ACHIEVING UNITED NATIONS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS THROUGH GLOBAL STANDARDIZATION OF UNIVERSITY ACTIVITIES: A CASE STUDY OF GEOSCIENCE ACTIVITIES

This paper, a desktop research, proposes some suggestions to improve the mission and performance of the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) in the coming decades. Actually, the world is currently facing important problems such as climate change, the supply of green energy, water, and mineral resource management insofar as it has affected IUGS strategies and priorities over the years. It is trying to develop the necessary standards for various geoscience activities at various levels. On other side, universities around the world train those who are interested in earth sciences and the mining domain. They are churning out experts in those fields needed by society at all levels. In this context, most of the geoscience-related activities are carried out by specialists who were educated in a different branch of geoscience in a country. In fact, a significant number of geoscience activities are being published around the world without complying with a specific global standard format. They should aim at changing the long-term strategies of beneficiary parties like inter/national organizations and universities, while the world is facing past and current challenges and aim at achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Considering the importance of universities in the training of various specialists, especially in geoscience, around the world, it is evident that so far none of the universities has pursued geoscience activities under global strategies and policies, which can be provided by the IUGS and the International Geoscience Education Organisation (IGEO). As IGEO has focused most of its activities on training students and teachers, universities have generally acted in a decentralized manner without following a defined international standard or roadmap through the IUGS and the IGEO. It seems essential to standardize geoscience academic activities such as training methods, curricular programs and textbooks, and other activities at an international level. Given the fact that universities have a large pool of experts, signing an official cooperation memorandum between the IUGS and high-ranking universities, as official members of each country around the world, could provide a suitable platform for the respective country.