The STEP (Sanord Teacher Education Partners) partnership is built upon a shared vision for raised quality in teacher education at southern African universities and at Nordic universities (SANORD, n=44) and it strongly emphases one of the targets in the UN Sustainable Development Goal 4 Quality Education (SDG 4): “By 2030, substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers, including through international cooperation for teacher training in developing countries”. The need for academic development among teacher trainers/lecturers seems to be one of the missing links between higher education and the developments in schools. The teacher trainers/lecturers need competences in areas that will ensure learners´ knowledge and skills through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development. University mandates throughout the world have statements that relate to community based engagement. Within the framework of STEP  a research project for mapping the current situation is cunducted to discuss the state of the art concerning teacher education towards the SDGs recognising the missing link between academic citizenship and community missions. Focus questions concerns: (1) The mandate of Higher Education in a global/local context. (2) The core of academic citizenship vs the UN SDG 4, gender and migration. (3) Whether teacher education at university level is loosing it´s third leg (outreach)? Based on two projects Educate the Educators and Centre for Blended learning carried out by Malmö and Lund university, a collaboration with School of Education and Culture at Great Zimbabwe University, Zimbabwe and University of Oulu, Finland, has been initiated 2018 by Malmö University, Sweden. There, lecturers on resp. universities are included in and have a professional exchange within the framework of, "global" classrooms, ie digital learning for teachers in the field and link to research of the learning and teaching processes. The purpose is to identify recent opportunities for collaborations between higher education and community work and to strengthen the network within STEP. The first pilot project is in the field of implementing the convention of the rights of the child (CRC) in education built ont he SIDA founded programme “Child Rights, Classroom & School Management”, managed by Lund University 2003 – 2016. A useful digital education and networking platform has been developed in cooperation with Children´s Rights Institute at Lund University, the Faculty of Education and Society at Malmö University and 16 networks and their change agents from the programme.The mapping possibilities for professional in- service teachers (both from Malmö and Zimbabwe) seems to enhance their teacher education to a higher level (and continue “life-long” learning as teachers) and go further within a global-local context towards master degree in education. A joint research study in connection to this with the aim of disseminate the result. An invitation from Guest Editor Birgitta Nordén: Special Issue of “Sustainability” theme: "South/North Perspectives on Global Learning for Sustainable Development“.