National Context Impacts on SDG Mapping Needs and Approaches in Higher Education, a Tri-National Comparison

Abstract

Since 2015 and the Paris Agreements, several countries have committed to sustainable development (SD) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have an important role to play in providing education and supporting research activities that integrate SD and SDG concepts. However, the context where the HEI is located has an impact on the level of development and integration of strategic guidelines, methods, and tools for measuring the performance of SDGs within the HEI. The United Nations framework remains the most developed and used tool, but it stays very global and needs to be adapted to other contexts, which leads to local initiatives by some HEIs in developing their tools. The response of HEIs to this challenge differs from one context to another, and this article aims to (i) provide a framework to analyze the different HEI contexts based on their own global, national, and local context; (ii) present and compare the context analysis of three different HEIs (ULaval, Sorbonne Univ, and UWE) in three different countries worldwide (Canada, France, and England), and (iii) discuss the limits, challenges, and research opportunities in the subject of SDG integration within HEIs. Notably, the context analysis of ULaval and UWE case studies showed that the Canadian and UK scales give global orientations with a delegation to the Quebec Province and England government for the education and research strategies. A strong leadership comes from the HEIs themselves in developing their own methods and tools for assessing and monitoring the SDGs, as is the case with ULaval and UWE. On the other hand, the Sorbonne Univ case follows the French national and European-United Nation framework but is less committed to developing its own tools and methods.

1. Introduction

Higher education (HE) is often seen by the research community and governments as a tool for societal transformation [1]. Therefore, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have a clear role to play in advancing the transition toward sustainable development, both inside and outside the campus. The term “sustainable development” (SD), as introduced and defined by the United Nations (UN), is “a development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” [2]. Notably, since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development of 1992, where the concept of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) emerged [1], universities have been called upon to exert their influence and available resources to become key leaders in the promotion and advancement of SD. However, measuring HEIs’ impact on society in this regard remains a challenge. In the face of this challenge, the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) and their 169 targets, introduced in September 2015 by the United Nations Agenda 2030, present a suitable tool for measuring such impact [3].

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have an essential role in promoting SD [4] and, in consequence, a role to play in the advancement of the SDGs. Firstly, universities are called to action regarding SDG4, which focuses on “achieving inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all” and, as target 4.7 states, “by 2030, ensur[ing] that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through the appreciation of Sustainable Development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and nonviolence, global citizenship, and appreciation of cultural diversity and culture’s contribution to sustainable development”. Secondly, all of the SDGs, through their complex and interdependent nature, reflect the complexity of SD issues as well as the need for intersectoral, polycentric, and multipartisan collaboration, and HEIs are particularly well-placed to overcome this complexity and facilitate such collaboration [5,6,7]. HEIs’ social and political influence and capacity to address complex issues through their triple mission of education, research, and external leadership make them a key driver for the advancement of all of the SDGs [8,9].

Since the 1990s, and in particular the “Declaration on Science and the Use of Scientific Knowledge” at the World Conference of Science in Budapest, many universities around the world have committed to SD in their triple mission [10]. The SDGs have been signed and approved by 193 countries out of a total of 195 countries in the world, following the United Nation (UN) definition and classification and excluding the Vatican and Palestine. In this paper, we focus specifically on SDGs as defined in 2015 by the UN and adopted by its 193 member states, and do not consider other forms of SD that might be integrated by HEIs. The SDGs were developed as a common reference framework to permit the measurement of global issues at a more national level and, therefore, permit international comparison of how these issues are addressed at the national and sub-national scale. Also, we based our analysis on three different HEIs (i.e., Université Laval in Canada, Université Sorbonne in France, and University of West England in England) emerging from a partnership that began at the 17th Higher Education Reform (HER) Conference held in Glasgow, Scotland, from the 21st to the 23rd of June 2023, and this partnership is still ongoing. Therefore, we will focus more specifically on the Canadian, French, and United Kingdom (UK) contexts.

In this context, it is necessary to have analysis and progress indicators for SD and SDGs to be able to categorize and compare actions or initiatives. In various professional sectors, they must produce reports that show their commitment to the SDGs. It is also more and more common in the academic sector, often used in the context of competitive proposals, where project leaders must indicate the SDGs concerned when submitting their project proposal. Measuring progress on the adoption and integration of the SDGs requires agreement on how to collect and analyze data as well as new forms of research about local and global performance for the SDGs [11]. Such measuring progress on the adoption and integration of the SDGs also needs to be accepted by multiple stakeholders, including civil society organizations, public and private institutions, and governments [11]. While activity mapping is a necessary step in reporting and planning in relation to the SDGs, assessing and measuring practice implementation is another. Consequently, having no standard SDG mapping leads to incomplete indicators for governmental strategies, and the lack of metrics makes it harder for any SDG assessments (research, program agreements…), for establishing SDG-related collaborations, or for benchmarking [12] (p. 2).

To help HEIs integrate the SDGs, the United Nations Statistical Commission provides a set of global indicators associated with the SDG targets, but it is difficult to update this data continuously and ensure effective monitoring [13]. In parallel, several research initiatives are underway to develop methodologies and tools that could be applied systematically across all HEIs to link actions to the SDGs. SDG assessment methods help to measure the extent to which the SDGs are being considered and are a good way of communicating and monitoring HEIs’ progress on the SDGs. Assessing and mapping the SDGs can serve a number of purposes, from cataloguing how the university contributes to sustainable development with an objective of obtaining recognition through rankings or certifications (such as STARS or THE Impact Ranking in North America, DD&RS Label in France) to serving as a preliminary analysis in institutional planning and helping adapt the SDGs to different audiences in order to broaden the perspective of institutional activities (i.e., teaching, research, planning). A recent literature review [13] listed all the methods and tools found in scientific articles since 2000 for assessing and mapping the SDGs. This review has shown a growing interest in the subject, with an increase in the development of tools and methods. However, a major challenge remains in adapting such assessment tools and methods to a given context [13].

In that regard, the Université Laval (ULaval) initiated a research project in the fall of 2021 to develop an AI tool to map courses at the program and faculty level based on the syntactic analysis of course descriptions according to the SDGs. Meanwhile, the University of the West England (UWE) Bristol began to implement its own process of developing a collaborative approach to produce an SDG map of programs in 2017. Those two different tools have been presented during the HER Conference and created a new partnership with Sorbonne Université (Sorbonne Univ) in France to test and improve the two approaches and tools proposed by ULaval and UWE in another context. It was done during workshops held at Sorbonne Univ on the 19th of February 2023 with a group of teachers from Sorbonne Univ. These two methods were primarily developed for specific internal use, and adapting them to other contexts and assessing their performance for SDG implementation in teaching was the main objective of this workshop hosted by Sorbonne Univ. This collaborative research showed that the context has an impact on the integration of new strategies and tools in HEIs regarding the SDGs.

This article aims to (i) guide other HEIs for the integration of SDG strategies based on their own global, national, and local context; (ii) carry out a comparative analysis of the integration of SDGs (methods and tools) into three different HEIs (ULaval, Sorbonne Univ, and UWE) based on their global, national, and local context (Canadian context with a focus on Quebec province, French context, and UK context with a focus on England); and (iii) discuss the limitations HEIs can have in implementing existing or new methods and tools for SDG assessment and monitoring. Therefore, we will provide a framework to analyze the global, national, and local context regarding the SD and SDGs, and we will analyze it for ULaval, Sorbonne Univ, and UWE. Based on this analysis and relevant literature, we could guide other HEIs into their SD and SDGs integration in analyzing their own context and comparing it with our three case studies. We will also discuss the limits and challenges of methods and tools for SDG mapping and future perspectives for research related to the subject.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Context Analysis

The level of SDGs achievement is higher in countries where there is political stability and effectiveness, a high or stable economic development, an educational system supported economically by the government, and a research and innovation capacity [14]. Therefore, the geographical, political, cultural, and economic context in which the HEIs are located can have a direct impact on the degree of integration of the SDGs. Indeed, a recent study highlighted the relationship between the THE (Times Higher Education) Impact Rankings scores of the 1705 HEIs that had evaluated their activities on SDGs in 2023 and the context of the countries in which these HEIs are located [15]. The overall THE score for HEI has been assumed as an indicator of SDGs integration in a country. The HEIs with the highest scores are located in OECD countries (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development), which include 38 developed and high-income countries. In the next positions, we found the HEIs located in (2) eastern Europe and central Asia, (3) Oceania, (4) Latin and central America, (5) middle east and north Africa, (6) east and south Asia, and finally (7) sub-Saharan Africa [15]. Another study showed similar results by looking at the 2017 SDG Index indicators by the UN of 157 countries worldwide classified by global region. Thus, Europe, North America, and Oceania countries have the highest SDG index, followed by Asia and Latin and Central America countries, and ending with African countries [16]. High-income countries and HEIs in these contexts have more economic resources from the government that enable them to establish strategic policies to integrate, evaluate, and follow the integration of SDGs with higher efficiency and effectiveness scores [17,18]. Analyzing the global and national context where the HEI is located can help the HEI determine the best strategy for the integration of SDGs.

Three scales are considered to understand the source of the drivers for integrating the SDGs in HEIs for education and research: (1) global/international, (2) national/state/provincial, and (3) local/HEIs. The first scale is considering the relationship the country has with the United Nation and the SDGs. In our study, we only discussed the countries that are committed to the United Nation 2030 Agenda by assuming that they are certainly aware and concerned about SD and SDGs. The second scale analyzes the education and research system of a country at a governmental and political level. Finally, the third level is studying the impact the second level has on the integration of SDGs inside the HEI itself. With this three-scale analysis, we can determine the “degree of pressure” the HEIs received from the global context (UN guidelines), the national context (government guidelines), and the local context (institutional guidelines). The

Table 1. Degrees of pressure for the integration of SD and SDGs in education and research within a country, regarding the context scale.

Degree of Pressure	Scale
	Global	National	HEI
Low	The country committed to the 2030 Agenda but developed its own guidelines and doesn’t rely on UN guidelines.	The government developed their own guidelines, with a basic notion for the integration of SD and SDGs in education and/or research.	The institution’s guidelines follow the government guidelines. It must look for international or national funding support for research initiatives.
Moderate	The country committed to the 2030 Agenda’s and HEIs are encouraged to follow UN guidelines.	The government developed its own guidelines with orientations in education and/or research regarding the SD and SDGs.	The institution guidelines integrate government guidelines and further orientations for SD and SDGs in education and/or research. It must look for international or national funding support for research initiatives.
High	The country committed to the 2030 Agenda’s and HEIs have to follow UN guidelines.	The government developed their own guidelines with detailed actions and requirements for HEIs regarding the SD and SDGs in education and research. It offers funding support for research initiatives.	The institution’s guidelines integrate detailed actions and requirements for SD and SDGs in education and research. It offers funding support for research initiatives.
No applicable	The country has not committed to the 2030 Agenda.	Absence of governmental documents related to SD and SDGs.	Absence of institutional documents related to SD and SDGs

below shows how the degree of pressure can be determined regarding the context scale.

More specifically to our three case studies, the first level is considering the “North-American”/“Canadian”, “European”, and “UK” levels; the second level the “Provincial/Quebecois”, “France”, and “England” levels; and the third level the ULaval, Sorbonne Univ, and UWE levels.

2.2. Case Studies

The partnership between ULaval (Quebec, Canada), Sorbonne Univ (France), and UWE (England) emerged from an HEIs partnership at the 17th HER Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, in 2023 and opened up opportunities for collaboration and research initiatives that are still ongoing. This partnership aimed at first to test the application of the methods and tools developed by ULaval and UWE in the context of Sorbonne Univ during a one-day workshop in February 2024, bringing together a group of teachers. This collaboration helps in developing and improving those tools and methods, but also shows that the global, national, and local context has an impact on the development and integration of those methods and tools. In this article, we present the results of the context analysis of the three case studies following the three context scales.

Canada is a North American country made up of 10 provinces and three territories with a total population of nearly 40 million. The provinces of Quebec, Ontario, and British Columbia bring together most of the Canadian population in their metropolitan hubs (Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver) with almost 30 million inhabitants [19]. These megacities must meet the challenges of sustainable cities (SDG 11), water and wastewater management (SDG 6), and waste management (SDG 12). Moreover, Statistics Canada reports that the country has one of the highest rates of immigrants per population in the world, with 20% of the population of immigrant origin, which brings challenges of equality, integration, and accessibility to the services (SDG 1, 3, 4, and 10). Canada joined the Paris Agreements in October 2016 and has since committed to integrating measures from the United Nation’s 2030 Agenda. As Canada is a federation, each of its ten provinces and three territories has its own province-wide responsibilities, like education, among others. Quebec Province is the only Francophone province in Canada and therefore faces certain linguistic barriers and relates strongly to French-speaking countries. Quebec’s higher education system is comprised of 18 universities, 48 colleges of general and professional teaching (Cégeps), and 59 college centers for the transfer of technology (CCTTs). Quebec’s ministry responsible for higher education, the Ministère de l’Enseignement supérieur du Quebec (MES), is supporting Quebec’s HEIs by linking academia users, social innovation, and scientific creativity, and an intersectoral approach to increase entrepreneurial education [20]. In Canada, the HEIs do not fall within the jurisdiction of the federal government, and since 2022, the SDG strategies and action plans for HEIs have become the responsibility of the provinces, and their advancement relies on HEIs’ contribution to the SDGs [21]. Therefore, Canadian universities are taking an increasing interest in SDG mapping, which can be seen as a preliminary step to guide university governance in integrating the SDGs into the institution [6] (p. 31) and to gain a better understanding of their teaching and research links towards SDGs. ULaval is an example of a Quebec university that is highly engaged with the SDGs and supports research initiatives related to the subject. However, to the best of our knowledge, there are no scientifically recognized frameworks, tools, or methods in Canada or the province of Quebec for assessing the SDGs in HEIs [13]. Thus, in response to this observation, ULaval developed the CartODD tool, which is one of the key tools behind the collaboration between UWE and Sorbonne Univ.

France is a Western European country with a population of around 67 million. It is part of the European Union (EU), a group of 27 countries with a total population of almost 550 million. It is, therefore, a densely populated area with major challenges in terms of managing water resources (SDGs 6 and 14), energy resources (SDGs 7 and 13), agricultural lands (SDGs 1 and 12), and natural lands (SDG 15). In addition, as this is an area with a rich history, cities are faced with the challenge of adapting their space and infrastructure to meet the challenges of demographic growth, both in terms of housing and public and road infrastructure (SDG 11). In 2015, France adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development after the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit and highly contributed to the Paris Agreements in 2016. The French Ministry of Higher Education and Research supervises the ministry and some operators (ONR, Universities, and Schools) contributions in integrating national commitments regarding the SD and SDGs. It aims to provide transversal support to the achievement of other major action plans developed for specific fields such as Agriculture and Forestry, Energy, Mobility, Construction, and Waste through the diffusion of knowledge and recent innovations as well as training for new professions. At the European scale, the Eurostat office collects and analyzes data on European countries regarding the SDGs. Those statistics present performance and key examples of action engaged by some countries, such as France [22]. The EU developed its own set of 102 indicators for the 17 SDGs, where 34 of them are multi-purpose indicators and monitor more than one goal. Sorbonne University (2018) is the result of the grouping of Pierre and Marie Curie University and Sorbonne Paris 4 University. Since the beginning, the governing board and the presidency of Sorbonne Univ wanted the important theme of sustainable development to be addressed, notably to take part in environmental issues and participate in the environmental transition. The entire university community takes ownership of its subjects and participates in the necessary actions. Currently, Sorbonne Univ doesn’t have methods or tools for assessing or mapping the SDGs, and the partnership with ULaval and UWE is an opportunity to implement them within the HEI.

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK), is a country off the coast of the continental mainland of Northwestern Europe. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The UK was part of the European Union from 1973 until Brexit in 2020. Since 1999, devolution has transformed the way the UK operates. Certain issues are monitored by the UK instance (e.g., Foreign Policy, Defense and National Security, Immigration and Border Control, Trade), and some issues are devolved between the four territories, such as education, health services, transport, housing, agriculture, and environment [23]. The socio-demographic landscape of England and the UK is characterized by diversity in age, ethnicity, education, and socio-economic status. The 2021 census [24] states that the overall population of the UK is almost 68 million, with around 53 inhabitants in England, with 18.5% of the population aged 65 and over. This demographic shift poses challenges for SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being) and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities), as an aging population requires more healthcare services and support for age-related conditions. The UK has an increasingly ethnically diverse population, with a declining percentage of people identifying as ‘white-British’ over the past three national census points (2001, 2022, and 2021) [24]. Ethnic minorities often face disparities in income, employment, and access to services, which directly affect the progress towards SDG 1 (No Poverty), SDG 4 (Quality Education), and SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth). Addressing these disparities requires targeted policies and interventions to ensure equitable progress towards the SDGs. Compared to the global average, education levels in the UK are relatively high, with 42% of people aged 21 to 64 having a university degree or equivalent qualification in 2021 [25]. However, there are significant inequalities in relation to attainment at all levels of education, particularly by socio-economic status and ethnicity, which need to be addressed to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education for all. Inequality is a further challenge in relation to income levels in the UK (SDGs 1 and 10), with a Gini coefficient, a measure of income inequality, of 32.6 in 2020, indicating a relatively high level of inequality [23]. A recent report to the House of Commons [26] confirms that ‘historically, household income across the UK has varied significantly between regions and countries, ethnic groups, and the disability status of households’ (p. 6). Policy measures such as taxation and a benefits system and the recent Conservative Government’s Levelling Up agenda have attempted to reduce socio-economic inequalities. The Government of the United Kingdom acknowledges its responsibility “for achieving the (Sustainable Development) Goals domestically and for supporting their attainment internationally” [27]. However, particularly since Brexit, explicit attention from the UK Government to the SDGs has been negligible. After the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit in 2015, the UK adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the UK higher education system has engaged positively with the United Nations SDGs in its research and teaching agendas. There are four distinct bodies with responsibility for the management of HE in the UK: (a) the Office for Students in England (OfS), (b) the Commission for Tertiary Education and Research in Wales (CTER), (c) the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), and (d) the Higher Education Division of the Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland [28]. Some UK HEIs advocated for the inclusion of sustainability and environmental literacy in teaching, research, operations, and outreach at colleges and universities since the 1990s. Many are also members of the UN Higher Education Sustainability Initiative (HESI), and more have joined since. Often under the umbrella of ‘Living Labs’, many HEIs have undertaken pragmatic research on sustainability [29], and civic university and anchor institution framings have driven UK HEIs to pro-actively engage with issues facing their local regions. UWE Bristol has used the SDGs since the Paris Agreements in 2016 to review their modules, programs, teaching, learning, and assessment across all programs of study, leading to some research initiatives such as the methodology for mapping the SDGs behind the partnership with ULaval and Sorbonne Univ.

3. Results

3.1. ULaval, Quebec, Canada Context Analysis

3.1.1. Global Context

Canada joined the Paris Agreements in October 2016 and has since committed to integrating measures from the United Nation’s 2030 Agenda, as outlined in its revised Federal Sustainable Development Act [30]. At the federal level, Canada is currently deploying strategies related to sustainable development, such as the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy (FSDS) under the responsibility of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) and Canada’s 2030 Agenda National Strategy: Moving Forward Together under the responsibility of the Ministry of Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) [19,31]. ECCC’s Sustainable Development Office (SDO) is responsible for monitoring the development of the FSDS, for developing and maintaining systems to follow the progress of its implementation using the Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators (CESI), and for preparing FSDS Progress Reports at least once every 3 years [16]. ESDC’s Sustainable Development Goals Unit (SDG Unit) is responsible for “monitoring and reporting Canada’s progress towards the SDGs and the Agenda 2030” and “aligning federal reporting and mechanisms to enable the integration of the SDGs into strategies, policies, and programs of the federal government” [32]. The Canadian government also produces Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) that highlight the progress, lessons learned, and challenges in implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Canada [33]. Since then, Canada has produced two VNRs, one in 2018 [34] and one in 2023 [33]. In the case of Canada’s 2030 Agenda, universities are eligible for funding opportunities within the Sustainable Development Goals funding program, which can provide funding up to CAN$ 300,000 per year. A “Tri-Council” composed of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR); the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC); and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) provides federal funds for innovation and research.

3.1.2. Quebec Province Context

Quebec adopted its own law on sustainable development, La loi sur le développement durable, in 2006, which obligates the ministry responsible for the environment, the Ministère de l’Environnement, de la Lutte contre les Changements Climatiques, de la Faune et des Parcs (MELCCFP), to produce a government-wide sustainable development strategy (SGDD) every five years, from which ministry-level action plans must be created and implemented. However, in the SGDD 2023–2028, article 4 of the law, which states that scholarly organizations and health and social services establishments may be subject to the law upon the government’s decision, was enacted, and the SGDD, as well as the resulting Plan d’action du développement durable (PADD) 2023–2028 of the Ministère de la Santé et des Services Sociaux (MSSS), have created objectives and targets directed at the provinces’ HEIs. Organizations of parapublic ministries are called to adopt a sustainable development process, improve waste management and consumption, and increase green spaces within their establishments. More specifically, schools and universities are called to “favor the inclusion of sustainable development in training offered” [33] (pp. 2023–2028). From a research perspective, an important document is the Quebec Strategy to Support Research and Investment in Innovation 2022–2027 (La Stratégie québécoise de recherche et d’investissement en innovation or SQRI2), which is the result of a consultation group that defined a series of 12 recommendations and 50 possible measures and actions to ensure the future of universities. There are three research funding agencies for the province of Quebec, created in the 1960s and 1970s: Fonds de recherche du Québec-Santé (FRQS); Fonds de recherche du Québec-Nature et technologies (FRQNT), and Fonds de recherche du Québec-Société et culture (FRQSC). The Quebec Government recently announced the fusion of these three research funding agencies for 2024. From a governance perspective, the provincial government established two positions: the Chief Scientist in 2011 and the Chief Innovator in 2020 [20]. The Chief Scientist works on developing research and innovation and strategies for stimulating intersectoral research to answer the main societal challenges. He is responsible for the distribution of research funding (i.e., FRQNT, FRQS, FRQSC). The Chief Innovator heads the Council of Innovation, a committee that address advice to the government on innovation and entrepreneurship strategies in order to multiply their economic and social benefits in key sectors. The Comité intersectoriel étudiant (CIE) is a statutory committee whose mandate is to advise the Chief Scientist of Quebec and the administrative councils of the FRQs by identifying strategies to promote access to research funding, optimize the potential of the next generation of researchers, and enhance their influence and impact in society [12]. These provincial and federal funds are suitable resources for HEIs in the research sector and encourage researchers to align their projects with the SDGs.

In Quebec, half of the universities have participated in the STARS ranking system (Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System), while a third of the universities have participated in the THE Impact Rankings (Times Higher Education). STARS ranking integrates criteria such as “academic curriculum” (AC-8 criterion) and “campus engagement” (EN-8 criterion).

3.1.3. Local Context

ULaval is an example of a Quebec university that is highly engaged with the SDGs, having committed itself to their achievement in its recent sustainable development policy, Politique de développement durable (updated in 2022), and sustainable development strategy, Stratégie de développement durable 2023–2028. This engagement flows into its operations and activities regarding teaching, research, and campus life. ULaval has participated in STARS since 2014 and THE accreditations since 2019. It also has an SD branch (Vice-Recteur aux Affaires Internationales en Développement Durable, VRAIDD), which has supported the creation of a Groupe de Travail Enseignement et Recherche en Développement Durable (GTERDD), made up of referent professors representing the major faculty sectors, student association representatives, and vice-rector representatives. The Institut EDS (Environnement Développement et Société) is also an ULaval interdisciplinary research center, which conducts and supports innovative projects related to SD and SDGs. VRAIDD also supports SD initiatives such as the CartODD research project, which was initiated by a research team at ULaval in partnership with the CIRODD (Centre Interdisciplinaire de Recherche en Opérationnalisation du Développement Durable), a Strategic Research Network funded by the Quebec Research funding agency, in response to a request from ULaval to gain a better understanding of its teaching and research links towards SDGs.

3.2. Sorbonne Univ, France Context Analysis

3.2.1. National Context

France is also taking action to implement the SDGs at a national level, following the Paris Agreement. In particular, these agreements include limiting the rise in temperature to 1.5–2 degrees Celsius. The government put in place in 2019 a national roadmap ensuring the coherence of public policies towards the SDGs (Programme de développement durable à l’horizon 2030) and linking the 2030 UN Agenda and Paris Agreements. This roadmap notably defined six challenges that French society must address, as follows:

• Act for a just transition, by fighting against all discrimination and inequalities and guaranteeing the same rights, opportunities, and freedoms to all.
• Transform societal models through carbon sobriety and the economy of natural resources, to act in favor of the climate, the planet, and its biodiversity.
• Rely on lifelong education and training to enable changes in behavior and lifestyles adapted to the world we are building and the challenges of sustainable development.
• Act for the health and well-being of all, particularly through healthy and sustainable food and agriculture.
• Make citizen participation effective in achieving sustainable development objectives and realize the transformation of practices through the strengthening of experimentation and territorial innovation.
• Work at the European and international level in favor of the sustainable transformation of societies, peace, and solidarity.

From a legislative point of view, the energy transition law for green growth encouraged SD transition by implementing several national strategies between 2010 and 2020. In July 2021, France implemented two national strategies relative to the European Green Deal: the National Low Carbon Strategy (SNBC) [35] and the National Plan of Adaptation to Climate Change (PNACC 2) [36]. The SNBC aims to mitigate the climate change predictions through the reduction of France’s carbon footprint. Since April 2020, it has defined a carbon emission target for each activity sector in order to reach carbon neutrality by 2050. The PNACC 2 has been developed between 2018 and 2022, and it aims to provide climate change strategies for French metropolitan territory and overseas regions, especially by focusing on the reduction of greenhouse gas accumulated in the atmosphere by 2050.

The French Ministry of Higher Education and Research established a Climate-Biodiversity action plan for Higher Education and Research for ecological transition [37]. This new political impulse for higher education and research institutions is also accompanied by the publication of key documents such as the Jean Jouzel and Luc Abbadie report in 2022, presenting the findings of a group of teachers and researchers [38]. Their analysis highlights a lack of teaching towards environmental and ecological transition, also known as SD in French HEIs. Since this date, ecological transition and SD initiatives have increased significantly in France. In addition to the ministerial action plan, universities and research institutions are encouraged by their reference ministry to adopt Corporate Social Responsibility approaches by the end of 2024, which can lead to the creation of an SD master plan or a social and environmental responsibility plan. To do so, it is strongly recommended to follow the label DD&RS—Sustainable Development and Social Responsibility, created in 2015 specifically for HEIs. It has been developed collectively by ten universities and Grandes Écoles, the Conference of Grandes Écoles (CGE), the Conference of University Presidents (CPU), the Ministry in charge of sustainable development, the Ministry in charge of higher education, and the Network of Students for an Ecological and Inclusive Society (RESES). It promotes the SD and social responsibility approaches of French higher education and research institutions at a national and international level. It also encourages their participation in the labeling committee, which helps them to develop new skills and audit candidate institutions. The DD&RS Label is based on a common national standard developed in 2009 following article 55 from Grenelle 1 on the environment (DD&RS Standard) [39]. It is a Label which aims to be systemic and integrate research activities and university teaching. Other forms of labeling, such as ISO 26000 and 14001, exist but does not integrate those aspects.

3.2.2. Local Context

Sorbonne Univ and its entire university community take ownership of its subjects and participate in the necessary actions. A first working group was formed to develop the first action plan for Sorbonne Univ and allow the deployment of a first batch of Actions, following the National sustainable development plan. This group is at the origin of the charter “in favor of an ecologically and socially responsible university”, which was validated by the governing board on 1 October 2019.

In 2022, the new presidency of Sorbonne Univ wanted to continue to amplify and intensify the previous Sustainable Development plan and a new 2022–2025 plan was adopted, which meets current challenges as well as questions of impact of Sorbonne Univ establishment. The research was carried out on the initial or continuing teaching of these concepts, integrating culture and society. At the start of 2022, a “Sustainable Development and Environmental Transition” working group, led by a sustainable development advisor, was created to work on the 2022–2025 action plan and deploy the corresponding actions, in conjunction with all stakeholders (faculties, services, laboratories, students, student associations, etc.). The action plan 2022–2025 follows national recommendations and illustrates the establishment’s commitment according to the five axes of the “DD&RS framework”: Governance and strategy; Teaching and Training; Research and Innovation; Environment, Social policy. As part of this work, the university launched a project involving doctoral students to develop a methodology for the identification of the SDGs in lesson plans, research projects, and strategic documents of the university.

3.3. UWE Bristol, England, UK Context Analysis

3.3.1. Global Context

After the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit in 2015, UK adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and published the Agenda 2030: The UK Government’s approach to delivering the Global Goals for Sustainable Development—at home and around the world [40] to provide further details of the UK government’s activity to support the achievement of the goals both nationally and internationally. Early actions were taken nationally to establish data collection and progress monitoring procedures by the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS). The National Reporting Platform provides open and transparent data and enabled relatively robust review of status and progress in the UK’s only Voluntary National Review to date (2019). Arguably, the support that the Office for National Statistics has provided to other nations in relation to data handling has been one of the UK’s most explicit contributions to the achievement of the SDGs. Today, the UK is one of the few countries to report data on over 70% of global indicators.

Thus, each UK government department has incorporated the targets into its annual Single Departmental Plan, which describes how planned activities will contribute to achieving the SDG targets. Then each territory developed his own strategy regarding the SD and the SDGs such as Scotland’s National Performance Framework (NPF), Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, the Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) [23]. Across the UK, the Climate Change Act 2008 and Environment Act 2021 provide a legal basis for addressing SDG 13 and SDG 15, and to some extent Goals 3, 6, 11, 12, and 15. The Climate Change Act, in particular, commits the UK to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 100% of 1990 levels (net zero) by 2050, demonstrating some legal commitment to tackling climate change. The Fisheries Act 2020 and Water Environment (Water Framework Directive) (England and Wales) Regulations 2017 address elements of SDGs 6 and 14. The Energy Act 2023 speaks to SDG7, the Health and Care Act 2022 links to SDG3, and the Agriculture Act 2020 links to SDG2. Additionally, the Equality Act 2010 remains the most significant piece of legislation in the UK for promoting equality. The Act prohibits discrimination based on named protected characteristics, including gender, race, and disability, and thus supports efforts to achieve SDGs 5 and 10. In England, the National Planning Policy Framework supports SDG 11 by promoting sustainable development in housing, infrastructure, and community planning and emphasizing the need for sustainable transport, affordable housing, and resilient infrastructure.

In 2021, Advance HE and the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) published Education for Sustainable Development Guidance for the HE sectors. This guidance [41] sets an expectation that all programs of study in UK HEIs will recognize ESD as central to their curricula framework, with explicit reference to the SDGs. This expectation is further laid out in the process by which Subject Benchmark Statements are currently being revised (2022 onwards). Subject Benchmark Statements are a core quality assurance reference point for HE curriculum in the UK, describing ‘the nature of study and the academic standards expected of graduates in specific subject areas’ [42]. The QAA is committed to ensuring that ‘revised Statements will include sections on how subject communities frame sustainable development in their teaching and assessment models’ [41] (p. 6). Furthermore, initiatives such as the Green Gown Awards, which recognize sustainability excellence in higher education, highlight the importance placed on SDGs within the teaching context [43]. In 2014, a pilot education for sustainable development (ESD) in HE initiative (Responsible Futures) was launched and became an accreditation scheme, run by SOS-UK, which places the SDGs at the heart of expectations for whole institution commitment to ESD. These awards encourage institutions to innovate in sustainability education and research, fostering a competitive and collaborative environment for advancing the SDGs.

Support for research in the UK includes both a UK-wide approach and a region-specific approach. The UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) that funds specific research projects and programs through the seven thematic research councils, Innovate UK, and Research England [44]. In 2024, UK Research and Innovation became a founding signatory to the Concordat for the Environmental Sustainability of Research and Innovation Practice, which explicitly states alignment with the ambitions of the SDGs and is focused on embedding environmental sustainability into all aspects of research and innovation practices [45].

3.3.2. National Context

Inside the UK, England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland have their own system to manage education and research. While Wales and Scotland, with SFC and CTER, develop an overall vision for HE in their respective nations, in England, the OfS is tasked with this responsibility. HEIs in England must register with the OfS to access public funding, award degrees, and recruit international students [27]. The OfS is a non-departmental public body of the Department for Education (DfE), created in 2018 from the Higher Education and Research Act 2017. As such, the DfE sets priorities for the OfS. One of the OfS’s predecessors, the funding council for universities in England (Hefce), included sustainability of operations in its conditions for funding. The OfS has no such requirement; instead, it aims to ensure that higher education in England delivers positive outcomes for students by encouraging academic competition to provide a diversity of choice for students and protecting the interests of students, government, and society [46]. Before 2012, most of the teaching funding at UK universities came from a central government grant paid through the National Funding Council. In 2012, this grant was reduced, and teaching funding was replaced by an increase in tuition fees paid by students.

University research is publicly funded, with a system of “double support”. The England support comes from block grants of public funding, called Quality Related Research (QR) funding, which are distributed to higher education providers to support their research infrastructure. This funding is calculated every seven years using the Research Excellence Framework (REF), an evaluation index that measures the quality of university research [27].

3.3.3. Local Context

UWE Bristol (the University of the West of England) has used the SDGs since 2016 to review their modules, programs, teaching, learning, and assessment across all programs of study. It committed to SD in its Strategy 2030 that it will “strive to fulfil (its) role in the achievement of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals” [47] and identified specific priority issues such as clean growth, decarbonization, climate adaptation, and health and wellbeing. Each year, an ESD Action Plan and ESD Report are produced and provide details and evaluation of the UWE’s achievements.

Integration of the SD and the SDGs is considered at an institutional level, guided by the Vice-Chancellor, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, and chair of the Sustainability Executive Committee (a Pro Vice-Chancellor). A University Sustainability Executive Committee (USEC) meets 3 times a year to ensure the implementation of climate action and sustainable strategy, and associated supporting plans and initiatives of UWE. At each meeting, the USEC reviews progress on the Strategy 2030 and regularly updates policies, including the Environmental Sustainability Policy and the Ethical Investment Policy, in line with progress on the Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME) to meet the ISO 14001 [48] and “Responsible Futures” accreditation processes [47]. UWE’s long-standing commitment to sustainability has led to the development of several research centers, which focus on SDG-related issues.

Students have played an important role in UWE’s work with the SDGs, including by undertaking mapping, creating new reading lists for their peers, co-organizing events, bringing back examples of action from industry, and collaborating with their academic tutors to enhance engagement with the SDGs. In particular, the Students’ Union develops the Green Team, a student community with more than 500 members, with the main objective of raising student awareness of positive climate action. It has worked in partnership with the institution to achieve Responsible Futures accreditation since 2016. From a research perspective, UWE Bristol was also one of the first organizations to sign the Concordat for the Environmental Sustainability of Research and Innovation Practices, a voluntary agreement aimed at integrating environmental sustainability into research and innovation practices.

In 2017, UWE Bristol hosted a Global Compact SDG Roadshow to promote awareness of the SDGs amongst businesses. In preparation for hosting this physical event, the ESD lead created a process for reviewing programs of study through the lens of the SDGs. Working with a group of academics who were each leading ESD in their disciplines, and a graphic designer, a set of ten maps was created and presented at the Roadshow event. The response from UWE staff engaged in that pilot, and from those who were present in the initial exhibition, was overwhelmingly positive, and plans were made to roll out the mapping across the institution. Since then, those involved have continued to explore various interpretations of the task, and the mapping task is now built into UWE’s academic curriculum development and review processes [49]. This collaborative method helps academics to align their work with the United Nations’ SDGs by sharing experiences of creating SDG maps and exploring interpretations of relevance to programs, modules, teaching, learning, and assessment. This is facilitated through workshops, meetings, exercises, questionnaires, and shared resources. The process encourages reflection on the content, delivery, and outcomes of UWE’s educational provision. It engages academic leaders and whole program teams (i.e., including students) in discussion of the vision, mission, and values of their programs, disciplines, and professions. Through the years, the mapping process has matured and evolved and has now been undertaken by more than 200 members of academic staff creating more than 100 maps, which aimed to be more efficient and less time-consuming. It has also been presented to external professional accrediting bodies in disciplines including architecture, engineering, and nursing.

Outside the campus, UWE has joined the Bristol Climate and Nature Partnership (previously, Bristol Green Capital Partnership (BGCP)) and is involved in a number of local initiatives such as Bristol City Council’s commitment to achieving a carbon-neutral city by 2030. At the UK scale, the university is a founding signatory of the Concordat for the Environmental Sustainability of Research and Innovation Practice and has won several Green Gown Awards for sustainability over a number of years, including Sustainability Institution of the Year in 2023. It is also a member of the Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges (EAUC), a UK alliance for sustainability leadership in education. Finally, UWE is also a founding member of the UK and Ireland Chapter of the UN Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME). As a global signatory, the University is committed to transforming ‘management education and developing the responsible decision-makers of tomorrow to advance sustainable development’ [50]. At an international level, UWE participates in the THE Impact Ranking and was ranked in the top 100 universities globally for its actions towards achieving SDG 10. 12. 15 and 17, and in the top 90 overall in 2024.

3.4. Comparison Between the Case Studies

All three case studies have signed up to the Paris Agreements following the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit in 2015 and the 2030 Agenda and have thus committed to considering the SD in their policies and to acting in support of the SD. Before 2015, these three countries had already begun to explore SD issues and act on SD. Canada was more advanced in the subject of research linked to the SDGs than France. France, on the other hand, is maintaining its dynamic, while Canada is seeking to become a world leader and is stepping up its SD efforts. The UK was a leader on a European scale, but has been less involved since Brexit.

The following

Table 2. SDG integration for the ULaval (Quebec, Canada), Sorbonne Univ (France) and UWE (England, UK) following the Global/International, National/Provincial and Local HEIs scales.

SDG Integration Scales	Case Studies
	ULaval (Quebec, Canada)	Sorbonne Univ (France)	UWE (England, UK)
Global/ International	Guidelines Federal Sustainable Development Act; Federal Sustainable Development Strategy; Canada’s 2030 Agenda National Strategy: Moving Forward Together Assessment Label STARS; Label THE Rankings	Guidelines European Green Deal: The National Low Carbon Strategy (SNBC)	Guidelines Agenda 2030: The UK Government’s approach to delivering the Global Goals for Sustainable Development; Education for Sustainable Development Guidance
National/ Provincial	Guidelines Plan d’action du développement durable (PADD); La Stratégie québécoise de recherche et d’investissement en innovation (SQRI2)	Guidelines Programme de développement durable à l’horizon 2030; Plan National d’Adaptation aux Changements Climatiques (PNACC2) Assessment Label Développement Durable et Responsabilité Sociétale (DD&RS)	Guidelines Higher Education and Research Act 2017 Assessment Green Gown Awards
Local/HEIs	Guidelines Politique de développement durable; Stratégie de développement durable 2023–2028 Assessment CartODD tool		Guidelines Concordat for the Environmental Sustainability of Research and Innovation Practices; Environmental Sustainability Policy and the Ethical Investment Policy; Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME) Assessment Responsible Futures Accreditation: Mapping approach project

summarizes the main documents relating to the integration of the SDGs in a global/international, national/provincial, and local/HEIS scales. For our case studies, the first level is considering the “North-American”/“Canadian”, “European” and the “UK” levels; the second level the “Provincial/Quebecois”, “France” and “England” levels; and the third level the ULaval, Sorbonne Univ. and UWE levels. We classified the elements into two types: documents, guidelines, or tools for SDGs assessment and monitoring.

Regarding the ULaval (Quebec, Canada) case study, there are four main documents at a Canadian scale that give general orientation for the implementation of SD and SDGs (i.e., Federal Sustainable Development Act; Federal Sustainable Development Strategy; Canada’s 2030 Agenda National Strategy: Moving Forward Together). For education and research, there is two main documents (i.e., PADD for education and SQRI2 for research) at the province of Quebec scale. At the ULaval level, the HEI relies on two documents that integrate the global and national orientations but with more detailed actions and requirements (i.e., Politique de développement durable; Stratégie de développement durable 2023–2028). To assess the level of integration of the SDGs within a HEI, the STARS Label and THE Rankings are often used in Canada and at ULaval on a global scale. ULaval develop its own tool internally (i.e., cartODD) for the assessment and monitoring of SDGs for French-speaking country and on development to be extended to other HEI contexts.

Regarding the Sorbonne Univ (France) case study, the SNBC is the main reference at a European scale and two main documents at a national scale that give general orientations for the implementation of SD and SDGs (i.e., Programme de développement durable à l’horizon 2030 and PNACC2). At a national scale, the DD&RS Label remains the main tool for education and research. Sorbonne Univ is relying on this Label as well.

Regarding UWE Bristol (England, UK), the Agenda 2030: The UK Government’s approach to delivering the Global Goals for Sustainable Development gives general orientations, and Education for Sustainable Development Guidance is more specific for education and research at a UK scale. England developed its own guidelines for education and research (i.e., Higher Education and Research Act 2017) and its own label, the Green Gown Awards, for HEIs. UWE has three main documents that give specific actions and requirements for education and research (i.e., Concordat for the Environmental Sustainability of Research and Innovation Practices; Environmental Sustainability Policy; the Ethical Investment Policy) and the PRME is another reference specific to education. The HEI developed its own label, the Responsible Futures to assess and monitor the SDGs.

4. Discussion

4.1. Comparison Between the Case Studies

The ULaval (Quebec, Canada) and UWE Bristol (England, UK) cases show similarities, with global orientations at Canadian and UK scales, but delegation to provincial (i.e., Quebec Province) and national (i.e., England) scales for education and research. On the other hand, the French case follows the national framework and orientations based on the European-United Nation framework, and universities are less committed to developing SDG initiatives.

In terms of monitoring and evaluating the integration of the SDGs in these universities, ULaval is part of the 2526 HEIs in 2024 that have participated in the THE Impact Ranking in 2024 and of the 387 HEIs in the STARS label the same year to consolidate its leadership at the international level. The desire to enhance its reputation and leadership in the SDGs led Canadian universities such as ULaval to innovate and develop their own approaches to SDG assessment and monitoring. These approaches are voluntary but strongly encouraged by the government, leading to top-down approaches such as the CartODD project at ULaval. For the British case, government pressure is less important especially since the Brexit, which is leading to a voluntary development of local bottom-up approaches as the mapping method developed by UWE Bristol. At an international level, UWE Bristol also participates in the Green Gown Awards and it’s part of the 95 HEI that have get the SD recognition. Both case studies, ULaval and UWE follow voluntary approaches regarding the SD and SDGs. In France, the integration and monitoring of the SDGs is more mandatory, with more standardized and systematic actions on the part of universities to meet “standards”. Thus, Sorbonne Univ is subject to the DD&RS label, a national initiative.

In addition, as there is no specific national framework for Canada and England, but a strong international incentive for the SDGs, ULaval and UWE Bristol have developed their own tools and methods for evaluating and monitoring the SDGs (e.g., the cartODD tool for ULaval, the Responsible Future accreditation and the SDGs mapping method for UWE). In the French and Sorbonne Univ context, the need for SDG evaluation and monitoring is still present and, as the DD&RS Label is not providing methodologies or tools, it is an opportunity for the three HEI to test, develop and adapt the ULaval and UWE tools to be used in another context.

This analysis of the ULaval, Sorbonne Univ and UWE contexts at different levels (global, national or local scales), can be resumed by the degree of pressure (low, moderate, high), representing the source of drivers for integrating the SDGs in HEIs for education and research. The

Table 3. Degree of pressure (low, moderate, high) for the integration of SDG in HEIs for ULaval (Quebec, Canada), Sorbonne Univ (France) and UWE (England, UK).

Case Study	Global	National	HEI
ULaval (Quebec, Canada)	Low	Moderate	High
Sorbonne Univ (France)	Moderate	High	Low
UWE (England)	Low	Low	High

illustrates that the pressures for integrating the SDGs are more at national level in the French case and at local level in the English and Quebec cases.

4.2. Limitations of the Study

The case studies of ULaval (Quebec, Canada), Sorbonne Univ (France) and UWE (England. UK) are HEIs located in OECD countries, where the economic and political system is stable and efficient. The governments have the capacity of supporting the HEIs in integrating the SD and SDGs into their education and research strategies. Historically, those countries contributed to the United Nations since a long time ago and they have a strong leadership worldwide. This global and national context explain why they can develop tools and methods to assess and monitor SDGs (e.g., ULaval and UWE case studies) or participating into partnership for adapting existing tools to other contexts (e.g., Sorbonne Univ). Indeed, those HEIs have often enough human, technical, and financial resources to lead and contributing to the advancement of the implementation of SDGs into HEIs. The three case studies analyzed in this article are general HEIs so they tend to consider all the SDGs at the same level which is not the case in specialized HEIs which can focus especially in some SDGs. Also, they are playing a leadership role in their respective country and have an old and strong reputation in its quality of education, research and innovation. Therefore, the case studies presented in the article cannot be generalized to any HEI worldwide.

In this article, we developed a context analysis framework based on the global, national and local governmental guidelines, methods and tools. Other factors can be important as well into the SDGs implementation at the national and local scales such as the strength of climate change impacts in a country.

Regarding the SDG mapping methods and tools, our partnership with Sorbonne Univ showed that adapting them to another context can be a challenge because they are linked to the context in which they are developed and generally respond to objectives specific to universities. There may be issues related to language (i.e., as is the case between the methods of ULaval and the UWE Bristol), available financial resources (i.e., which are greater in the Canadian context than in the British or French), the profiles of the researchers involved in the project, and so on. As there is no standard method that stands out internationally, it is difficult to compare performance between universities, even within the same country. Moreover, as there is a lack of knowledge about the various existing methods, it is difficult to create links between international and even national research.

4.3. Research Perspectives

This article opens research opportunities in analyzing different contexts of HEIs located in Africa, Central and South America or, east and south Asia. It might show that the global context is a key factor in integrated SGs due to the instability of the political system and a lack of human, technical and economic resources for education and research on these countries. It might be interesting as well to look at trends in countries outside the OECD, such as countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America that have also signed up to the Paris agreements and analyzed their contexts and strategies regarding the SDGs at a global and national level and compare them to our case studies.

Some studies showed that there is a correlation between the geographical location of the HEIs and their political system. Other factors can be important as well to the SDGs implementation at the national and local scales, such as the strength of climate change impacts in a country or the relationship the country has with the United Nations that can be studied.

Also, this article showed that there is a growing need to exploit SDG mapping methods for universities, but that it is currently difficult to know about all the initiatives that exist because they are not systematically documented. It would be interesting to take a closer look at the methods for evaluating and monitoring SDGs and to analyze the pros and cons of each. A sample of the most interesting methods could be tested on the same case study to assess their performance and relevance. It might also be interesting to study the various SDG assessment labels (STARS, THE, DD&RS, etc.) in order to compare them and analyze the indicators used. At a local HEI level, it will be interested to look the top rated THE HEIs in Africa, Central and South America or, east and south Asia, which is the most popular label worldwide with more than 2500 HEIs participating in 2024.

More specifically regarding ULaval, Sorbonne Univ and UWE, it would be interesting to test the top-down method of ULaval and the bottom-up method of the University of the West of England on the case of Sorbonne Univ, which is the only university without its own method for monitoring and evaluating the SDGs. Applying the ULaval method would make it possible to analyze the results in another French-speaking country. Applying the UWE Bristol’s method would enable the analysis of its performance in a non-English-speaking context. It could also be applied to ULaval to further validate its robustness. Similarly, the ULaval method could also be tested at UWE Bristol to see how it can be adapted to an Anglo-Saxon context and produce good results. Finally, these various pilot projects could study the potential complementarity of these 2 methods, which have different approaches (top-down and bottom-up).

5. Conclusions

Since the United Nations (UN) submit in 2015, 193 countries have been committed to the 2030 Agenda for the integration of sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including education and Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). However, there is no clear, defined method for meeting this need, and universities are therefore often at the forefront of developing methods adapted to their context and institutional objectives. The most well-known tool to help organizations in assessing and monitoring the SDGs are the SDGs indicators framework developed by the UN, but some research and work have been found to adapt this tool to other contexts, and especially HEIs. In fact, these indicators are global and are not specific to the context of education and research. However, they remain a solid basis on which countries can rely. Furthermore, there is no single international recognition to demonstrate the success of universities in integrating the SDGs. Various labels are emerging but remain specific to the geographical context (e.g., STARS and THE for North America, Green Gown Awards for the UK, DD&RS for France), which makes inter-university comparisons difficult.

In this article, we showed that the context of where the HEI is located has an impact in the way of integrating the SDGs. We developed a framework to analyze the global, national and local context to understand at which level are the main drivers for the integration of SDGs. We applied this analysis to ULaval (Quebec, Canada), Sorbonne Univ (France) and UWE (England, UK) and the results showed that incitation at the national level leads the HEIs to gain access to research funding and significant international recognition. This is the case of ULaval with the development of the cartODD tool for measuring the SDGs and its participation to the STARS and THE Impact Ranking Labels and, for UWE with the SDGs mapping project and its participation to the Green Gown Awards. Sorbonne Univ, on the other hand, relies more on standardized national policies, which limits research and university initiatives. However, its reputation makes it participate to international partnership such as the one with ULaval and UWE to test, develop and validate existing methods, such as what was done in Sorbonne Univ during the workshops in February 2024.

This study has been conducted by looking in particular to three reputed HEIs located in developed countries with a political and economic stable situation. The SDGs implementation strategies in under-developed countries could be studied, in particular with the high rated HEIs participating to the STARS, THE Impact Ranking and Green Gown Awards labels and certifications. Moreover, we focus on the political and governance context, but other factors can also have an impact in the integration of SDGs as the climate change impacts pressure of a country or its position with the UN.