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In this chapter, the authors will discuss the global learning partnership (GLP), which is an innovative and evidence-informed model of experiential learning for health professional students. The model is based on partnerships between universities to promote the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda.

The GLP is a placement opportunity for an inter-professional cohort of visiting and local students and academics, designed as an action-orientated, community engagement learning experience focused on addressing community health and well-being needs (Goal 3). Consistent with the SDGs, strong partnerships (Goal 17) are essential to lasting impact.

The aim of developing the GLP was to design, implement, and trial a new model of global placement that was sustainable, capacity building, and a genuine learning opportunity for local and international health science students, driven by the agenda to increase learning about and action on the SDGs. This model was designed to harness the strengths of existing educational frameworks recognized for the beneficial learning opportunities they provide; inter-professional learning; learning from and with communities with SDG needs; and with a three-week immersion component for building cultural competency.

In addition to focusing on the SDG agenda, the GLP is unique in drawing on the knowledge and skills of local students and academics in educating the visiting students to work in geopolitically and socioculturally complex community setting building, as visitors learn from both local students and the local community about best practice.

This chapter will provide discussion of the theoretical framework underpinning the model design and draw on the student and academic experience. Practice details are also provided to allow educators in other organizations to replicate the partnership model.

The importance of knowledge regarding the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is universally recognized, but less commonly actualized in health professional curricula. This chapter examines how SDG awareness has been embedded into curricula and extra-curricula activity in four different University settings: The University of Melbourne (Australia); Tecnologico de Monterrey (Mexico); Lund University (Sweden); and the University of Birmingham (United Kingdom). It is informed by the work of academics representing single health disciplines from the four universities. All academics are actively involved with the Universitas 21 Health Science Group (U21HSG) SDG strategic group. The chapter will outline shared and unique projects that are directed at increasing students awareness for targeted action to achieve the global goals.

With a crowded curriculum, lack of SDG expertise and a belief that health professional learning should focus on a single goal (Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages), there are significant challenges to growing SDG relevant knowledge and skills within existing programs. We provide examples of how these challenges were met, such as through the development of SDG learning outcomes to fit within a physiotherapy curriculum renewal and the running and management of service learning refugee clinics by medical students. We will briefly examine our key learning and make recommendations on providing SDG relevant learning opportunities for students. The chapter will provoke and challenge the reader to consider how they are addressing the sustainability goals and how they can overcome perceived barriers to educating students for a sustainable world.

The aim of sustainable development goals (SDGs) announced in 2015 by United Nations was to ensure that all students and scholars are being able to acquire knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development. The role of higher education is important when it comes to educating students in sustainability and sustainable developments. Universities can have a great influence on achieving social and economic progress of a country as well as protecting the environment and addressing complex issues that plague society. The role of universities is not only restricted to exchange of knowledge but also in playing a leading role as an active member of society. Universities have come out of their isolation to accommodate and be a part of social change and actively engage in community’s life and activities and not being confined to only classrooms and laboratories. Universities need to work closely with industry and non-governmental and non-profit bodies to identify the needs of society and address them productively and work toward achieving common goals and objectives. In this book, authors have explored various facets of SDGs and how well universities have been able to integrate those goals into their curriculum and to institutionalize those goals into their strategic plans and institutional culture. Authors from Nigeria, sub Saharan Africa, Italy, and Middle East have elaborated how to achieve this in the face of shifting expectations, student debt, and graduate mobility. As a result, this volume shows how some universities are cultivating SDGs both on- and off campus.