Tracking SDGs Implementation in Universities: Assessment Tool

Reporting of the Africa Region on Sustainable Development Goals Agenda 2030 as Voluntary National Reviews (VNR) exposed data gaps reflecting national capacity constraints and limitations to SDGs implementation. This painted a gloomy picture of Africa in terms of capacity to meet SDG targets and the aspiration of leaving no one behind. The universality of the SDGs calls for all stakeholders, including universities, to implement sustainable development. Universities contribute to generating research data and education for SDGs; therefore, there is an expectation that they assess their SDG implementation efforts and contribute to national data reporting. This chapter proposes a new sustainability assessment tool designed to measure progress with SDGs implementation in universities, thereby closing the glaring data gaps. The proposed tool was informed by the Unit-based Sustainability Assessment Tool (USAT), developed for use by universities in the African region. The proposed tool can assess all 17 the SDGs across whole university practices, namely, teaching and learning, research, governance, staff and student engagement, and community partnership and outreach. The critical mass of universities in Africa can enhance the output of the SDGs Index and Dashboards, giving an improved sustainability picture within countries and the continent.