Strategic intentions of higher education for sustainable development goals: Qualitative evidence from universities in Türkiye

Although the literature on the role of higher education in sustainable development is extensive, a notable gap remains in universities' intentions to contribute to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the contexts they pay attention to, and the measurement tools they use in different country samples. Aiming to contribute to this gap with the sample of Türkiye, a country with minimal progress on SDG reporting, this study conducts a three‐tiered content analysis on 121 state universities' strategic plans. The prominent results show that universities in the country prioritize SDGs 8, 16, 9, 11, and 4, with 40% or higher proportions. Besides, there exists a lack of strategic targets set by any universities for SDGs 1, 10, 12, 14, and 17. While most universities pay attention to sustainability on institutional and societal aspects, with 45% or higher proportions, environmental concerns are determined to be low, and there exists a high diversity among the measurement tools with 12 types, with all 30% or lower proportions. The results present supportive evidence from Türkiye to the existing literature, particularly on Western countries' SDG prioritization, and thus, to the insight that the similarities and differences in SDG prioritization in different countries samples emerge from the geographical and regional affinities rather than educational levels. Finally, the need to promote and foster SDG reporting initiatives to make universities' SDG contributions more systematic and consistent appears to be a critical managerial implication for Turkish higher education.