SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

7Education for the SDGs

Every UPES undergraduate learns about sustainability, many choose dedicated degrees, and the university takes SDG learning out to schools, villages and working professionals.

For every student

• School for Life. Since 2020, undergraduates across all schools take at least 18 credits of life-skills and interdisciplinary courses, including a four-credit Environment, Sustainability and Climate Change course with a Living Lab, and can choose Environment and Sustainability or Ethical Leadership in the 21st Century.
• Design your own degree. The ABLE academic framework lets students add minors outside their main field, such as Sustainability Engineering, Climate Change or Disaster Management.
• Learning by doing. The mandatory Srijan Social Internship^[23] places every first-year student with an NGO working on the SDGs, after a 10-hour course on India's development challenges, with sessions led by UN representatives and Presidential Award winners.
• A department for sustainability. The School of Advanced Engineering's Department of Sustainability Engineering^[16] leads teaching and research on sustainability, and its Living Lab uses the campus itself as a place to learn (Living Lab Report^[17]).
• Measuring what students learn. Under the Internal Quality Assurance Cell's sustainability framework, structured tools assess students' sustainability literacy and awareness. Srijan builds in its own check: students take the pre-internship course on social issues, then return to campus to present what they learned to peers, seniors, faculty and staff. In the Himalayan Fellowship, 25 student fellows receive one-to-one faculty mentoring through a four-week field immersion on climate change, biodiversity, cultural resilience and social-ecological systems, framed by the SDGs.

Courses and programmes for the SDGs

UPES teaches 172 courses on climate, environment, energy, health or society. The tables below set out the main courses every student takes and the degrees and programmes built around the goals.

Courses for every undergraduate

Undergraduate degrees

Postgraduate degrees

Professional programmes and fellowships

For schools and the wider community

• Local schools. The "Become a Community Problem Solver" programme for 155 students at Government Inter College, Paundha (August 2026); LearnShala centres and maths and science camps in government primary schools; support for about 12 government schools and more than 700 pupils with Samagra Shiksha Uttarakhand, including a maths and science fair; an equality awareness drive in 16 government schools; and more than 100 school students presenting at Energy Summit 2025.
• Teachers. Project Dronasthali trained more than 30 primary teachers from 15 Dehradun schools in digital teaching, and Project Utkarsh supports 14 local schools with academic help and career counselling.
• Families of migrant workers. Project Samvedna gives day care and education to the children of migrant construction workers on UPES campuses.
• Communities. DigitalDhaam teaches computer and internet skills in nearby villages; Project Lakhon Khawahishen paired reusable menstrual cups with 90 days of training and follow-up for about 1,200 women; and Project Vikalp trains rural women in recycling, craft design and medicinal plant farming.
• Staff. About 60 support staff have been trained through the Skill Development Programme and 22 through Project Grow, and Project Swavalamban teaches Class IV women employees English, digital skills and their legal rights.
• Professionals and the public. The ESG, Sustainability and Impact Specialist Programme, public launches such as the UDAAI Monsoon Report, the Living Lab Summit on Earth Day, Himalaya Calling and the Sustainability Fair share SDG knowledge beyond the campus.