Improving engagement of interns and employers with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals

This paper is based off the work completed as part of the CEWIL Research Series.

Key points

This research examines the ways interns might contribute to the advancement of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals on their work terms.
Researchers conducted an analysis to measure the impact students have on the SDGs during their work terms, beyond measures like how many students work for not-for-profit organizations.
From this analysis, the researchers propose a low-cost, low-resource and scalable instrument to encourage guided conversations around SDGs with the goal to increase awareness among students and employers.
The effectiveness of this exercise will be measured with a survey to University of Waterloo international co-op students starting in the Spring 2021 term. It will measure perceptions, awareness, and self-reported impact on the SDGs. The goal is to expand this exercise to all University of Waterloo work terms within Canada and internationally. Findings will be shared with the broader sustainability and higher education community.