Espejo Antúnez, LuisCorrales Serrano, MarioZamora-Polo, FranciscoCardero-Durán, María de los Ángeles2025-06-182025-06-182025-03-03Espejo Antúnez, L., Corrales Serrano, M., Zamora-Polo, F. y Cardero-Durán, M.d.l.Á. (2025). Is university teaching aligned with the sustainable development goals possible? An approach through the virtual training of university professors. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-06-2024-0405.1467-63701758-6739https://hdl.handle.net/11441/174499Purpose This study aims to determine the degree of knowledge acquired by university professors after receiving virtual training on the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and their relationship with the contents of the subjects taught. Design/methodology/approach A 40-h virtual course on SGDs and higher education was designed. To evaluate professor knowledge, a questionnaire was administered to professors from different fields of knowledge. The questionnaire consists of 25 questions divided into two sections: Section 1: Q1–Q8 (knowledge and access to information) and Section 2: Q9–Q25 (the relationship of the subjects taught with the 17 SDGs). The virtual classroom was used to do the questionnaire and it lasted 10 min. The internal consistency of the different constructs was analyzed by Cronbach’s alpha, Kaiser–Meyer–Olkim test and Marlett test. Descriptive and inferential analysis were also performed. Findings Statistical analysis showed a high reliability for the constructs (smallest Cronbach’s alpha = 0.908). Virtual teaching to teachers significantly improves the results of Section 1 (Q1–Q8) (p < 0.001) and Section 2 (Q9–Q25) (p < 0.001) of the questionnaire. Teachers aged 40–50 years significantly associate the contents of their subjects with SDG1 (Q9, p = 0.02), SDG2 (Q10, p = 0.00) and SDG8 (Q16, p = 0.04) previous course. In addition, the area of origin may influence knowledge about the SDGs. At the end of the course, there were no significant differences between teachers by age, field of knowledge or academic category. Originality/value Virtual training on SDGs unifies the knowledge of university faculty, promoting academic curricula aligned to sustain-able training, regardless of age, gender, academic category or field of knowledge.application/pdf30 p.engAttribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/SDGsHigher EducationVirtual trainingSustainableTeacher trainingDigitalizationinfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttps://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-06-2024-0405