In our education we are using teaching cases, assignments and videos to highlight the issues as well as the business challenges posed by the SDGs, and confront students with the complexities of working with the SDGs. Here we share these materials per SDG, showcasing material that is most directly relevant.

Everyone has the right to education.

Article 26 of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights grants it to everyone. It should be directed to the full development of the human personality, the strengthening of respect for human rights and to fundamental freedoms. And it should promote understanding, tolerance and friendship. In developed economies, reskilling workers when their original jobs have disappeared because of automation and the development of Artificial Intelligence is a top priority for government and businesses.

Give a man a fish and he will eat today, teach him how to fish and he will never be hungry

Lao Tzu - founder of Taoism

SDG 4: Explaining quality education

Student Joris Smal, MSc Supply Chain Management, explains why 250 million children a year children get sidelined because they miss out on education. There are implications for women’s rights, reducing inequalities, fighting climate change and ending extreme poverty too. Investing in education is also a way for companies to adapt the skills of their employees for the future.

SDG 4: Academic insights into quality education

RSM Assistant Professor Dr Samer Abdelnour studies topics at the intersection of social enterprise and international development, and serves on Restart Network’s Advisory Board. Early in his academic career he saw that the lack of access to quality education was most detrimental to refugees.

SDG 4: A business case about quality education

RSM alumnus Teodor Cătăniciu is co-founder of Restart Network, a crowdsourced tech school supported by tech companies that provides education and work opportunities in the IT sector for refugees and underprivileged people. He explains why the way knowledge is leveraged to solve problems and is a source of power.

Why is SDG 4 important to you?

Want to start applying your knowledge? Here are easy tips related to SDG 4:

  • Teach your native language to migrants in a youth center or elsewhere.
  • Share skills with those who need them.
  • Keep learning throughout life.

Want to do more? Here are the Good Life Goals.

RSM has developed a case series addressing the Sustainable development goals, which contains at least one case that specifically touches upon one of the 17 SDGs.

Cases with a primary focus on SDG 4:

  • Closing the Gap: Goal-setting Programme at the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences

You might also be interested in:

SDG cases

The SDG teaching cases of Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, explore the complexity of sustainable development.

Students working on SDG cases

Positive Change

Learn more about RSM's mission to be a force for positive change in the world

People with SDG's sgins making a Positive Change impact