Educational activities for students and university officials by “KITAQ Campus SDGs“ project

#SDGAction42701

Description

Intro

Group activity by students and university officials at The University of Kitakyushu in Japan. Each group found various internal activities, study, and research in campus which is related with SDGs goals and targets, then made articles to publish on a specific Web site named “KITAQ Campus SDGs (http://kitaqsdgs.jp/)”. 40 students and university officials took part in this project, then 30 articles were published on this site in 2018-2019.

Objective of the practice

There are 3 objectives of this project. 
Firstly, developing human resources is one of tasks for a university education system. We tried to cultivate human resources through this project who understand SDGs properly, then enhance its related activities in various areas. 
Secondly, establishment of our university brand is one of other objectives. Kitakyushu-city is one of pioneer of SDGs activity in Japan. Our university is public university corporation by Kitakyushu-city, so as a representative of Kitakyushu citizen, making branding for SDGs educating activities is one of our tasks. This project will be a part of appeal for not only our university but also Kitakyushu-city brand making. 
Finally, one of the most important objectives is to cultivate SDGs knowledge among citizens. We made the first entrance for this “KITAQ Campus SDGs” Web site on top page of our university Web site, to make the more people reach and have an opportunity to see it. 
Achieving these objectives will contribute for SDGs promotion and education for Kitakyushu-city citizens including society, economics, and environmental area.

Partners

Students and university officials including faculty members of The University of Kitakyushu,citizens of Kitakyushu-city, and people who had an interest on SDGs activities in Kitakyushu-city.

Implementation of the Project/Activity

Firstly, project members had a lecture about SDGs background with status of society, environment, and economics, then understood the importance of SDGs global goals and targets.
Secondly, they took part in a card game named “SDGs 2030”, which make them experience Trade-off situation, then learnt the importance of linkage and creativity which is one of the most important parts of SDGs concept .
After that, 40 project members were divided into about 10 groups, then each group set a target to find SDGs activities in our campus. Each group made an interview, then made an article to publish on “KITAQ Campus SDGs” Web page. 30 activities were introduced as “Campus SDGs” activities on this page after all.

Results/Outputs/Impacts

When we looked for participants for this project, 10 university officials and 30 students applied, then 40 people joined as project members in total. It was one of good outcomes to find human resources who has an interest in SDGs within our campus. Furthermore, not only we found 30 activities related with SDGs in our campus through this project, but also we had an opportunity to communicate with other members beyond the faculty or research area.
According to quantitative questionnaire for project members, almost all answered "understanding deepened" about SDGs.
And some of academic officials answered that “Understood well the strength of our university” or “Good opportunity to realize the importance of my task”. On the other hand, some students answered that “Realized that our research could be a help for solving problems for the earth” or “Would like to contribute for SDGs activities more in the future ”. Overall, the results of survey showed the positive reactions from project members.

Enabling factors and constraints

As the first launch year of this project, we needed some budget to construct specific Web site named “KITAQ Campus SDGs”. Thanks for university and the university president support, we overcome the budgeting problems this year. Compared with the first year, the cost for Web site maintenance will be much lower in each year since 2019.
Some of students who took part in this project managed the project overall. Not only they learnt for SDGs knowledge, but also had a good opportunity to acquire the skill for project management.
This became a good example for human resources education through a project.

Sustainability and replicability

This project will be implemented continuously in 2019. “Regional Symbiosis Education Center ” which supports regional activity with citizen will take over this project to enhance the cooperation system among students. Not only this “KITAQ Campus SDGs” project, but “Kitakyushu-city SDGS club” by citizen, elementary and secondly education institutions will be involved in this project through its regular activities or classes. All of costs will be allocated by Regional Symbiosis Educational Center basically or external grants.

Conclusions

As SDGs activities cover a wide range of topics, it looked difficult for the traditional Japanese university which is based on each faculty system at first. However, interviewees showed the understanding the relationship between SDGS and academic research/education through practical activities this time. 
This change shows the new possibility to overcome the border between faculties then could be a step for revolution of Japanese traditional university education system. 
On the other hand, the Japanese university students are often expressed that they cannot learn/experience lessons through academic research at university. However, students who took part in this project mentioned that “Raised up motivation for university academic research” or “Realized the meaning of learning at university”. These comments show that students who joined this project was raised their motivation up, then this project will support to change the way of learning for Japanese university students and meaning of studying.

Other sources of information

Official Web site which introduced this project activities named “KITAQ Campus SDGs”
URL: http://kitaqsdgs.jp/

SDGS & Targets