Progress and Potential: Higher Education Playing Its Part in the Sustainable Development Goals

Final report on 'The world beyond 2015: Is higher education ready?' campaign, the ACU's international campaign to raise awareness, elicit expert views, gather evidence and advocate for the role of higher education in delivering social and developmental impact beyond 2015. Published ahead of the UN General Assembly in September 2015.

The Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) believes that higher education is uniquely placed to help address global challenges – not least through informing policy with research evidence, and through graduating generations of new leaders and skilled professionals. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) did not explicitly reference higher education – either as a development goal or as a potential agent to address development challenges. With the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set to replace the MDG framework this year, a unique opportunity emerged to help advance the role of higher education in development spaces. The ACU’s ‘The world beyond 2015 – Is higher education ready?’ campaign was launched in October 2013 to raise awareness, elicit expert views, gather evidence and advocate for the role of higher education in delivering social and developmental impact.