FAS organizes a working day focused on the Objectives for Sustainable Development in University
05/03/2019
Universities which are members of the ACUP signed the Declaration ‘The Catalan universities’ commitment with the Objectives for Sustainable Development: towards a transformative new world' in 2017. Fundació Autònoma Solidària, in collaboration with ACUP, through the ESDU –Education for Development in University- project and the support of the Barcelona City Council, organized a working day in which around sixty representatives of public Catalan universities, as well as representatives of the CIC (Consell Interuniversitari de Catalunya) took part. The main aim was to share experiences and make progress on the implementation of different initiatives on ODS within the teaching field in university to develop this commitment.
The event took place on 1 March in Sala Polivalent within the Edifici Mercè Rodoreda in Campus Ciutadella (Universitat Pompeu Fabra). The ceremony began with a presentation by Mònica Figueras, Vice-Rector for social and equality commitment projects in UPF, Carla Canal, representative of the Global Justice and International Cooperation Management in Barcelona City Council, and Jordi Prat, director of FAS in UAB.
Later on, they held an initial round table about ODS and training in Higher Education in charge of two speakers. Firstly, Thomas Farnell, coordinator of the European project “Towards a European Framework for Community Engagement of Higher Education”, commented on the need of universities to follow the Objectives for Sustainable Development adopted by the UN and the importance of his project on all this process. On the other hand, Pastora Martínez, Vice-Rector for Globalisation and Cooperation in CRUE, explained the current context and the universities’ position in the 2030 Agenda, where she stressed “universities have been working accordingly to the 2030 Agenda’s ODS for many years now”. Plus, Martínez also highlighted that the Consell Interuniversitari de Catalunya will create a working group of universities linked to the 2030 Agenda in Catalonia to keep on strengthening this topic.
Subsequently, all participants were split into working groups based on different scopes in order to share experiences. Finally, they split into working groups by mixing members from different universities for reflection and an exchange of best practices. The aim was to provide specific proposals on how University could improve the ODS’ approach and application.
The event concluded with a presentation of proposals and conclusions as well as some words by Josep Ros, Vice-Rector for Academic Programming and Quality in UAB, and Josep Maria Vilalta, executive secretary in ACUP.
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