Award for Advancing the SDGs through Education Abroad

About the Award

The Forum’s Award for Advancing the UN SDGs through Education Abroad honors member institutions and organizations whose education abroad programs promote economic, environmental, and social sustainability. By recognizing members who have made significant progress towards the SDGs, The Forum hopes to inspire the field as a whole to contribute to a more sustainable future for all.

Submissions for this award are now closed.

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Award Information

Criteria

Nominees for the Award will be judged on their implementation of the guidelines for Advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals through Education Abroad over the past academic year.

To be considered for the award, applicants must be Forum member institutions or organizations in good standing.

Self-nominations are welcome and encouraged.

Rating

Nominations are rated (on a scale of 0 to 5) on effective application of the guidelines’ sections.

2026 Award Nominees

Past Winners and Finalists

2024-25

2024-25 Award Recipient

The recipient of the 2024 Award for Advancing the SDGs through Education Abroad is AFS Intercultural Programs.

“In our pursuit towards a more just, peaceful, and sustainable world, AFS is creating active global citizens with the knowledge and skills needed to advance meaningful change. Through strategic partnerships, sustainable program delivery, unwavering commitments to DE&I, reducing our carbon footprint wherever possible, and an SDG-focused curriculum at its core, our AFS Global STEM Changemakers Initiative embeds sustainability, equity, and ethics into everything we do to empower young people to tackle global challenges. We are grateful for this recognition, and we thank The Forum for creating a platform for the international education community to uplift and advance sustainable practices.” – Sean Reilly, Director, Program Development

>> Click here to read our news story about The Forum’s 2024 Award Winners.

The Forum also congratulates the 2024 finalists:

Arizona State University's College of Global Futures

CIS Abroad

Temple University Education Abroad and Overseas Campuses

University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign IGlobal Program

2023-24

2023-24 Award Recipient

The recipient of the 2023 Award for Advancing the SDGs through Education Abroad is Big Pond Education.

“Big Pond has dedicated their work to local, sustainable efforts, engaging students deeply in their host community. This is echoed throughout their program development, including vegan, locally sourced meals, partnerships with local, sustainable organizations, heavily reduced paper consumption, refurbished equipment, environmentally friendly buildings, tree planting initiatives, carbon off-setting for all flights where travel by more environmentally friendly alternatives is not possible, and carbon literacy micro credentials that all students and staff receive. Big Pond is a true champion of environmental sustainability within international education and has worked to educate others on this topic.”

Award recipient Mark Blakemore, Big Pond co-founder and Chief Partnerships Officer, had some advice for others who are thinking about SDGs and their organizations: keep it up. “If all our programs make one small change, we’re on the path to a huge overall difference.”

The Forum also congratulates the 2023 finalists:

AIFS Abroad

IES Abroad

Intercultural Outreach Initiative (IOI)

Temple University

2022-23

2022-23 Award Recipient

The recipient of the 2022 Award for Advancing the UN SDGs through Education Abroad is Dickinson College.

“This acknowledgement of Dickinson’s leadership in fostering connections between sustainability, global and intercultural learning, civic engagement, and diversity, equity and inclusion work is truly humbling,” said Samantha Brandauer, Associate Provost and Executive Director, Center for Global Study and Engagement. “The UN SDGs provide a guide to our collaborative work happening both on campus and across our external international education, sustainability and community engagement networks through workshops, presentations, and publications. Dickinson’s campus centers and offices dedicated to these critical areas are partnering to create more just inclusive and sustainable communities.”

Dickinson was celebrated during the virtual Award Presentation of the 19th Annual Conference on March 15, 2023, and at the in-person event in Seattle on Friday, March 24, 2023.

The Forum also congratulates the 2022 finalists:

IES Abroad

Temple University

University of Virginia

2021-22

2021-22 Award Recipient

The recipient of the 2021 Award for Advancing the UN SDGs through Education Abroad was Penn State Global.

Penn State Global is proud to partner with academic units and the Sustainability Institute to implement curricular integration, programmatic updates, and operational changes to continue its mission of advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals. They incorporate the SDGs into all areas of their work, including:

They have invested in faculty development workshops and a new sustainability scholars award for students.
Their online program pages information include the SDG icon related to the curriculum and activities of that study abroad program.
For events and marketing, they make informed decisions on reduction of plastic waste and shipping impacts and have prioritized local vendors for all material and catering needs.
They feature one SDG at each weekly staff meeting and now include reference to sustainable practices in all job postings.

Penn State Global was acknowledged as the inaugural award recipient during The Forum’s 18th Annual Conference, “Globally Interconnected: New Opportunities and the Challenge of Change”, March 21-25, 2022, in Chicago and online.

The Forum also congratulates the following finalists for 2021: