How Higher Education Institutions Walk Their Talk on the 2030 Agenda: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Universities are rethinking their teaching and research programs and their whole third mission in response to the framework provided by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). But how do universities walk the talk? What are the main strategies and activities undertaken by universities to implement the 2030 Agenda? While the higher education literature has documented the growing number of practices and strategies around SDGs, there have been few attempts to synthesize these scholarly resources. Moreover, the knowledge base revolves around an array of activities, which makes the literature seem fragmented. To fill this gap, the present paper conducts a systematic literature review and derives a method of categorizing activities that can support further knowledge growth. We classified 130 selected papers based on the type of university activities considered (research, teaching, third mission, and managing operations) and the level of the implemented action (macro, meso, and micro). Subsequently, we identified the main gaps in the literature and discussed future research avenues for addressing higher education's role in accomplishing SDGs.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1057/s41307-022-00277-x.

Keywords: Higher education; SDG; Sustainability; Sustainable development goals; Systematic literature review; University.

Fig. 1

Data selection procedure

Fig. 2

Frequency of the SDGs' orientation

Fig. 3

Frequency of the type of activities

Fig. 4

Frequency of the level of implemented actions

Fig. 5

Prevalent areas of interventions within studies corresponding to levels and SDGs’ scope