those, and other, questions.
The symposium produced a zero draft document and is in a consultation process, said Wyatt. “We’re looking to publish it within a year. Because in 2026 and 2027 the ongoing conversation about post-2030 will be happening in the intergovernmental processes in the UN system.”
“It’s worth mentioning that it’s an important moment. We brought together all the major players related to the United Nations into this conversation,” Wyatt continued. “What we’d like to do is frame a consensus document, which we’re working on right now, and it’s going through a consultation process.
“There were lots of people from around the world who joined the discussion, but we want to broaden the consultation through the partners’ major networks across the world.” All of the partners involved, and their networks, will add strength to the symposium outcome.
“The way we’re framing it is, what can universities do to support the sustainability agenda and the post-2030 agenda? “It’s not a fist-banging agenda,” Wyatt told University World News.
“It’s like, here’s our value proposition. We are ready to step up and we have a lot to offer. We are ready to support policymakers with science-backed and evidence-based research, and with the expertise of extraordinary scholars. We’re happy to join at the table.”
Hopkins said that along with higher education institutions and organisations worldwide that wish to contribute, the partners in the Global HE Symposium want to co-develop a way of offering to become engaged with governments, at the UN level, national level, and community level.
‘We’re willing to offer governments at all these levels to make use not only of our professors but also to engage our students, the emerging leaders who will inherit the world we’re handing on.”
UNESCO reports that there were around 264 million students in higher education institutions globally in 2023 – up 25 million since 2020 and more than double the number in 2000.
“We’re looking at the value of all of that human potential and capital to help solve some of the most pressing challenges the world is facing. We’re recognising, too, that young people are leaders right now. There is so much that they can do starting immediately.”
One of UN Academic Impact’s other side events showcased studies of young people’s work in promoting sustainability in their communities. These ranged from health care to the private sector, with scalability and investments being made in some of their projects.
“We have to recognise the power of all these young people and the contributions they can make,” said Wyatt. “It’s a huge lever to pull on – 264 million young people in institutions right now who can go out into the world and continue to work on sustainability and social impact.”
Hopkins concluded: “Universities have a responsibility to step up. We are public institutions, there to address the common good. There are questions about embedding sustainability as a purpose. But could you discuss what a quality education is, in whatever discipline, if you don’t somehow address a sustainable future”.
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