Resources to go further
Want to learn more about social responsibility in the university context? Develop your university’s CSR approach? Submit your university’s application to a university accreditation body? Discover the tools below :
BENCHMARKS AND SELF-DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS
The labeling system, known as Label DD&RS – Sustainable Development and Social Responsibility – for French higher education was created in 2015. It is designed to promote the sustainable development and social responsibility initiatives of French higher education and research institutions. This scheme may be of interest to your university, as it offers an inspiring assessment tool and performance indicators and presents opportunities for networking and partnerships in France.
Guide “Sustainable Development Goals, what contributions from the ESR professions in France?”
This guide shows how the functions and professions of a higher education and research institution can contribute to the implementation of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It can be useful to get ideas for practices that your institution could integrate into its ESR approach and identify the challenges and SDGs related to each of them.
ISO 21001
ISO 21001 provides management system requirements for education/training organizations (ETOs) that seek to 1) demonstrate their ability to support the acquisition and development of competencies through education, training, learning or research; and 2) aim to increase the satisfaction of learners, other beneficiaries and staff through the effective application of its ETO. This standard may therefore be of interest to your university if it wishes to improve its educational programs and tools.
ISO 26000
ISO 26000 is an international standard that provides organizations (regardless of their type, scope or size) with guidelines for social responsibility. The document describes the principles and themes of social responsibility and proposes a method to appropriate and implement them. The standard provides an international framework for behaviour and is based on the major international founding texts, notably the Declaration of Human Rights and the conventions of the International Labour Organization. This standard, which is applicable to any type of organization, can be used as a reference to identify your university’s sphere of influence and the issues surrounding it with respect to USR.
UNIVERSITY RANKINGS BASED ON SUSTAINABILITY INDICATORS
The QS Global Ranking (published by Quacquarelli Symonds) ranks universities around the world on a number of criteria, from academic reputation to the number of international students enrolled, to the efforts of participating institutions to achieve the SDGs. In 2022, the ranking included nearly 1,500 institutions from around the world, with top-performing universities from Europe, Asia and North America.
Since 2023, there is also a QS ranking that focuses exclusively on the social and environmental sustainability performance of higher education institutions: the QS Sustainability rankings. The indicators used in this ranking integrate environmental sustainability measures related to teaching, research and management, and social impact measures, which include equality, knowledge exchange, educational impact, employability and opportunities, and quality of life.
The UI GreenMetric World University Ranking is a ranking that assesses the environmental commitment and initiatives of universities based on 39 indicators divided into 6 criteria. It was initiated by Universitas Indonesia in 2010. In 2021, 956 universities from 80 countries around the world participated and several universities from Asia Pacific were in the top 30. This tool may be of interest to your university as it provides many good practice ideas on environmental protection and organizes events for universities interested in sustainability.
The Times Higher Education Impact Rankings is the first global ranking that exclusively assesses universities against the SDGs. It is based on the use of indicators that allow for a comprehensive and balanced comparison in four areas: research, management, community outreach and teaching. In 2022, in its 4th edition, 1,406 universities from 106 countries/regions participated.
AACSB accreditation is the oldest and most widely recognized form of specialized accreditation that an institution and its business programs can achieve. Accreditation is a voluntary, non-governmental process that includes an external review of a school’s mission, faculty qualifications, curriculum, and ability to provide programs of the highest quality. The process incorporates criteria related to social impact in these areas.
EFMD accreditation is for business schools, business school programs, and corporate universities around the world. It has 972 members from 90 countries and is based on four pillars that echo an RSU approach: community, excellence, impact and mission.
REFERENCE ORGANIZATIONS
The France Universités website offers a large number of publications that may be of interest to your university to better face the challenges of sustainable development, ranging from the adoption of a zero waste policy, through gender parity within universities, to the responsibilities of university presidents. This site also offers a guide to best practices in sustainable development in French universities.
Sustainable Development Solutions Network
The mission of this nonprofit organization is to promote integrated approaches to implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change through education, research, policy analysis, and global cooperation. Its website hosts “Accelerating SDO Education in Universities,” a guide for universities that have already begun an RSU process. It also hosts the webpage of the SDO Academy, an organization whose goal is to create and centralize relevant and diverse content on the SDOs, make it available to a global audience, and build partnerships to train and prepare educators and practitioners, both current and next generation, to achieve the SDOs. These organizations may be of interest to your university as they offer a wealth of information on the SDGs and their implementation.
The RSU-DD service is a service of the University of Paris Nanterre entirely dedicated to the social responsibility of universities and to sustainable development (RSU-DD). Its website may be of interest to your university in that it presents the RSU approach of the University of Paris-Nanterre and its initiatives in this area. This university has been involved in RSU for several years and is often cited as an example in France.
The Platform for Sustainability Performance in Education
This Platform brings together organizations that have created sustainability assessment tools to support universities and colleges around the world. Its goal is to promote sustainability assessment in education. The platform is also designed to help Higher Education Sustainability Initiative (HESI) signatories meet their commitments by providing a range of tools and options to assess and improve their sustainability performance. As such, it can be of direct interest to your university as it moves forward with its RSU.
COURSES AND TRAINING
The Societal Impact & Global Management Alliance (SIGMA) offers the Managing the SDGs virtual course, designed by six leading business and management schools from around the world. The course covers topics such as the origins of the SDGs, SDG-based business models, responsible global leadership, clean energy opportunities, and SDG communication. This course is not unique: there are dozens offered by many organizations, including the IU Green Metric presented below. This type of course could be of direct interest to the person(s) in charge of sustainability at your university.
The UVED Foundation offers an eight-video course on the Sustainable Development Goals. This course aims to raise awareness and mobilize all social actors, including the various stakeholders of the university community. This course could give you ideas to raise awareness and train members of your university.
VARIOUS INITIATIVES
AUF Webinars on the place of the SDGs in the university
AUF. What place for the SDGs at the University? – Webinar 1: The SDGs, why is it urgent?
AUF. What place for the SDGs at the University? – Webinar 2: Successful Francophone initiatives
Tools and examples from elsewhere
UCLouvain in transition to a sustainable university (2019)
To appropriate methods and tools to translate sustainability issues into their courses
Explore sustainability issues and make connections to your discipline or field of research
Mobilizing Youth for the Sustainable Development Goals, ReImagine17
The Montreal Universities’ SDO Challenge
Social Procurement: Amplify your purchasing dollars for a better world,
Simon Fraser University, University of Northern British Columbia, BCIT
and Vancouver Island University
Canadian universities contribute to the SDGs
Additional documents
Bertels, S. (2010). Anchoring sustainability in organizational culture: A practical guide for senior managers.