Partnership for Progress
University of Liverpool
(
Partnership
)
#SDGAction33536
Description
This is a developing SDG partnership which brings together the National University of San Marcos (UNMSM) as the lead for 12 public Universities in Peru (the RUNAI network) with the University of Liverpool (UoL). The partnership has developed in response to the role of universities in our respective countries and the wider benefit that universities bring to those societies as anchor institutions. UNMSM, for example, give direct support to the development of public policies in Peru oriented towards the fulfilment of the SDGs; UoL has a similarly strong civic engagement role within the UK. Both Universities cultivate students as global citizens and agents of change.
The partnership first began after UNMSM secured British Council funding in February 2019, enabling exploratory activities to identify common areas of interest between the two universities. Through this process the SDGs were identified as an area of commonality and this has led to a series of activities. SDG Conference 1: Internationalisation and SDGs in Higher Education San Marcos SDG Conference took place in 28th September 2020 by a virtual platform. The organization of this event was led by the General Office of Cooperation of the National University of San Marcos and it included two components: the role of universities for implementation of SDGs and the progress of the SDGs in the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a database of the attendees of this topic, which we will use in the call of students for the next activities. British Council Funding Bid UNMSM and the UoL submitted a joint funding application to the British Council to work with Indigenous Communities in Peru to develop solutions that contribute towards SDG13 Climate Action. SDG Conference 2 – Whole Institution Approach The partnership is now planning a ‘Whole Institution SDG Conference’ for April 2021. It will be delivered jointly by UNMSM, UoL and UoL’s partner University XJTLU, in China. The conference is due to include an opening session to explore the transformational impact of placing the SDGs at the heart of a University’s vision, a student SDG challenge and sessions related to sharing lessons arising from research in relation to SDG clusters and campus sustainability. SDG Journal (potential) The potential for the establishment of an international SDG journal is also being explored.
SDG Conference 1 5,100 views of the conference on the fan page of UNMSM SDG Conference 2 36 students from across the partnership will directly participate in the SDG student challenge and will each receive a certificate for their participation. Researchers will present their work (number tbc) Up to 1000 attendees plus social media views when posted. The Ministries of Peru will benefit from the ideas generated by the students and will be able to select a winner. The winning idea may lead to the funding and implementation of a real life issue which will contribute to the achievement of SDG11 objectives in Lima. Lessons learned will be shared across the cities connected with the partnership organisations. Further outputs and impacts will emerge from the research and whole institution element of the conference and other potential impacts arising from the future research, funding bids and journal articles.
This project currently has no costs apart from staff time. There have been some issues arising as a result of time zone differences. This has been overcome by identifying 2 hour periods each day which are reasonable for all participants from across the three continents to attend conference sessions. Language barriers have not been a barrier to date with all participants speaking English, however for future projects if this barrier were to occur then we would look to include interpreters. All activities are virtual and so geographical locations have not been an issue, although future mobility will be beneficial
This is a new partnership that will continue to grow and develop. Future projects include the potential for annual summits to be held which will focus on the SDG challenges of the different cities involved. There is also the potential for the launch of an SDG international journal and future funding bids. The outcome will be shared on key forums including partner’s websites and HE sector events. Lessons learned will be communicated through reports and conferences, sharing the best practice from our experience and diversity. All of this offers the potential for other Universities to learn from our experience. In the longer term, we will look at the possible development of MOOCs for specific areas of activity including volunteering, climate change actions etc. These may be shared with the international community
Conference: Internationalization and SDGs in Higher Education https://www.facebook.com/123229551081638/videos/812284199544913 https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/heseltine-institute/ https://www.unmsm.edu.pe/
The SDG partnership has not been negatively impacted by Covid-19 as all of the activities to date, and the conference planned for April have been conducted virtually. The student SDG challenge and research elements of the activity will all address challenges that have been impacted by the pandemic and so will contribute to building back better.
SDGS & Targets
Deliverables & Timeline
Resources mobilized
Partnership Progress
Feedback
Share
Timeline
Entity
Ongoing
Other beneficiaries
Partnership between San Marcos University (and the RUNAI, network of the principal public universities, which are located in different regions of Peru), the University of Liverpool and XJTLU. Communities within Lima and other cities(Peru) Liverpool (England) and Suzhou (Chin). Ministry of Environment of Peru Ministry of Development and Social Inclusion of Peru Public ministry of Peru Students at the institutions Staff at the institutions Researchers
More information
Countries
Contact Information
Fiona, Partnership for Progress