University presidents from 56 universities across six continents have committed to working together on climate change.
The global HE leaders – which included Durham University, the University of Bristol and University College London – signed the Joint Statement of Global University Leaders on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at the first global online forum for university leaders, hosted by Zhejiang University in China.
The initiative includes five key aspects which all signatories have agreed to:
- implementing the concept of sustainable development
- improving sustainable development competence
- supporting scientific research in response to global challenges
- working with global partners to provide innovative solutions
- constructive transnational cooperation on specific issues
UN officials including Nikhil Seth, UN assistant secretary-general and Stefania Giannini, UNESCO assistant director-general for education, joined the panel of speakers including Yale University president Peter Salovey, president of the International Association of Universities Pam Fredman and Eric Labaye, president of École Polytechnique.
“Co-operation and cohesion among higher education institutions and organisations will foster knowledge development and sharing,” said Pam Fredman, president of the International Association of Universities, Paris.
The Joint Statement of Global University Leaders on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has been signed by the following institutions (in alphabetical order):
- Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
- City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
- Durham University, UK
- École Polytechnique, France
- Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands
- Ghent University, Belgium
- Harvard University, USA
- Hitotsubashi University, Japan
- Hokkaido University, Japan
- Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China
- King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia
- Korea University, Korea
- Kyoto University, Japan
- Kyushu University, Japan
- Lingnan University, Hong Kong, China
- Mahidol University, Thailand
- Makerere University, Uganda
- Moscow Aviation Institute, Russia
- Nagoya University, Japan
- National University of Singapore, Singapore
- Northwestern University, USA
- Peking University, China
- Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, Russia
- Politecnico di Milano, Italy
- Stellenbosch University, South Africa
- Tel Aviv University, Israel
- The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
- The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
- The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China
- The University of British Columbia, Canada
- The University of Novi Sad, Serbia
- The University of Sydney, Australia
- The University of Western Australia, Australia
- Tohoku University, Japan
- Universidad de los Andes, Colombia
- Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal
- Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Brazil
- Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Brunei
- University College Dublin, Ireland
- University College London, UK
- University of Alberta, Canada
- University of California, Davis, USA
- University of Bergen, Norway
- University of Bristol, UK
- University of Cape Town, South Africa
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
- University of Lagos, Nigeria
- University of Macau, Macau, China
- University of Oslo, Norway
- University of Ottawa, Canada
- University of Toronto, Canada
- University of Vienna, Austria
- University of Washington, USA
- Waseda University, Japan
- Yale University, USA
- Zhejiang University, China
You might also like: Sustainability in education: Advance HE and QAA publish new guidance