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Joint Statement of Global University Leaders on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

2021-03-24

Updated as of March 24, 2021

 

Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by United Nations Member States in 2015, provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. Entering into the new decade, the sustainability of our planet remains severely challenged by numerous threats, ranging from natural disasters, climate change, pandemics, to inequality and unemployment, etc.

With less than 10 years left to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – which are at the heart of the 2030 Agenda – it is more important than ever for the global community to mobilise for collective resolve and accelerated action. With their unique advantages in generating knowledge, uniting stakeholders and enabling transformation, leading universities around the world should play an active and essential role in forging a sustainable future through dialogue, solidarity and collaboration.

On the occasion of the Virtual Forum on the Role of Universities in the 2030 Agenda held March 24, 2021, we as university leaders across different continents wish toreaffirm our commitment to the 2030 Agenda. We commit to the following elements of a shared vision:

• Imbedding sustainability across our activities, operations, monitoring and evaluation. Through unwavering examples, we will foster and promote sustainable development on and off campus.

• Enhancing competencies in SDGs by empowering our students, faculty and staff with the knowledge, skills, and motivation to understand and address the SDGs.

• Supporting a wider spectrum of research work needed to address global challenges, including blue-sky discovery and transdisciplinary research, and to better inform policy-making.

• Fostering innovative solutions for sustainable development by engaging multiple stakeholders, including government, civil society and the private sector.

• Leveraging technology and upholding open science where appropriate to facilitate sustainable partnerships and context-specific, problem-solving collaborations across borders.

 

In alphabetical order by institution:

1.Nikolaos G. Papaioannou, Rector, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

2.Way Kuo, President, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

3.Stuart Corbridge, Vice-Chancellor, Durham University, UK

4.Eric Labaye, President, École Polytechnique, France

5.Frank Baaijens, Rector Magnificus, Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands

6.Rik Van de Walle, Rector, Ghent University, Belgium

7.Lawrence S. Bacow, President, Harvard University, USA

8.Satoshi Nakano, President, Hitotsubashi University, Japan

9.Kiyohiro Houkin, President, Hokkaido University, Japan

10.Ping-kong Alexander Wai, President and Vice-Chancellor, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China

11.Tony F Chan, President, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia

12.Jin Taek CHUNG, President, Korea University, Korea

13.Nagahiro Minato, President, Kyoto University, Japan

14.Tatsuro Ishibashi, President, Kyushu University, Japan

15.Leonard CHENG Kwok-Hon, President, Lingnan University, Hong Kong, China

16.Banchong Mahaisavariya, President, Mahidol University, Thailand

17.Barnabas Nawangwe, Vice-Chancellor, Makerere University, Uganda

18.Mikhail Pogosyan, Rector, Moscow Aviation Institute, Russia

19.Seiichi Matsuo, President, Nagoya University, Japan

20.Subra Suresh, President, Nanyang Technological UniversitySingapore

21.Tan Eng Chye, President, National University of Singapore, Singapore

22.Morton O. Schapiro, President, Northwestern University, USA

23.HAO Ping, President, Peking University, China

24.Andrei Rudskoi, Rector, Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, Russia

25.Ferruccio Resta, Rector, Politecnico di Milano, Italy

26.Wim de Villiers, Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Stellenbosch University, South Africa

27.Ariel Porat, President, Tel Aviv University, Israel

28.Rocky S. Tuan, Vice-Chancellor and President, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

29.Asher Cohen, President, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

30.Jin-Guang Teng, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China

31.Wei Shyy, The Hong Kong University of Science and TechnologyHong Kong, China

32.Santa J. Ono, President and Vice-Chancellor, The University of British Columbia, Canada

33.Dejan Jaksic, Rector, The University of Novi Sad, Serbia

34.Stephen Garton, Vice-Chancellor and Principal, The University of Sydney, Australia

35.Amit Chakma, Vice-Chancellor, The University of Western Australia, Australia

36.Hideo Ohno, President, Tohoku University, Japan

37.Alejandro Gaviria Uribe, Rector, Universidad de los Andes, Colombia

38.António Manuel da Cruz Serra, Rector, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal

39.Marcelo Knobel, Rector, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Brazil

40.Datin Dr Anita B Z Abdul Aziz, Vice Chancellor, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Brunei

41.Andrew J Deeks, President, University College Dublin, Ireland

42.Michael Spence, President and Provost, University College London, UK

43.Bill Flanagan, President and Vice Chancellor, University of Alberta, Canada

44.Margareth Hagen, Rector, University of Bergen, Norway

45.Hugh Brady, President and Vice-Chancellor, University of Bristol, UK

46.Gary May, Chancellor, University of California, Davis, USA

47.Mamokgethi Phakeng, Vice-Chancellor, University of Cape Town, South Africa

48.Robert J. Jones, Chancellor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA

49.Toyin Ogundipe, Vice-Chancellor, University of Lagos, Nigeria

50.Yonghua Song, Rector, University of Macau, Macau, China

51.Svein Stølen, Rector, University of Oslo, Norway

52.Jacques Frémont, President and Vice-Chancellor, University of Ottawa, Canada

53.Meric Gertler, President, University of Toronto, Canada

54.Heinz W. Engl, Rector, University of Vienna, Austria

55.Ana Mari Cauce, President, University of Washington, USA

56.Aiji Tanaka, President, Waseda University, Japan

57.Peter Salovey, President, Yale University, USA

58.WU Zhaohui, President, Zhejiang University, China