Indonesian universities make progress towards achieving UN sustainability goals

The AIC’s Indonesian partner universities have rated highly in the latest Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings, a gauge of progress towards the achievement of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

According to an expert on the ranking systems, Indonesian universities use the goals to show their progress in being a part of the solution on critical global problems.

Angel Caldron from RMIT says there is growing interest among Indonesian universities to participate in the survey as a way of “showing evidence or impact in society”.

The director of strategic insights says that there is overall “increased participation” among “higher education institutions from middle-income countries”.

According to the ASEAN University Network, the Southeast Asian region is “ever more aware of the social-economic and environmental calamities of the coming century”.

AIC partner Universitas Airlangga was first for eradication of poverty (SDG1), fourth for achieving gender equality (SDG 5) and 20 for quality education (SDG 4).

Universitas Indonesia was fourth for SDG 1, six for achieving zero hunger (SDG 2) and 13 for achieving clean water and sanitation (SDG 6).

Universitas Hasanuddin was ranked 45 for SDG 14 (life below water).

Universitas Indonesia finished 31st for overall impact while Universitas Airlangga finished at 81.

Mr Calderon says THE rankings also helped universities show how they were “working towards specific goals”, noting the number of Indonesian universities participating in the surveys had increased to 45 in 2024 from 32 the previous survey and 28 before that.

“SDGS are different to each country and different countries focus on different things, for example Indonesia with a focus on water,” he says.

“But if you look at the rankings [among Indonesian universities], there is quite a spread of which SDGs they were focusing on.

“This demonstrates a commitment to addressing, as much as they can, the SDG agenda.”

He notes the commitment to quality education or SDG 4.

“Indonesia is a country that is growing rapidly and becoming a powerhouse in terms of education.

“In the past, Indonesia was dependent upon other countries [for higher education], but this demonstrates that Indonesia is growing rapidly and developing its own national system [of education]. That bodes well for the future in terms of quality improvement.”

The Australia-Indonesia Centre is a consortium of leading universities from both countries which tackle some of the region’s most pressing challenges such as climate change.