Crescent Sustainability Initiatives

ADVANCING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

The B.S. Abdur Rahman Crescent Institute of Science and Technology has made significant strides in fostering collaboration for best practices in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Central to this initiative is the Crescent Innovation and Incubation Council (CIIC), which serves as a leading incubator in India, hosting over 130 start-ups across diverse sectors such as Life Sciences, Industry 4.0, and Smart Mobility. By employing a Triple ‘M’ Strategy—Mentor, Money, and Market—CIIC empowers entrepreneurs to develop innovative solutions that align with the SDGs, thereby enhancing both individual start-up capacities and broader societal impacts.

EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVES: INTEGRATING SUSTAINABILITY

The institute has established partnerships through Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with various organizations, including Gibraltar Technologies in Dubai, to implement the SUCCEED initiative (Sustainability Centric Crescent Education for Entrepreneurship Development). This initiative aims to create a flexible, competency-based curriculum that equips learners with the necessary knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes for sustainable development. By integrating SDGs into the educational framework, the institute fosters a culture of awareness and action among students, preparing them to be responsible global citizens.

BUILDING GLOBAL NETWORKS: FOCUS ON INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION

International collaboration has been a key focus, with activities such as meetings with representatives from the International SDGs Human Resource Support Association and discussions with delegates from various universities in Dubai. These engagements aim to promote student and faculty exchange programs, enhance cross-cultural learning experiences, and facilitate knowledge sharing. The institute is committed to developing international best practices that contribute to sustainable development by exploring comparative approaches and successful strategies from different contexts.

RESEARCH-DRIVEN SOLUTIONS: EVALUATING AND ENHANCING PRACTICES

Research initiatives also play a crucial role in this collaborative effort. CIIC promotes evidence-based solutions by evaluating existing methodologies and benchmarks related to the SDGs. This research-driven approach helps refine strategies employed by start-ups, ensuring that their initiatives are innovative but also sustainable and scalable. The commitment to research and evaluation enhances the incubator’s role as a catalyst for change, driving impactful solutions within the community and beyond.

PIONEERING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

In conclusion, the B.S. Abdur Rahman Crescent Institute of Science and Technology exemplifies a proactive approach to collaboration for SDG best practices. The institute is paving the way for sustainable solutions that transcend local boundaries through strategic partnerships, innovative educational initiatives, and a focus on research. By nurturing a thriving ecosystem of start-ups and fostering international engagement, the institute inspires a new generation of entrepreneurs to contribute meaningfully to global challenges, reinforcing its commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals.

SUCCEED (SUSTAINABILITY CENTRIC CRESCENT EDUCATION FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT)

BEST PRACTICE

Title of the Practice: SUCCEED – Sustainability Centric Crescent Education for Entrepreneurship Development

To develop the best practice for the implementation of SDGs, MoU was signed with M/s Gibraltar Technologies, Dubai, on 5th November 2020. Several meetings were conducted School/Department-wise involving stakeholders such as faculty members, students and employees of Gibraltar Technologies (GT).

The meeting outcomes resulted in SUCCEED (Sustainability Centric Crescent Education for Entrepreneurship Development), the best practice for implementing SDGs.

Our faculty members and students are carrying out a few projects to address the SDGs in collaboration with GT are listed below.

OBJECTIVES OF THE PRACTICE

• To bring a holistic transformational change within societies, economies and the environment through sustainable centric education.
• To develop and implement a curriculum intended to be flexible and non-prescriptive that follows a competency development model through a combination of knowledge, skills, values and attitudes.
• To enable the delivery of the SDGs by ensuring that each learner has the relevant skills, knowledge, values and attitudes for social, economic and environmental development, and to work in partnership to create peaceful societies.
• To ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development by 2030 through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and culture’s contribution to sustainable development.

THE CONTEXT

Education is one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in itself and as a catalyst for broader change.

Education is critical in shaping individual and collective knowledge, skills, values and attitudes to enable people to move along pathways towards sustainable development, and a catalyst for development itself. It is a key determinant of social and economic transformation, and an essential precursor to peace, tolerance and sustainability. Moreover, it equips learners of all ages with the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes needed to be responsible global citizens, such as respect for human rights, gender equality and environmental sustainability.

The purpose of the SDGs centric education is to develop successful learners, confident individuals, and responsible citizens who are resilient and uphold the core values and principles of the nation.

THE PRACTICE

The curriculum encompasses learning content and outcomes, and shifts learning from being only content-driven to being outcome-driven, action-oriented and participatory. The aim is that all learners can become engaged in promoting the transformation required for sustainable development.

The curriculum deals with the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values in relation to each of the SDGs and outlines:

• The knowledge or content areas to be focused on, making provision for the inclusion of indigenous and traditional knowledge topics.
• The skills to be developed
• The values and attitudes that are desirable for the successful accomplishment of the learning outcome

At present, Core competencies required for sustainable development such as team building, communication, decision making, problem-solving, sense of community, self-esteem, personal responsibility, empathy, moral development, ethics, values, resilience and improved inclination for educational achievement are attained through few of the curricular courses and extension and outreach activities. Integrating the topic of the SDGs into a curriculum allows learners to understand their multiple identities, to work out what their roles should be for living together on a common planet and building a better future in an interdependent world at local, national and global levels.

EVIDENCE OF SUCCESS

The Crescent Innovation and Incubation Council (CIIC) encouraged the stakeholders (primarily the start-ups) to address the SDGs. As a result, our university’s faculty, students, and alumni created start-ups with the support of CIIC; 63 external start-ups, ten alumni start-ups, 14 faculty start-ups, and 26 student start-ups. Our university participated in the Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Ranking in 2020 and 2021 in the following SDGs: SDG 4: Quality Education, SDG 5: Gender Equity, SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation, SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy, SDG 9: Industry Innovation and Infrastructure and SDG 17: Partnership for the Goals. The rank bands are:

Our university participated in the following Green initiative award in 2019 and 2020.

Beema Bamboo is one of the fastest-growing plants on earth under tropical conditions. As a result, it will act as the best carbon sink for carbon-di-oxide emission, one of the major greenhouse gases that can be effectively and quickly brought down by the trees that grow fast by absorbing carbon-di-oxide. About 2000 Beema Bamboos were planted in the university campus during the last two years to reduce carbon footprint and help fight global warming. Our faculty members published quite a few papers in high-quality research journals addressing the SDGs. Complete compulsory courses relevant to the environment, ethics, human values and sustainability were introduced in the curriculum. In addition, about 10% of elective courses addressing the SDGs are offered to the students.

PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED AND RESOURCES REQUIRED

The development of the curriculum involved the identification and description of the competencies that learners should acquire, with an emphasis on the results of learning. In the context of the sustainability centric curriculum, the following was sought: a set of integrated competencies derived from the core competencies that learners need to develop for active and responsible participation in all relevant fields of life and to implement the SDGs, including empathy, ethics, compassionate values, and the ability to express social and environmental concerns and change behaviours. Integrated competencies and learning outcomes, specified in three categories – knowledge, skills, and values and attitudes, are adopted from “A Curriculum Framework for the Sustainable Development Goals – First Edition, Commonwealth, 2017” and “Education for Sustainable Development – Learning Objectives, UNESCO, 2017”.