Higher education plays a fundamental role in the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by ensuring students acquire the knowledge, skills, and values needed to contribute to the rapid demand by employers for sustainability competencies in the workplace, and across fields.
In this regard, the “Green Academy” Center together with the Narxoz University’s Sustainable Kazakhstan Research Institute and international partners will conduct an online seminar “Green University: Strategy and Investment”. The online event will take place on June 15, 2020 at 15:00-16:30 (Nur-Sultan time) in the format of a round table.
During the first session, representatives of the Centre of the Green Investment (Moscow) and the Grantham Research Institute at LSE (London) will discuss policy and investment aspects of green universities in Europe. Participants will also learn about a similar experience in Russia in the framework of the capacity-building (network) program from representatives of the “Green University” program, as well as the state support of the low-carbon and green centers in the UAE presented by Dubai Carbon Centre for Excellence.
The second session will illustrate the positive experience of Narxoz University as being one of the first universities in Central Asia to integrate sustainable development issues into all aspects of university life, including curricula, strategic documents, research and campus activities. The Director of the Sustainable Kazakhstan Research Institute (SKRI) will talk about how the Sustainable Narxoz-2030 Strategy is being implemented at Narxoz University, which was ranked among the top 400 universities worldwide contributing to the UN SDGs (Times Higher Education Global University Impact Rankings 2020). Further, UN representatives will talk about the role of education in achieving the SDGs and cooperation with Narxoz University on these issues.
The sessions will be followed up by an open discussion where participants will elaborate a series of recommendations to be proposed for the Government of Kazakhstan.