SCUDO
SDG courses
On 25 September 2015, the United Nations approved the Global Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), articulated in 169 Targets to be reached by 2030. It is an historical event, because a clear judgment has been expressed on the unsustainability of the current development model, not only on the environmental level, but also on the economic and social one.
The challenge for complex, polycentric and multi-stakeholder organizations, such as universities, is to seize the opportunities of the Agenda 2030 to promote new institutional governance mechanisms, coherently orienting internal decision-making processes, allocating resources, redesigning organization, the system of incentives for teaching and research.

The Politecnico di Torino strategically chose a third level formation which aims at deepening the knowledge on the «Sustainable Development Goals» as a subject offered in the Doctoral courses as well as their transferability; furthermore, the multidisciplinary approach of these Goals favored a cooperation between the Joint Research Centre (JRC – European Commission, Italian branch, Ispra) and the Politecnico, which has been active for several years. 

The Doctoral School has already included a variety of modules in the catalogue of the Hard skills courses in which some of the SDGs aspects are discussed: indeed, despite being offered in specific PhD programmes that are active, all PhD students have the opportunity to attend these courses. In addition, a specific educational path, open to all PhD students, has been created.
It is divided into 4 courses: