Award for Advancing the SDGs through Education Abroad

About the Award

The Forum’s Award for Advancing the UN SDGs through Education Abroad honors member institutions and organizations whose education abroad programs promote economic, environmental, and social sustainability. By recognizing members who have made significant progress towards the SDGs, The Forum hopes to inspire the field as a whole to contribute to a more sustainable future for all.

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2024 Award Finalists

Congratulations to this year's finalists for the Award for Advancing the SDGs through Education Abroad! Award recipients will be acknowledged at the virtual portion of The Forum’s Annual Conference.

"It was inspiring to read about how these international education institutions are so intentionally working to advance the UNSDG's by integrating them into their core mission and vision, and fostering a global consciousness of sustainability, equity, and social responsibility among those they serve. Through collaborative partnerships in their local communities as well as partner communities abroad, research initiatives, and innovative curricula, they are empowering students to understand and actively contribute to the SDGs. Their efforts are truly equipping our next generation of leaders with knowledge, skills and the awareness needed to address pressing global challenges and create a more sustainable future for us all. Congratulations to the finalists!"
-- Selection Committee Chair, Kira Espiritu of The American College of the Mediterranean, Institute for American Universities

AFS Intercultural Programs

Arizona State University's College of Global Futures

Temple University Education Abroad and Overseas Campuses

CIS Abroad

University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign IGlobal Program

Award Information

Criteria

Nominees for the Award will be judged on their implementation of the guidelines for Advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals through Education Abroad over the past academic year.

To be considered for the award, applicants must be Forum member institutions or organizations in good standing.

Self-nominations are welcome and encouraged.

Rating

Nominations are rated (on a scale of 0 to 5) on effective application of the guidelines’ sections.

Past Winners and Finalists

2023 Award Recipient

The recipient of the 2023 Award for Advancing the SDGs through Education Abroad is Big Pond Education.

“Big Pond has dedicated their work to local, sustainable efforts, engaging students deeply in their host community. This is echoed throughout their program development, including vegan, locally sourced meals, partnerships with local, sustainable organizations, heavily reduced paper consumption, refurbished equipment, environmentally friendly buildings, tree planting initiatives, carbon off-setting for all flights where travel by more environmentally friendly alternatives is not possible, and carbon literacy micro credentials that all students and staff receive. Big Pond is a true champion of environmental sustainability within international education and has worked to educate others on this topic.”

Award recipient Mark Blakemore, Big Pond co-founder and Chief Partnerships Officer, had some advice for others who are thinking about SDGs and their organizations: keep it up. “If all our programs make one small change, we’re on the path to a huge overall difference.”

The Forum also congratulates the 2023 finalists:

AIFS Abroad

IES Abroad

Intercultural Outreach Initiative (IOI)

Temple University

2022 Award Recipient

The recipient of the 2022 Award for Advancing the UN SDGs through Education Abroad is Dickinson College.

“This acknowledgement of Dickinson’s leadership in fostering connections between sustainability, global and intercultural learning, civic engagement, and diversity, equity and inclusion work is truly humbling,” said Samantha Brandauer, Associate Provost and Executive Director, . “The UN SDGs provide a guide to our collaborative work happening both on campus and across our external international education, sustainability and community engagement networks through workshops, presentations, and publications. Dickinson’s campus centers and offices dedicated to these critical areas are partnering to create more just inclusive and sustainable communities.”

Dickinson was celebrated during the virtual Award Presentation of the 19th Annual Conference on March 15, 2023, and at the in-person event in Seattle on Friday, March 24, 2023.

The Forum also congratulates the 2022 finalists:

2021 Award Recipient

The recipient of the 2021 Award for Advancing the UN SDGs through Education Abroad was .

Penn State Global is proud to partner with academic units and the Sustainability Institute to implement curricular integration, programmatic updates, and operational changes to continue its mission of advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals. They incorporate the SDGs into all areas of their work, including:

They have invested in faculty development workshops and a new sustainability scholars award for students.
Their online program pages information include the SDG icon related to the curriculum and activities of that study abroad program.
For events and marketing, they make informed decisions on reduction of plastic waste and shipping impacts and have prioritized local vendors for all material and catering needs.
They feature one SDG at each weekly staff meeting and now include reference to sustainable practices in all job postings.

Penn State Global was acknowledged as the inaugural award recipient during The Forum’s 18th Annual Conference, “Globally Interconnected: New Opportunities and the Challenge of Change”, March 21-25, 2022 in Chicago and online.

The Forum also congratulates the following finalists for 2021:

Criteria

Rating

Nominations are rated (on a scale of 0 to 5) on effective application of the guidelines’ sections.

Section

Clause

Description of Evaluation Criteria

Guiding Principles

Mission and Goals

How well does your mission statement align with SDGs?

Collaboration and Transparency Between Partners

How well do you embed sustainability into your study abroad partnerships?

Ethics

How do you incorporate ethical considerations such as wellbeing, education, equality, responsible consumption and production into your programming?

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

How do you address systemic biases and enhance equity, diversity and inclusion at every level: internal (students, faculty, staff) and external (partners, local communities)?聽

Administrative Framework

Operations

How do your operational policies and practices reduce your programs鈥� carbon footprint on campus and abroad?

Program Planning and Development

How do your program designs impact student learning outcomes around SDGs and improve medium- and long-term wellbeing of local communities?聽

Personnel

How do you engage, upskill and reward personnel on the basis of their SDG awareness and contributions?

Partnerships and Collaboration

What partnerships have you developed and how do you engage with them to enhance progress towards SDGs?

Community Engagement

How do you engage with local communities to promote awareness and achievement of SDGs?

Student Learning and Development

Before Program

How do your programs integrate sustainability topics and sustainable practices into program design & promotions?

During Program

How do your programs try to understand sustainable development within the local context and include sustainability-related curricular / co-curricular activities?

After Program

How do you encourage post-program reflection on sustainability issues? How do you reward, recognize and encourage students championing sustainability?

韩国三级片is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization recognized by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission as the Standards Development Organization for Education Abroad. 韩国三级片is hosted by its strategic partner, Dickinson College

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