QMU supports the UN Sustainable Development Goals
All this week (19-23 February), staff and students at QMU are staging a ‘Teach In’, in support of the United Nations’ 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs).
The UN Sustainable Development Goals are a set of 17 'global goals', which set out targets to end poverty, protect the planet, and achieve prosperity for all by 2030. These goals address the idea of sustainability holistically, and have resonance with both what QMU teaches and its values as a university.
60% of students, regardless of discipline, want to learn more about sustainability, as demonstrated by six years of NUS-led research.
The QMU activities are part of the NUS campaign to raise awareness of the goals, and to:
- Catalyse curriculum reform and test new ideas
- Embed sustainability and social responsibility across all curricula
- Link teaching, learning, and assessment to local and global concerns
- Raise awareness of the importance of sustainable development
- Prepare students with the knowledge, skills, and attributes to tackle 21st century challenges
Participating teaching staff have pledged to include the SDGs in their teaching, learning, and assessment in one or more of their courses during the week of 19-23 February 2018. Examples include:
- Gastronomy students examining politics, power and control within the food system - linking 15 of the 17 goals to aspects of the food chain;
- Tourism students examining the impact of tourism on developing nations;
- Invited speakers from Edinburgh tourist businesses discussing how their activities link to the goals, for example, Responsible Production and Consumption;
- Social, cultural and environmental impacts associated with tourism development;
- Masters’ students giving poster presentations critically examining the goals;
- Undergraduate business students conducting a seminar on goal 5 - gender equality;
- A PhD student presentation on global environmental change in the age of globalisation.
Learn more about the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Find out more about sustainability at QMU.
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Notes to Editor
For further media information contact Lynne Russell, Communications Manager, Queen Margaret University, E: lrussell@qmu.ac.uk T: 0131 474 0000, M: 07711 011239, or Jonathan Perkins, Press and PR Officer, E: jperkins@qmu.ac.uk T: 0131 474 0000.
