The SDG Center has been working on a portfolio of courses and public lectures on sustainable development with a transversal and transdisciplinary perspective to achieve the SDGs.
The SDG education portfolio includes various initiatives. On formal education, the Center has developed an elective course on the Sustainable Development Goals at los Andes University. This course is part of the Uniandino Basic Cycle, which gives comprehensive knowledge and competencies to students, so they become ethical, critical, and committed citizens and professionals. The Center has developed this elective course to explore the conception and perspective of the SDGs in contrast with other development theories as well as the concept of the planetary boundaries. This course imparts a broad understanding and different perspectives to achieve sustainability regardless of the discipline and career of the student.
The SDG Center has also developed courses within the executive education area of the School of Management. These tailor-made programs were conducted considering the increasing demand for specific courses to expand the knowledge of professionals in matters of sustainability, and as a request of some companies to address their specific needs around the sustainability area.
One the other hand, the Center extended the traditional scope of training spaces implementing open lectures and Massive and Open Online Courses (MOOC), to reach a wider audience among the region. The center has held two open lectures, the first one “Nuestro futuro” took place at the university and focused on new perspectives to address climate change debates. The second “Nuestro Futuro: La Amazonia” delve into the challenges that the Amazon Forest face as a strategic ecosystem for the region. These public lectures were led by Alejandro Gaviria, president of Universidad de los Andes.
The Center has also developed two MOOCs which are available on the digital platform “Coursera”. The MOOC “SDG for Latin-America and the Caribbean” seeks to provide a regional perspective on the SDGs and their goals. While the objective of the MOOC “SDG for business” is to provide tools for companies to initiate or precisely direct their efforts to achieve sustainable development based on their strategic activities. Furthermore, the SDG Center is currently working on a third MOOC, “SDG and sustainability: an approach from schools”, to explore pedagogical tools to encourage the adoption of sustainability initiatives within middle schools.