HAU has installed banners along the boulevard and a tarpaulin at the Student Center on December 10 to promote the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as part of its strategic objectives (SOs) following the launch of a new SDG tracker on the university’s official website.
According to Dr. Tyron Yap, head of HAU – Office of International Affairs (OIA), the promotional materials were displayed to provide “awareness” for the HAU community, considering that all activities will now become intentional with the SDGs in mind.
“Isa kasi sa strategic objectives ng Holy Angel University is sustainability — that’s one of the SOs. And all units of the university, siyempre, naka-anchor lahat ng ating plans doon sa strategic objectives ng university. So, in most cases, all of the units have their own SDG-related activities. So, for OIA, [promoting SDGs] would be it,” Dr. Yap explained.
He added that this approach marks a change from previous practices, when activities such as outreach programs were carried “without considering the SDGs.”
“But now, not only the academic units, but all the units in HAU — intentional na. If they would like to address a particular SDG, they would do this [initiative] accordingly,” the OIA head noted.
When asked why HAU addresses all the SDGs instead of focusing on just a few, the OIA said the university has a “very diverse interest.”
“‘Yun palang academic units… yung seven academic units, ‘no, iba’t ibang field na talaga sila and each of them are addressing a particular SDG, so we don’t really want to limit the community na itong isang SDG lang ang focus natin. Lahat ng SDG pwede natin yan i-address.”
Aside from the physical displays, Dr. Yap mentioned that the OIA is coordinating with the Marketing Office to have Facebook posts uploaded daily containing one initiative of the university and the corresponding SDGs they address.
This initiative relates to a new “HAU SDG” tab on the university’s website, launched two months before the banners were installed, which lists all SDG-related initiatives of HAU along with the department involved, school year, project title, and description.
Yap also encourages student organizations within the university to report to the OIA for their activities, stating, “kung ano yung mga activities ninyo which are aligned with the SDGs, we can also post or add them in the website.”
“Right now, the Office of International Affairs is assigned by the President to oversee and record all SDG initiatives of the entire university. That is also aligned with, of course, our function in the OIA as the focal office for rankings, awards, and recognitions,” Dr. Yap added.
On December 10, the same day the SDG banners were installed, HAU received the CHED ICONS (Internationalization Champions of Nation-Building and Sustainability) on World University Rankings for Innovation (WURI) 2025 Award at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC).
To recall, HAU placed 370th in the Global Top 400 and earned distinctions in six specialized categories in the 2025 WURI earlier this year, one of which evaluates higher education institutions’ (HEIs) responses to global challenges based on the SDGs.
