Annually, the Times Higher Education (THE) conducts the Global Sustainable Development Congress (GSDC) where it brings together global thought leaders and innovators to discuss solutions to the United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The GSDC is a call to action for universities and businesses around the world to pivot their educational, research, innovation, and outreach programs towards tangible outcomes. 

Mapúa Malayan Colleges Mindanao (Mapúa MCM), along with its sister schools Mapúa University and Mapúa Malayan Colleges Laguna, participated in the 2024 GSDC on June 10 to 13 to assert its global impact on sustainability efforts, and to build a reputation among other participating universities from around the world. The Mapúa MCM delegation was composed of the following: 

• Engr. Alejandro H. Ballado, Jr – Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer 

• Kareen Michelle Q. Limpot – Vice President for Human Resources and Administrative Services 

• Leopoldo D. Aquino, Jr. – Director, Office for Corporate Partnerships 

• Dr. Melwin G. Mende – Director, Quality Assurance and Enhancement Office 

• Marycon C. Delos Reyes – Director, Center for Service-Learning and Community Engagement

At the start of the GSDC, THE Chief Global Affairs Officer Phil Baty kicked off with his inspiring remarks: 

“The Global Sustainable Development Congress must be the global congress of the optimists. The confident optimists. All of us here. Our mission at Times Higher Education is to connect people, data and insights to deliver strategic impact across the world. We are proud to support universities and believe that together we will build a better, more sustainable future.” 

Phil highlighted the importance of confident optimism as institutions collectively work towards a sustainable future, where THE’s mission is to deliver global strategic action and that the GSDC is an unmissable opportunity for cross-sector collaboration. 

Source: Global Sustainable Development Congress LinkedIn Page 

The GSDC consists of panel discussions, sessions, and workshops where speakers and delegates alike presented their input on various topics related to sustainability, such as research and technology supporting sustainability, issues hindering sustainability efforts, and proposed solutions to said issues. 

To name a few, the sessions that the Mapúa MCM delegates attended were Masterclass: The British Council Tackling Gender Inequality in Higher Education: What Role Can Policy Makers, Leaders and other Sustainability Actors Play?, The Contribution of Higher Education Institutions to Sustainable Cities and Communities (SDG 11), and Global Collaboration in Research: Uniting Minds for a Sustainable Tomorrow. The latter session covered the implementation of research collaborations between higher education institutions and professional industries towards contributing to sustainable development.  

Dr. Melwin G. Mende inquired one of the speakers, Christina Wong, Director of Research and Innovation, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, about their strategies in addressing the research intellectual property (IP) rights of the student/faculty authors of the research outputs made between their university and industry partners. Wong responded that this usually depends on the kind of arrangement both parties have but the preferred practice on IP rights is co-ownership. The other speakers gave additional input to Dr. Mende’s inquiry which can be summarized as a set of agreements between the institute and industry partner.  

The GSDC also features the exhibition halls that consist of over 100 booths, grouped into countries each with delegates from higher educational institutions around the world. Each institute showcased their commitment to sustainability through presentations of their programs that showed a positive impact.  

The Mapúa MCM delegates visited the booths of institutes from the following countries: Australia, Egypt, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Korea, Thailand, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam. 

Overall, there were over 3000 delegates from 85 countries that participated in the GSDC. 

The next THE GSDC will be held on 2025 at the city of Istanbul in Turkey.