Students vote for ‘quality education’ as high priority among global issues

Quality education and climate action are two of the highest priority issues for would-be university students, according to research conducted by THE Student.

In a survey taken by 2,000 prospective international students, participants were asked to vote on which of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) they thought were the most important. SDG 4 (quality education) and SDG 13 (climate action) were voted the highest priority SDGs, with 37 per cent and 33 per cent of the votes, respectively.

There was some variation across different regions. The top priority for North America, Europe and Oceania was SDG 13, while South America, Africa and Asia considered SDG 4 to be the most important.

SDG 2 (zero hunger) was voted the third-highest priority among all respondents, with 26 per cent.

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Some 80 per cent all respondents said it was important for them to live their lives in a way that was consistent with being a sustainable citizen, and 79 per cent identified universities as having a vital role to play in achieving the SDGs.

When considering a prospective university, however, just 9 per cent of students would give significant attention to the university’s commitment to, and reputation for, sustainability. Other aspects such as quality of teaching, quality of research, tuition fees and rankings positions were considered more important factors.

Graduate prospects were ranked equally with commitment to sustainability, and both those factors scored higher than location as being a key determinant in choosing a university.

Survey participants were spread across India, the UK, Nigeria, Pakistan, the USA and Bangladesh.

The survey was conducted in March 2021 to mark the release of the third THE Impact Rankings, which rank universities based on their commitment to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

The students were members of THE’s Student Panel, which is made up of more than 20,000 prospective students. All students can join the Student Panel to participate in surveys and share their views on higher education-related topics.