Universities and the SDGs: the end of research autonomy?
Members of the UNESCO Global Independent Expert Group on the Universities and the 2030 Agenda (EGU2030) discuss the role of universities in achieving the SDGs.
Main content
The panel examined implicit normative assumptions about a re-ordering of science-society relations, and potential tensions between ideals of autonomy and ambitions of responding to societal challenges.
Contact person: Thomas Völker, Centre for the Study of the Sciences and Humanities (SVT), UiB
Type of event: Digital only. The panel was part of the programme of Day Zero of the SDG conference, and was streamed online.
Watch a recording of the panel here:
Day Zero: Universities and the SDGs: the end of research autonomy?
About the panel
The 2030 Agenda calls for social, economic and political transformations. To this end the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were introduced, providing targets to achieve these transformations. Universities are regarded as key actors in achieving the goals set out by this agenda.
The underlying premise is that universities themselves need to transform to be able to better contribute to achieving the SDGs. Normative ideas about a re-ordering of science-society relations or a new contract between science and society are thus a central part of these debates.
This poses several questions: How can universities contribute to achieving the SDGs? What kind of knowledge is needed? Whose knowledge is needed? In addition, more fundamental issues are at stake: how does working towards the SDGs relate to (often idealized) ideas of an autonomy of science? Should universities operate according to a logic of discovery or a logic of delivery? How could a “new" contract between science and society look like?
These questions will be discussed by the co-chairs and members of the UNESCO Global Independent Expert Group on the Universities and the 2030 Agenda (EGU2030):
- Dag Olav Hessen (University of Oslo)
- Sylvia Schmelkes (Universidad Iberoamericana)
- Adrian Parr (University of Texas/University of Oregon)
- Tristan McCowan (University College London)
This event is relevant for: SDG 4: Quality Education and SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals
UNESCO Global Independent Expert Group
- Duration: 2020-2021
- Partners: National Committee for the 2030 Agenda Norway, UNESCO, International Science Council (ISC), International Association of Universities (IAU)
- UiB supports the group by serving as a co-secretariat for the group, together with UNESCO Section for Higher Education.
- Members: 14 international experts from diverse academic backgrounds
- Objective: This group will produce a report that will be presented at the III World Conference on Higher Education in Barcelona in October 2021 and at the 41st UNESCO General Conference in November 2021.
