At the University of Cape Town, there is a clear and growing institutional commitment to sustainability education, reflecting SDG consciousness across student life, teaching, and campus engagement. Key signals of this commitment come from UCT’s Vision 2030, its sustainability strategy, campus projects, and the inclusion of sustainability learning in co-curricular and curricular activities.

  1. Vision 2030 and Institutional Strategy
    UCT’s Vision 2030 explicitly anchors sustainability as one of its three “fundamental pillars” — alongside excellence and transformation — which provides a strategic foundation for embedding SDG themes across the university.

    UCT’s Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Internationalisation is quoted:
    “Our work as a university is rooted in ensuring a sustainable and equitable future for all … this initiative brings together academics, professional staff and students to collaboratively develop, test and implement sustainable solutions …”
  2. Sustainable Campus as a Living Lab
    In October 2024, UCT ran a Sustainable Campus Guided Walking Tour, initiated by the African Climate & Development Initiative (ACDI), as part of the Khusela Ikamva (“Secure the Future”) campus project.
    • This tour, designed for both students and staff, highlights real sustainability infrastructure on campus (e.g., water dams, waste systems) and prompts reflection on resource use.
    • One installation — “Flush and go or flush and grow” — used a toilet placed in a plaza to provoke thinking about water, waste, and sanitation, linking to SDG 6 (clean water) and broader sustainability behavior.
    • The fact that this is student-led (Future Water Institute) underscores that UCT is not just teaching in classrooms, but embedding SDG-relevant learning in the living, physical campus. This kind of “living lab” pedagogy is a strong indicator of meaningful, experiential SDG education accessible to all students.
  3. Participation in System-Level Sustainability Networks
    UCT is a member of the Universities South Africa Higher Education Sustainability Community of Practice (HESCoP), helping to shape national higher-education sustainability agendas.
    • At a 2023 AGM hosted at UCT, the director of Environmental Sustainability (Manfred Braune) and other leaders emphasized teaching, learning, research, and community engagement relating to sustainability as core components.
    • Through HESCoP, UCT helps develop policy and capacity that ensures sustainability (and thus SDG) literacy is part of institutional governance, not just isolated “green” programs.
  4. Teaching & Leadership Programs Embed SDG / ESG Concepts
    UCT offers programmes and modules that integrate social impact, community engagement, and sustainable development in their curricula:
    • The UCT Graduate School of Business (GSB) runs a course “Fundamentals of Community Engagement and Social Impact Leadership,” which teaches ESG (environmental, social, governance) frameworks, stakeholder engagement, and social impact management.
    • Moreover, the UCT GSB MBA explicitly weaves sustainability and SDG-relevant leadership into its core core teaching: in a 2025 news piece, the GSB stated that “sustainability and responsible leadership are woven through every aspect of our MBA … from our core courses to the … Responsible Citizenship module.”

  5. Environmental Sustainability Orientation at UCT
    Beginning in 2021 and continuing annually, an online orientation course introducing first-year residence students to environmental sustainability on campus and beyond has been presented by the University of Cape Town. The course is part of UCT’s residence orientation programme.

    Hosted on the learning management system, Vula, the four-module course introduces students to sustainable living as well as the university’s sustainability programmes and focus. This includes the responsible use of resources such as energy, water, materials and impact on the environment in terms of carbon emissions, waste and surrounding wildlife on UCT’s five campuses and in neighbouring communities.

    It also looks at the relationship of the students to the built environment they inhabit on campus. The aim is to help first-years understand and manage their environmental footprint as students at UCT and as citizens of the world.