Future17 Sustainable Development Goals Challenge: September – December 2026

Do you have a heart for creating a visible impact in your community?
Are you searching for tools to help you realize a sustainable project?
Do you want to learn more about Sustainable Development and how you can be a part of it?

Learn about the key aspect of the UN’s SDGs (Sustain​able Development Goals) in this innovative new Short Course. 

Register HERE by 7 September 

Please join us as the SDG/2063 Impact Hub as we gear up to host the seventh Future17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Challenge Literacy programme at SU. Eligible students are invited to apply to participate in real-life challenges with an industry partner, using the SDGs as a framework.

Background to the Challenge

Launched at SU in March 2022, Future17 is an international sustainability education programme run across disciplines and cultures by the SDG Challenge Partners. It uses the UN SDGs to tackle interdisciplinary challenges while building participants’ employability, critical thinking and presentation skills. Teams collaborate with partner universities and mentors from across the consortium.

The programme is presented by the University of Exeter (UK) and QS World University Rankings, with Stellenbosch University a founding member of the wider consortium. Industry Challenge Partners (NGOs, institutions and companies) set the challenges themselves, ranging from SDG digital strategy to urban farm market research to soap recycling for job creation. More than 200 SU students have already taken part in this ground-breaking programme.

You can read more about the UN’s Agenda 2030 and the SDGs here.

The Institutions: This prestigious short course is presented by the University of Exeter (UK), QS World University Rankings and a consortium of universities. Stellenbosch University as a founding member forms part of this consortium, now joined by Abu Dhabi University, , American University of Sharjah, Arizona State University, University of Auckland, University of Birmingham, Duke Kunshan University, KFUPM, LSE, Satbayev University, Tecnológico de Monterrey, TIIAME National Research University, UCL School of Management, Azerbaijan State University of Economics (UNEC), Baku State University, Istanbul Technical University (İTÜ).

  ​Participants can expect the following from the Challenge

• Design thinking skills for creative, collaborative problem solving
• Critical thinking applied to real sustainability challenges
• Employability and professional presentation skills, working directly with industry and academic mentors
• Cross-cultural, interdisciplinary collaboration experience
• A concrete, non-academic impact to list on your resume

Short Course phases: The Future17 Challenge will progress according to the following phases with groups of 6-8 students from the various universities, you can expect to spend approximately 150 hours in total. 

 Phase 1: Starting 23 September 2026: Online program induction and skills for tackling sustainability challenges (self-paced learning over four weeks) 

• Learn about design thinking, collaborative learning and teamwork, liaison with organisations and clients as well as intercultural exchange.  
• ​​You will need approximately 12 hours to complete this phase
  
• You will be assigned to your team and mentor during this phase and start getting to know each other. 

Phase 2: Starting 13 October – 5 December 2026: Group collaboration on a sustainability challenge (eight weeks)

• Learn about your sustainability challenge and work with your team and mentor to develop solutions.  
• You will primarily work on MS Teams as a meeting and document sharing platform.
• You will need approximately 16 hours for this phase.
• We will host an online non-compulsory ‘graduation’ event in January 2027.