IIA team recognized by Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE)

Engaging the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals

Over the past two years, the IIA team developed and launched the “Advancing UN SDGs through Co-operative Education” program, created in partnership with CIFAL Victoria, a United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) training centre based at University of Victoria.

CIFAL Victoria’s mission is to drive sustainability transformations at UVic and beyond that advance progress on the UN SDGs and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), delivering research and training activities to build the capacities required for these transformations.

“Advancing the UN SDGs Through Co-Operative Education” combines work-integrated learning, cultural intelligence, and student-led projects to provide co-op students with the opportunity to advance the SDGs in their host communities.

Grounded in research by McRae, Ramji & Ivkovic (2023), the program aligns with UNITAR’s Quality Assurance framework and UNESCO’s Education for Sustainable Development framework to provide students with community-based and sustainability-focused educational and career opportunities. In recognition of their accomplishment, students who complete the program receive a UNITAR-CIFAL certificate of completion.

A report published in 2024 by UNITAR and UVic, University of Victoria co-op students advance UN SDGs through the Co-operative Education Program, presents a showcase of the extraordinary experiences and exemplary projects completed by co-op students participating in the program.

At UVic, this program has inspired the International Exchange Office to develop a new online course, SDGs in Action, to teach students about enacting the SDGs and to prepare students for participating in the program while on academic exchange and international co-op.

A champion for hands-on experience abroad

Congratulations also to IIA's International Co-op and Career Coordinator Sarah McQuillan, who was awarded CBIE’s North Star Award, which recognizes a professional who has shown extraordinary promise in the field of international education.

After joining the IIA team at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sarah had to quickly learn about university protocols for students wishing to work abroad during the pandemic and ensure that these were followed diligently and with compassion.

Since then, she has supported more than 650 students in securing and completing co-op work terms outside of Canada. Through a lens of cultural intelligence, she has refreshed UVic’s pre-departure curriculum to include closer links to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and has initiated and facilitated collaborative partnerships with partners across campus and around the world.

This has included co-creating the program parameters for “Advancing UN SDGs through Co-operative Education”, and co-facilitating the UNITAR publication showcasing student impact through participation in the program.

Sarah has also collaborated with the UVic International Centre for Students (ICS) to co-facilitate cultural intelligence-based workshops to help international students to succeed in their Canadian job search, and showcase students’ international work-integrated learning experiences through the StoryMap project.

“Sarah has approached her work with student aspirations and wellbeing at heart,” says Karima Ramji. “She has forged and maintained employer relationships that enable students to achieve their co-op objectives and career goals in a supportive environment”.

The IIA team was formally recognized at the CBIE 2025 Conference in Québec City in early November 2025.