Matevž Obrecht – University of Maribor, Faculty of Logistics, Mariborska cesta 7, 3000 Celje, Slovenia

Lazar Pavić – University of Maribor, Faculty of Logistics, Mariborska cesta 7, 3000 Celje, Slovenia

Keywords:
Sustainable development;
Sustainable knowledge;
Higher education;
Sustainable competences;
Higher education study
programs

DOI: https://doi.org/10.31410/LIMEN.2022.257

Abstract

Environmental topics are gaining more and more important both in the European Union and in Slovenia in the last decade. Climate chang­es (floods, droughts, and heat waves), pollution (soil, water, and air), man­agement of invasive species, noise pollution, food self-sufficiency, sustain­able development in the field of tourism, etc. are particularly present both in Slovenian Eastern and Western cohesion region. However, the level of knowl­edge about environmental challenges and competences of current experts and leaders to effectively manage and deal with them is perceived to be too low. The paper examines the inclusion of sustainable competences, knowl­edge, and skills in higher education programs in Slovenia to predict the lev­el of sustainable knowledge. Slovenian soon-to-be professionals will be em­powered by the Slovenian higher education system (Daneshjoo et al., 2020). Analysis included the content of 956 higher education study programs on the individual course level. In the next phase, a comprehensive comparative analysis of the situation in the areas of higher education and environmen­tal education was performed. The factors based on which comparison was made are field of study, type of institution, level of study and number of sub­jects in the program that include some sustainable content. Non-paramet­ric tests were used to determine statistically significant differences are the Mann-Whitney U test and the Kruskal-Wallis H test.

    Download file

LIMEN Conference

8th International Scientific-Business Conference – LIMEN 2022 – Leadership, Innovation, Management and Economics: Integrated Politics of Research – CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS, Hybrid (EXE Budapest Center, Budapest, Hungary), December 1, 2022,

LIMEN Conference proceedings published by the Association of Economists and Managers of the Balkans, Belgrade, Serbia

LIMEN Conference 2022 Conference proceedings: ISBN 978-86-80194-66-0, ISSN 2683-6149, DOI:  https://doi.org/10.31410/LIMEN.2022

Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission. 

Suggested citation

Obrecht, M., & Pavić, L. (2022). How Much Sustainable Knowledge Will Soon-to-Be Experts in Slovenia Have? Findings of Higher Education Study Programs’ Analysis. In V. Bevanda (Ed.), International Scientific-Business Conference – LIMEN 2022: Vol 8. Conference proceedings (pp. 257-263). Association of Economists and Managers of the Balkans.  https://doi.org/10.31410/LIMEN.2022.257

References

CEDEFOP. (2006). Typology of Knowledge, Skills, and Competences: Clarification of the Con­cept and Prototype. http://www.cedefop.europa.eu/EN/Files/3048_en.pdf

Hurrell, S. A. (2009). Soft skills deficits in Scotland: Their patterns, determinants and employer responses. [Unpublished Doctoral Thesis, University of Strathclyde]. (inpress).

Jens-Henning, P. (2020). The importance of vocational training for career development, https://hospitalityinsights.ehl.edu/vocational-training-career-development?f bclid=I­wAR1Vg-aMH3_2EJB0glOJcaP8T86svIed0nWxHAOgt0hiui4m3rXaW8mA

REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA – COUNCIL OF MINISTERS. (2022). ECONOMIC REFORM PROGRAMME 2022-2024, https://neighbourhood-enlargement.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2022-05/Albania%20ERP%202022-2024.pdf 

Additional reading

Bell, K., Cash, B., Boetto, H., & Thampi, K. (2020). International study abroad programmes: Exploring global south student perspectives, reciprocity and sustainability. Social Work Education, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2020.1711881 

Benton-Short, L., & Merrigan, K. A. (2016). Beyond interdisciplinary: how sustainability cre­ates opportunities for pan-university efforts. Journal of Environmental Studies and Scienc­es, 6(2), 387–398. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13412-015-0341-x 

Brudermann, T., Aschemann, R., Füllsack, M., & Posch, A. (2019). Education for Sustainable Development 4.0: Lessons Learned from the University of Graz, Austria. Sustainability, 11(8), 2347. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11082347 

Daneshjoo, K; Haghighi, HM; Talaei, M. (2020). Community Space and the School Ground A 3D Book for the Concepts of Sustainable Development. MANZAR-THE SCIENTIFIC JOUR­NAL OF LANDSCAPE, 11(49), 34–41. https://doi.org/10.22034/manzar.2019.135687.1793 

Daub, C.-H., Hasler, M., Verkuil, A. H., & Milow, U. (2020). Universities talk, students walk: promoting innovative sustainability projects. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 21(1), 97–111. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-04-2019-0149 

Do, N. M. (2020). An overview of strategic responses of Vietnamese higher education insti­tutions. International Journal of Educational Management, 34(1), 35–44. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEM-02-2019-0074  

Eppinga, M. B., Lozano-Cosme, J., de Scisciolo, T., Arens, P., Santos, M. J., & Mijts, E. N. (2020). Putting sustainability research into practice on the university campus. Interna­tional Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 21(1), 54–75. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-03-2019-0131  

Glavič, P. (2006). Sustainability engineering education. Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy, 8(1), 24–30. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-005-0025-4

Howlett, C., Ferreira, J.-A., & Blomfield, J. (2016). Teaching sustainable development in high­er education. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 17(3), 305–321. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-07-2014-0102 

Kemper, J. A., Ballantine, P. W., & Hall, C. M. (2020). The role that marketing academics play in advancing sustainability education and research. Journal of Cleaner Production, 248, 119229. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.119229 

Kopnina, H. (2020). Education for the future? Critical evaluation of education for sustainable development goals. The Journal of Environmental Education, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/00958964.2019.1710444  

Mróz, A., Ocetkiewicz, I., & Walotek-Ściańska, K. (2018). Environmental Protection in School Curricula: Polish Context. Sustainability, 10(12), 4558. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10124558 

Piza, V., Aparicio, J., Rodríguez, C., Marín, R., Beltrán, J., & Bedolla, R. (2018). Sustainability in Higher Education: A Didactic Strategy for Environmental Mainstreaming. Sustainabil­ity, 10(12), 4556. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10124556 

Priyadarshini, P., & Abhilash, P. C. (2020). From piecemeal to holistic: Introducing sustainabil­ity science in Indian Universities to attain UN-Sustainable Development Goals. Journal of Cleaner Production, 247, 119133. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.119133 

The Competences in Education for Sustainable Development (2012). https://unece.org/DAM/env/esd/ESD_Publications/Competences_Publication.pdf  

Ulmer, N., & Wydra, K. (2020). Sustainability in African higher education institutions (HEIs). International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 21(1), 18–33. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-03-2019-0106 

United Nations. (2015). Sustainable development goals. https://www.un.org/ sustainabledevelopment/energy/ 

Vagnoni, E., & Cavicchi, C. (2015). An exploratory study of sustainable development at Italian universities. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 16(2), 217–236. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-03-2013-0028 

Valderrama-Hernández, R., Alcántara Rubio, L., Sánchez Carracedo, F., Caballero Franco, D., Serrate González, S., Gil-Doménech, D., Vidal-Raméntol, S., & Miñano, R. (2019). DOES THE SPANISH UNIVERSITY SYSTEM TEACH SUSTAINABILITY? PERCEPTION OF THE STUDENTS OF FOUR UNIVERSITIES. Educación XX1, 23(1). https://doi.org/10.5944/educxx1.23420 

Viegas, C. V., Bond, A. J., Vaz, C. R., Borchardt, M., Pereira, G. M., Selig, P. M., & Wamsler, C. (2020). Education for sustainability: Fostering a more conscious society and transfor­mation towards sustainability. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 21(1), 112–130. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-04-2019-0152 

Zorio-Grima, A. (2020). Driving factors for having visibility of sustainability contents in uni­versity degree titles. Journal of Cleaner Production, 242, 114746. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.10.344 

Association of Economists and Managers of the Balkans – UdEkoM Balkan
179 Ustanicka St, 11000 Belgrade, Republic of Serbia

LIMEN conference publications are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.