General questions about SET4HEI:
You can take the self-assessment in any of the 17 SDGs for free any time, getting a summary of their results at the end.
Doing the self-assessment is always free and independent of whether you want to apply for the SET4HEI certification afterwards. They are separate processes.
SET4HEI is free, online, and open (accessible without registration and without the need to belong to an institutional network). Additionally, SET4HEI is designed to have global relevance, allowing each user’s results to be independent of others’ scores, as the tool is not focused on generating rankings or other relative scores. Finally, SET4HEI is the only tool that, in addition to these features, allows the measurement of each of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) separately and accross each of the university’s three missions (teaching, research, and engagement) plus its management, enabling a multidimensional and comprehensive assessment of its institutional contribution to economic, social, and environmental sustainability.
For more details, please refer to the “general methodology” section of the user guide or check the section ‘Why this tool’.
Technical questions about the tool:
The self-assessment is designed so that any institution can, potentially, reach the maximum score, since this depends exclusively on their own actions. The scores are individual and independent, they do not change based on what other users have replied, as ranking-oriented methodologies may do. The self-assessment is designed so that most institutions can get some points, some institutions can get most points and almost none can get all points.
If you are applying for the certification, achieving over 60% of the total potential points for a specific SDG is considered significant, while over 85% is considered outstanding.
When you select ‘Not applicable’, that indicator will not be considered for calculating the score of that SDG; as if that indicator did not exist.
‘Not applicable’ is typically offered as an answer when the HEI cannot fulfill the requirement of the indicator to no fault of their own, or no value would be added if they did. For example, when the good or service that the indicator is asking about is already offered by the government and thus beyond the HEI’s control.
Likewise, the ´Not Applicable’ option is also offered to avoid double penalization for elements already considered in a previous indicator. For example, if one indicator asks about whether the HEI provides a program and the answer is ‘No’, then that HEI will be later able to select ‘Not applicable’ if another indicator asks further questions about that program (e.g. its content).
By their very multifaceted nature, several SDGs are closely related. Therefore, some aspects of HEIs operations can contribute to several SDGs at the same time, e.g. free tuition fees can support access to higher education (SDG 4.3), provide opportunities for low-income students (SDG 1), and reduce discrimination by economic status (SDG 10.2).
In SET4HEI, indicators may make emphasis on different aspects of a similar good practice, but they are not repeated in more than one SDG .
SET4HEI is currently available in English and Spanish. A translation to French is expected to be available soon. If you are interested in having SET4HEI in other languages, let us know about it!