ACT4SDGs

 

Professionalisation of Academic Teaching to Infuse SDGs in Latin American Universities


Lasse Grimmer, M. Phil., Florian Kohler, M. Sc., Prof. Dr. Alexander Siegmund

 


In Latin American higher education institutions, major challenges, such as unequal access to education, high dropout and repetition rates, poor teacher quality, and uneven assessment and accountability systems, remain. As education is one of the strongest and most influential forces in ensuring the above-mentioned challenges are tackled, the ACT4SDG project aims to infuse the Sustainable Development Goals into academic teaching in 10 partner institutions in Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Mexico. At the end of the project, more than 1200 academic teaching champions will be trained, who will then drive wider changes in their higher education institutions and society. 

 

Over the last 20 years, many Latin American countries have taken significant steps to improve their higher education institutions (HEIs). Despite the upward trend, major challenges, such as unequal access to education, high dropout and repetition rates, poor teacher quality, and uneven assessment and accountability systems, remain. Our partner countries Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Mexico are committed to aligning themselves with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. However, there appears to be no systematic attempt to infuse the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in our partner’s HEIs as most of the teaching methodology applied focuses on lecturing with limited use of 1) problem-based and interdisciplinary learning; 2) placed-based pedagogy; 3) utilisation of ICTs and other innovative teaching/learning strategies suitable to address the challenges of our world today.

Academic teaching represents one of the strongest and most influential forces in ensuring equity, access, and quality of education. Thus, the ACT4SDG project will contribute to the professionalisation of academic teaching in Latin American universities to ensure that the SDGs are systematically infused within the higher education landscape. The project will facilitate the transformation of the 10 partner institutions, so they meet the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

By the end of the ACT4SDG project, there will be a significant cohort of over 1200 academic teaching champions and staff in our partner universities, who will drive wider changes in their HEIs and society by implementing the SDGs in multiple academic disciplines in line with their National Development Plans and in alignment with the 2030 Agenda for SDGs and the European Green Deal.

 

External project website: https://www.act4sdgs.net

Project period: 01.01.2024 – 31.12.2026


The ERASMUS+ CBHE-STRAND-2 project is co-funded by the European Union.

 

 

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