Centre for Sustainable Development (CSD) was established at the North Ossetian State University (NOSU) in March 2020 and marks the commitment of the NOSU to contributing to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The goal of the CSD is to assist in achieving 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals in the NOSU and the Republic through carrying out infrastructural, educational and applied projects.

The 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a set of 17 global goals designed to be a blueprint to achieve a better and more ecologically, socially and economically sustainable future for everybody. The role of universities and an overall urgent need for higher education institutions to take action in SDGs implementation is emphasized in the Sustainable Development Solutions Network at the UN (SDSN) Australia Manual on How to Start SDGs Implementation in Universities “The importance of education and research is distinctly outlined in the SDGs, and universities play a crucial role in carrying out educational and research tasks. However, contribution of universities into SDGs promotion is much wider as they are able not only to play a role in achieving every goal, but also to support practical implementation of the 2030-Agenda as a whole”.

CSD is working in the following directions:

  • Collaboration with Sustainable Development Solutions Network at the UN (SDSN) for development of educational materials, joint research and project realization with the world’s leading universities;
  • Developing collaboration with the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) – NOSU is an Affiliate Member since June 2019, the aim of collaboration is to promote ecologically, socially and economically sustainable tourism in the Republic through such programmes as UNWTO Academy, Silk Road Initiative, and UNWTO International Centre.
  • Collaboration with Association of Green Universities of Russia – as a member since June 2019, to collaborate in realisation of infrastructural and educational projects for reducing NOSU’s environmental impact and raising awareness on current ecological crisis;
  • Curation of a student-lead Eco-movement SANSARA (featured in UNWTO Newsletter 11, September, 2019),whose main goal is to promote ecologically friendly lifestyle among the NOSU students.

The main task of CSD for 2020 is to develop an educational course on SDGs compulsory for every NOSU faculty. Final work of the course is an applied project aimed at helping local community in the area respective of every Faculty.

In addition to that, the CSD’s plans for 2020 are:

  • Participation in the International University Festival of Sustainable Development “VuzEcoFest – 2020” (Organised by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Russian Federation and a governmental Non-commercial Organisation “Territory of Sustainable Development”);
  • expansion of recycling system in the NOSU (NOSU is the first organization in the Republic of North Ossetia to set up the system of separate waste collection and recycling)
  • Installation of bicycle parking (to be the first university to do so);
  • Organizing events to promote students’ project and research activities in the field of the UN Sustainable Development Goals;
  • Organizing information and entertainment events for local community;
  • Organization of events in accordance with the UN calendar to promote the principles of sustainable development;
  • Supervision of the NOSU’s participation in Enactus, an international programme-competition of student entrepreneurial projects aimed at achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals;
  • Supervision of the NOSU’s participation in inter-university student eco-quests of the Association of Green Universities of Russia;
  • Ensuring participation of the NOSU in international and Russian rankings of green universities by UI Green Metric and the Association of Green Universities of Russia.

Contacts: Lara Dzabolova, Director, sdgs@nosu.ru