Abstract
The following post explores Australian and global progress regarding the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4. SDG 4 focuses on Quality Education. There are 17 SDGs that are considered global and urgent challenges that world leaders have agreed to address (in part) by 2030 to help us all enjoy a greener, fairer and better world.
This post focuses on exploring Australian developments, in particular what is happening in the University sector. The post also focuses on specific regions of the world and explores global education progress regarding SDG 4: Quality Education.
Author: Heath Kirby.
- Introduction to the Sustainable Development Goals
The background to the Sustainable Development Goals, known as the SDGs, is quite comprehensive. In 2015, the United Nations (UN) met and declared:
We, the Heads of State and Government and High Representatives, meeting at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from 25-27 September 2015 as the Organization celebrates its seventieth anniversary, have decided today on new global Sustainable Development Goals (UN, 2025).
The SDGs relate to the big challenges in the world. These challenges include (but are not limited to) hunger, poverty, climate change and inequality. These are issues that need to be addressed urgently. These 17 goals are agreed to by world leaders to “build a greener, fairer, better world by 2030” (Project Everyone, 2024).
- Exploring Sustainable Development Goal 4: Quality Education
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 is Quality Education. SDG 4 states:
Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning
opportunities for all (Project Everyone, 2024a).
The entire text of the goal is:
Goal 4.
Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
4.1 By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes
4.2 By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education
4.3 By 2030, ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university
4.4 By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship
4.5 By 2030, eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations
4.6 By 2030, ensure that all youth and a substantial proportion of adults, both men and women, achieve literacy and numeracy
4.7 By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development
4.a Build and upgrade education facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitive and provide safe, non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all
4.b By 2020, substantially expand globally the number of scholarships available to developing countries, in particular least developed countries, small island developing States and African countries, for enrolment in higher education, including vocational training and information and communications technology, technical, engineering and scientific programmes, in developed countries and other developing countries
4.c By 2030, substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers, including through international cooperation for teacher training in developing countries, especially least developed countries and small island developing States (UN, 2025).
Perspective: The focus of SDG 4 is ‘all’. This is not specific to Australia, where Heath Kirby tutoring has its global headquarters. There is a global focus for quality education.
- SDG 4: Current progress in Australia
Australia’s progress on SDG 4 can be found in Australia’s National Statement of Commitment to Transform Education (Commonwealth of Australia, 2022). Here, Australia highlighted the following priority areas:
- Introduce initiatives in response to technological changes accelerated by the pandemic to capitalise on the benefits of the digital age.
- Improving foundational skills and learning, particularly for girls, First Nations students, and children with disability.
- Education transformation in the digital age – which includes developments such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and big data – needs to be just and equitable, enabling improved educational outcomes for all.
More recently, in 2025, Australia’s progress regarding SDG 4 was, in part, captured by Luke Sheehy, CEO of Universities Australia. In February 2025 Mr Sheehy said in an interview with the National Press Club in Canberra (Australian Capital Territory) that:
It’s a team Australia effort to build aspiration for not only the skills you need, but the job you can get. And I think it’s an important thing. It’s not just on universities, it’s on families, it’s on school systems, it’s on the industry, it’s on business, it’s on government. We need to build excitement and aspiration for what the end goal is, which is a rewarding and successful career through skills you get at university.
(Universities Australia, 2025).
The above statement highlights the need for Australia, with reliance on Australia’s universities (as the focus area for this post) to help their students build career-relevant skills.
In their 2025 Federal Election Statement Universities Australia stated:
By the middle of this century, Australia needs a workforce where 80 per cent of people have a university degree or a TAFE qualification. That’s up from about 60 per cent today.
To meet Australia’s future workforce needs, universities will need to double the number of students they educate each year, from 900,000 now to 1.8 million in 2050. This is not an exercise in self-interest, but rather a critical national imperative to ensure we remain a safe and successful nation into the future as Australia’s workforce shifts towards a greater share of higher skilled jobs (Universities Australia, 2025a, p. 4).
Perspective: With the increasing number of university students in Australia, and the targeted goal of 1.8 million students in 2050, it is worthwhile to note that the Australian Bureau of Statistics has assumed Australia’s population as follows:
Australia’s Population size and change
Specific SDG data points for Australia are available for indicators 4.1, 4.5, 4.2, 4.3 and 4.a, Education 2030 FFA and 1.a. More information can be found here.
- SDG 4: Current global progress
According to the United Nations, SDG 4 is critical to the achievement of other SDGs. Yet, global progress in education has not been fast enough. For example, did you know that globally 58% of students worldwide achieved at least the minimum proficiency level in reading at the end of primary school in 2019? The United Nations SDG Progress Report noted that globally overall improvement in upper secondary completion rates has slowed since 2015.
Regional Focus: Sub-Saharan Africa
Some regions face teacher shortages, including sub-Saharan Africa. In sub-Saharan Africa high student-teacher ratios, inadequate training and lack of professional development opportunities are challenges confronting teachers. According to the UN:
Accelerating progress towards SDG 4 should be prioritized as it will have a catalytic
impact on achieving the overall 2030 Agenda.” (United Nations SDG Progress Report, UNSDGPR, 2024, p. 9).
In July 2024, the United Nations General Assembly Economic and Social Council reported that:
This year’s report reveals that only seventeen per cent of SDGs targets are on track to be achieved, nearly half are showing minimal or moderate progress, and progress on over a third has stalled or even regressed (UNSDGPR, 2024, p. 2).
In terms of education, the report noted the need to “double down” on areas to create “transformative progress across the goals” (UNSDGPR, p.3).
There is a need for the following:
1. Strengthened institutions and policy frameworks.
2. Robust investment pathways, including private investors
Spending on education in approximately 100 countries shows the proportion of total government spending on essential services (of which education is a part) is approximately 50%, with an average 60% amongst advanced economies. The essential services spend is 40% amongst emerging market and developing economies. The revelation is that there has been a 20 percentage point gap between the two economies for the past two decades.
- What next for SDG 4: Heading towards 2030
As we head towards 2030, the best way to remain informed could be to follow the particular progress of individual universities. Table 1 (below) presents some current resources from Australian universities.
Table 1: Sustainable development goals and Australian universities
| University | ||
| Monash University | Progress reports for 2020 onwards | Visit here |
| The University of Melbourne | Sustainability Plan 2030 | Visit here |
Source: Monash University (2025); The University of Melbourne (2025);
Note: If you would like your University Sustainability efforts noted here, please contact us.
REFERENCES
Commonwealth of Australia. (2025). Population projections, Australia. Retrieved from
https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/population/population-projections-australia/latest-release
Commonwealth of Australia. (2022). Australia’s National Statement of Commitment
To Transform Education. Retrieved from
Monash University. (2025). Goal 4: Quality Education. Retrieved from
https://www.monash.edu/msdi/about/sustainable-development/sdg-guide/quality-education
Project Everyone. (2024). The 17 Goals. Retrieved from
https://www.globalgoals.org/goals/
Project Everyone. (2024a). Quality Education. Retrieved from
https://www.globalgoals.org/goals/4-quality-education/
The University of Melbourne. (2025). Sustainability Plan 2030. Retrieved from
https://about.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/346214/Sustainability-Plan-2030.pdf
United Nations. (2025). Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Retrieved from
https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda
United Nations. (2024). The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2024.
Retrieved from
https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2024/The-Sustainable-Development-Goals-Repo
Universities Australia. (2025). National Press Club of Australia Q&A.
Retrieved from
https://universitiesaustralia.edu.au/media-item/national-press-club-of-australia-qa/
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