The UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) is predicated on the idea that universities have a vital role to play in the Sustainable Development Goals.  The work of the SDSN during the past dozen years, and remarkable interest of university leaders in the SDGs, are a testament to that special role.  I am delighted and honored to contribute to the Report of the University Presidents on the SDGs.  This report is based on the wise contributions of university presidents in a series of brainstorming sessions during 2022. 

The SDG agenda is not only vital for wellbeing, but is also very challenging for governments.  It doesn’t fit the usual mold of government policymaking.  First, the SDG Agenda requiring policy focus and consistency over the course of a whole generation or more, 20-30 years, and not simply a typical election cycle.  Second, the SDG agenda is technically complex, as it addresses challenges that cut across economics, social justice, environmental sustainability, and geopolitics.  Third, the SDG agenda requires deep cooperation across nations and at the global scale.  Fourth, the SDG agenda aims to protect the global commons, such as the oceans, biodiversity, and climate, critical challenges in which normal “market forces” do not lead to the desired outcomes. Fifth, the SDG agenda specially aims to protect the wellbeing of future generations.

Yet, these very conditions also mean that universities have a distinctive – indeed essential – role to play in supporting society to achieve the SDGs.  The features that make the SDGs difficult for governments also make them appropriate for universities.  First, universities regularly take on long-term research agendas that last for a generation or more.  Second, universities bring together expertise across the physical sciences, engineering, social sciences (economics, politics, sociology), and behavioral sciences.  Third, universities operate within global networks of knowledge, so that international cooperation comes naturally.  Fourth, by their very nature, universities are mandated to pursue the common good, rather than financial gain or power.  Fifth, universities work across generations, and train today’s young for future leadership.  The wellbeing of future generations is therefore core to the university mission. 

The SDSN has the gratifying responsibility to support the world’s universities to fulfill their great potential in support of the SDGs.  Over the past 10 years, we have universities the world over to rise to the occasion, introducing new teaching and research programs; instituting new university-wide SDG initiatives; re-engineering the campuses to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions; and convening governments, business, and civil society to find solutions to the most pressing SDG challenges of their communities and nations.  The SDSN has been proud and gratified to be part of this worldwide scale-up of SDG activities in the world’s universities. 

The intense interest of the universities in these initiatives has been demonstrated by the active leadership of University Presidents, Chancellors and Vice-Chancellors, Provosts, Deans, faculty, and student groups, in these remarkable efforts.  In 2022, SDSN hosted a series of online meetings of university leaders of all regions of the world, to brainstorm, compare notes, and present their SDG-related accomplishments to their peer institutions.  The turnout was astounding, with hundreds of university presidents participating from Asia, Africa, Europe, North America and South America. 

This volume collects and summarizes the scintillating presentations made during those online gatherings.  Readers will note the extraordinary commitment of the university leaders to the SDGs, and the boldness of university SDG initiatives around the world.  Even in the short time since these online gatherings, the pace of the global university commitment continues to grow, so this volume will no doubt provide powerful inspiration and guidance for even bigger and bolder initiatives yet to come.  It remains, therefore, only to express my deep appreciation and admiration for the many university leaders featured in these pages, and the extraordinary contributions they and their institutions are making towards the fulfillment of the sustainable development needs of our time.