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The role of university and community in achieving SDGs

ByLNA NEWSDecember 27, 20242 Mins read47

Students with program volunteers

By : Associate Professor Dr Zuwati Hasim

Universities play a key role in driving progress toward the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by fostering innovation, disseminating knowledge, and engaging community. As centres of research and education, they generate solutions to global challenges, such as poverty, inequality, climate change, and quality education. However, achieving the SDGs requires universities to transcend traditional boundaries and embrace a more integrated relationship with their surrounding communities, a concept referred to as “communitized universities.”

A communitized university should actively involve itself in addressing the social, economic, and environmental challenges of its locality. It serves as a hub where academia and community intersect, exchange knowledge and resources, to co-create sustainable solutions. For instance, collaborative projects between faculty, students, and community members can lead to improved education systems, green energy solutions, and equitable healthcare initiatives.

Upholding the Ministry of Higher Education’s (MOHE) Universities for Society (U4S) initiative, Universiti Malaya exemplifies this vision by introducing the concept of communitized university as one of its main foundations. And this is achieved through its various community programmes that are being supported and funded by NGO, industries and public or private agencies.

A programme to enhance academic excellence among indigenous secondary school students at Asrama Darul Falah (ASDAF) PERKIM called “Kelas Bimbingan Akademik ASDAF”, funded by Yayasan Amal Asas through UM Community Engagement Centre (UMCares), is a recent example. The one-year programme that consists of five academic excellence support projects – English, Bahasa Melayu, Mathematics, Science, and History – manage to provide not only academic support to 50 indigenous secondary school students from various levels (Form 1 thru Form 4), but at the same time serve as a training platform for the Postgraduate Diploma in Education teacher trainees to practice and gain teaching experience prior to their postings, that are supervised by senior lecturers from the Faculty of Education.

Conducted as night classes every month demands efforts and commitments from those involved. With the strong spirit to bring about social change, and through continuous support and strong collaboration from various parties namely ASDAF, Yayasan Amal Asas, UMCares, Education Faculty of Universiti Malaya, teachers from SMK Bangsar, SMK Vivekananda, SMK (P) Methodist, this programme witness positive change in terms of learning attitudes and learning performance among these ASDAF indigenous students.

It is hoped that more agencies would come forward to collaborate with and support Universiti Malaya to carry out such programme to help those in need, uplift their quality of life through education. As evident from this academic excellence support programme, the initiative managed to empower indigenous youth, boost their confidence level, and motivate them to learn. The programme somehow contributes toward fostering inclusivity and equitable access to education. Ultimately, this synergy exemplifies how institutions of higher learning along with supporting agencies can evolve into agents of societal transformation, creating a shared vision of sustainability and equity for future generations.