Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in Romanian Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) within the SDGs Framework

Lazarov, Alexandru Sebastian; Semenescu, Augustin

doi:10.3390/ijerph19041998

Cited by 8 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 25 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Although in previous research papers, the results revealed no interest in adding ESD competencies to the curriculum [ 69 ], now, through partnerships or by adding to their strategy in the University Charter for Sustainable Development, steps have been taken in this area [ 70 ]. The overcrowding of curricula, the apparent lack of significance to the curriculum, educational legitimacy, and limitations are cited as the key causes of institutions’ unwillingness to participate in sustainable education [ 62 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Analysis of UNESCO ESD Priority Areas’ Implementation in Romanian HEIs

Dumitrescu

Moiceanu²,

Dobrescu³

et al. 2022

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Higher education institutions (HEIs) are adopting sustainable development (SD) in their strategies for the future. The roadmap by UNESCO is the path to follow to reach success. The approach is different for every HEI, thus the objective of this paper is to analyze the current state of education for sustainable development activities provided by HEIs through the eyes of the academic community (responders category: professors, researchers, associate professors). The method to conduct the study was an interview that had 40 enclosed questions and a free part at the end where the responders could bring additional information to the study if they considered it necessary. All the interviews were transcribed and given a code (e.g., RHEI1, RHEI 29) in order to perform the analysis using descriptive statistics with the help of the program MS Office EXCEL. The results showed some areas where the activities provided by HEIs need improvement and also revealed promising aspects through partnerships. Making the values of SD known to the academic and local community will help fulfill the true potential for change and future development. Moreover, the analysis showed the need to educate educators and improve their digital skills and teaching methods/techniques in order to achieve sustainable development. Another result revealed the need for improvements in HEI curricula that will contribute to gaining those skills/abilities that emerging jobs should have.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Analysis of UNESCO ESD Priority Areas’ Implementation in Romanian HEIs

Dumitrescu

Moiceanu²,

Dobrescu³

et al. 2022

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In Europe, it was found that digital technologies reduced waste in HEIs. The espousal of SD in campus operations concentrated on social balance and projects to advance waste reduction and energy efficiency (Lazarov & Semenescu, 2022).…”

Section: Implementation and Challenges Of Education For Sustainable D...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They have seen that the potential obstacle in the application of sustainability was the cost of high-technology adoption, the inadequacy of environmental knowledge, awareness, and trust, the adoption rate in HEIs, and switching to green technology (Reza, 2016). Moreover, the decline in the population of students and monetary support also hinder SD integration in HEIs (Lazarov & Semenescu, 2022). It means that aside from owning one's vital role in promoting sustainability, the administration must factor in appropriate financial resources to ensure the program's continuity.…”

Section: Green Technologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Implementation and Challenges of Education for Sustainable Development in Philippine State University: An Explanatory Sequential Inquiry

Violanda¹,

Claur²,

Madrigal³

2023

IJSSHR

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The education sector is one of the vital stakeholders in the functional transformation of our world through the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) as an education sector is one of its enablers by carrying out sustainable development through Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). But, only a few universities could implement ESD holistically and reported its implementation. Hence, using explanatory-sequential inquiry, this study explored the extent of ESD implementation and the challenges encountered in one state university in Central Philippines through its greening program. The results revealed that the university reached a great extent of ESD implementation. This means that the indicators of the five pillars of the greening program were often observed in the whole university and per campus, respectively. Despite this rating, the university still faces several implementation challenges. However, based on qualitative inquiry, ESD implementation is still promising. It just needs to continually improve by working on the different opportunities for improvements using the whole institution approach. Consequently, the greening program will be instrumental in realizing the vision of the school to become a GREEN institution by 2030 at the same time, contribute to the priority areas of ESD through reorienting education to address sustainability and creating public awareness and understanding of sustainability.

show abstract

“…Due consideration of the complexity and diversity of the challenges associated with the implementation of ESD also implies the importance of the strategic distribution of the resources of universities and other community stakeholders to ensure that the contribution of academics is optimised in the promotion of the ESD process. In order to promote environmental citizenship education, it will also be important to strengthen the links between ESD and science education and to create and operationalise initiatives that embody the spirit of ESD [ 18 ].…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Qualitative Assessment of Community Learning Initiatives for Environmental Awareness and Behaviour Change: Applying UNESCO Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Framework

Yamaoka

Ochiai

2022

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study uses qualitative research methods of text mining to elucidate the potential and prospects for community-based learning opportunities for raising environmental awareness and bringing about healthy behaviour change among university students and local residents. In particular, we focus on the importance of community-based learning in raising environmental awareness and inspiring action to support healthy living and harmony with nature. The three groups were triangulated using semi-structured questionnaires to model the ways in which education for sustainable development (ESD) can contribute to the promotion of environmental education in local communities. In order to collect in-depth data, the authors themselves were present at the study sites and collected textual data based on semi-structured questionnaires in a participatory observation framework, where they had a common experience to understand the observations. Analysis was carried out using NVivo12. The two community learning initiatives studied were in Okayama and Tokyo, which are leading ESD policy areas. The two case studies are both university student-led projects that aim to raise environmental awareness in local communities through environmentally conscious behaviour change and the creation of a foundation for healthy living. This study focuses on “youth” and “community” among the five priority areas proposed in the 2015 ESD report and discusses the potential and prospects for community learning initiatives and the triggering of the nudge effect on environmentally conscious behaviour change and health behaviours. The results of the textual analysis with triangulation show that, while policymakers and teachers and leaders driving the initiative acknowledge the importance of ESD in a comprehensive way, their attention is more focused on the design of specific projects and curricula. In contrast, university students engaged in ESD activities rated the social education facilities (local community centres, community learning centres) as “lively” and “motivating”. It was found that there are high expectations for “public living rooms”, which are important as a base for learning to promote healthy and sustainable communities and environmentally conscious behaviour change.

show abstract

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in Romanian Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) within the SDGs Framework

Cited by 8 publications

References 25 publications

Analysis of UNESCO ESD Priority Areas’ Implementation in Romanian HEIs

Analysis of UNESCO ESD Priority Areas’ Implementation in Romanian HEIs

Implementation and Challenges of Education for Sustainable Development in Philippine State University: An Explanatory Sequential Inquiry

A Qualitative Assessment of Community Learning Initiatives for Environmental Awareness and Behaviour Change: Applying UNESCO Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Framework

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About