UN report on the 2030 Agenda includes the UOC as an example of good practices

The SDG Accord, a group of learning institutions committed to these global goals, has published its Annual SDG Accord Report 2021: Progress towards the Global Goals in the University and College sector. The report features good practices implemented by signatory institutions, and one of the UOC's projects was selected as a case study.

The UOC's project was Emergency Remote Teaching, which offered webinars to Spanish-speaking teaching staff to help them adapt to online teaching during the COVID-19 lockdown. The initiative aimed to open up and share knowledge so as to directly impact upon SDG 4, Quality Education.

The Annual SDG Accord Report 2021 noted that awareness of the SDGs in universities and colleges across the world is steadily increasing, but so too are the challenges. Quality Education, Good Health and Well-being, and Climate Action are the SDGs that have had the biggest impact amongst signatory institutions.

About the SDG Accord

The SDG Accord, which is supported by United Nations institutions, has a twofold purpose. Firstly, to advance the critical role that education has in delivering the SDGs. Secondly, with the Accord, learning institutions around the world undertake to deliver, report on and share progress towards the Goals.

The UOC joined the Accord in 2018 and is one of the few Catalan or Spanish universities that form part of it. The reason for it joining is to progress in the integration of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs in all of the university community's teaching, research, administration and participation activities. Over the course of these last three years, the University has implemented activities placing the 2030 Agenda at the very heart of its strategy and of its transformation process. SDG 4, Quality Education, provides the backbone for the UOC's contribution to sustainable development, with a range of initiatives designed to facilitate access to higher education for vulnerable or under-represented groups including, for example, its programme for refugees and asylum seekers.