Bappenas: Universities Act as Catalysts for SDGs

Minister for National Development Planning and Head of the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), Rachmat Pambudy, has stated that universities play a vital role as catalysts in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) targets. “Efforts to accelerate the achievement of SDGs targets require the support of all stakeholders. Universities are one of the SDGs platforms that play an important role as a catalyst for achieving SDGs targets,” he said at the SDGs Center Conference 2026 in Jakarta on Thursday. According to the Head of Bappenas, campuses must become and produce research that has an impact on the environment, as well as relevant curricula, functioning as a living laboratory. “The impact on Indonesian universities at the global and national levels is at least reflected in the Times Higher Impact Ranking measurement,” he said. In The Impact Rankings 2025, the top 10 universities in Indonesia contributing to the 17 SDGs goals include Universitas Airlangga, Universitas Indonesia, Universitas Gajah Mada, Institut Pertanian Bogor, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, Universitas Padjajaran, Binus, Universitas Diponegoro, and Universitas Negeri Sebelas Maret. Universities have also established SDGs Centers that have networked and formed the Indonesia SDGs Center Network (ISCN). Consequently, the SDGs Centers are expected to collaborate in various ongoing development programmes and become strategic partners in enhancing the capacity of stakeholders. Furthermore, the SDGs Centers are also expected to become strategic development partners, particularly in developing the SDGs Entrepreneurial Center (SDC) as a platform for entrepreneurship development. “In this context, the SDGs Center acts as a catalyst in sustainable development, and this can involve various parties in the SDGs Action Register and SDGs Action Certificate programmes. This platform aims to measure institutional contributions to achieving the SDGs, so that the various roles of these institutions can be recognised transparently and accurately,” said Rachmat Pambudy.