As part of the University of the Philippines Open University’s (UPOU) commitment to contributing to the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Quality Assurance Office (QAO) under the Office of the Chancellor (OC) rolls out the university’s official SDG microsite and its first sustainability report for Calendar Year 2020-2021. These initiatives resulted from UPOU’s consideration of sustainability concepts in articulating the University of the Future and its participation in the Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings, an international ranking system that aims to assess the impact of universities in the society against the United Nations’ 17 SDGs.
For the past several years, the university has been dedicated to improving and documenting its quality and sustainability practices. In 2021, the Faculty of Management and Development Studies (FMDS) presented their journey towards developing a sustainability program and highlighted the importance of sustainability perspectives in its programs and quality assurance system. Whereas, the THE Impact Rankings provide metrics to benchmark the university’s performance against their peer institutions while promoting transparency and accountability as universities publish their efforts and achievements in the form of innovative research and projects.
The sustainability report highlights all of the efforts and initiatives of the university for the six SDGs prioritized by the UP System-SDG 3 (Good Health and Wellbeing), SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 5 (Gender Equality), SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), SDG 13 (Climate Action) and the mandatory SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals)– from 2020 to 2021. This includes research publications, projects, activities and partnerships both with local and international institutions.
The front cover of UPOU’s Sustainability Report for CY 2020-2021.
The SDG microsite is intended to promote and disseminate awareness about the importance of the SDGs to UPOU, which can be achieved using information, resources and multimedia content. One primary example is the tagging of UPOU news articles under their respective SDG category. The website also highlights the partnerships forged by the university within local and international institutions which highlights the commitment of UPOU in achieving the SDGs.
The homepage of the UPOU SDG Microsite
At present, the UPOU Quality Assurance Office in coordination with the UPOU ICT Development Office is diligently enhancing the microsite to continuously update its content and improve its functionality and features.The report and website will be updated regularly to systematically track the progress and contribution by the university to the SDGs.
Written by Michael Gomez ♦ Edited by Mari Anjeli Crisanto ♦ Contributed by UPOU Quality Assurance Office
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