A Guide for Members of Governing Bodies – Societal Impact

Education is at the heart of global sustainability. Higher education institutions help address the world’s most pressing societal challenges, captured by the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Universities can demonstrate their commitment to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals by signing the SDG Accord, which has to date 547 signatories from 74 countries and 83 global sector bodies across the global higher education sector.

Institutions that show they prioritise global sustainability in their teaching, research and operations stand to enhance their reputation by ‘doing the right thing’ for society, while also decreasing reputational risks and increasing their investment potential.

Institutions that prioritise sustainability are also more likely to pursue a wide range of partnerships that can also advance the economic, cultural and social capital of their institutional community and alumni body. Strategic partnerships are also key to generating innovation that enables universities to deliver on their core mission.

Universities are increasingly expected to act as agents for change in their local communities. Sustainable institutions will increase community resilience by helping to tackle inequality and improve the quality of life for local people. In turn, this helps to attract students and promote regional growth.

Questions a governor might explore:

• Have we signed the SDG Accord as a means of demonstrating our commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals?
• Is our university building new local partnerships to maximise economic, environmental and social potential?
• To what extent are our programmes of research, teaching and innovation rooted in local and regional community needs?

University of Leeds – Positive Impact Partners Programme

The Positive Impact Partners Programme is a flagship programme by The University of Leeds, designed to increase collaboration between the University and the Third Sector, build capacity to deal with local societal issues and positively contribute to our local communities. We connect local organisations together with University staff to create collaborative partnerships, where staff can provide advice on a range of professional and business skills, and local organisations can be involved in strategic research projects which also benefit them. In its first year (2017/18) the programme recruited 107 partners, created 40 new partnerships and 843 Positive Impact Partner hours were contributed by partners (11).

(11) University of Leeds (2018) PIP (Positive Impact Programme) Progress Report