Sustainability Education in the Spanish Higher Education System: Faculty Practice, Concerns and Needs

Busquets, Pere; Coral, Jordi Segalàs; Gomera, Antonio; Antúnez, Miguel; Ruíz-Morales, Jorge; Albareda-Tiana, Sílvia; Rubio, Rafael Miñano

doi:10.3390/su13158389

Cited by 26 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…This data allowed us to obtain the qualitative evaluation of the MCS by another important stakeholder without a direct link to academia. In this sense, the external evaluation of competency maps was mostly done through the insights from the internal stakeholders of the educational process, such as teachers and trainers [55] or students [54]. This study contributes external insights from another very important stakeholder, which is graduates' potential employers, and sheds new light to the issue of the integration of sustainability in higher education.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Integrating Sustainability in the Business Administration and Management Curriculum: A Sustainability Competencies Map

et al. 2021

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This study presents a sustainability competencies map (SCM) for Business Administration and Management (BAM) disciplines as a tool to support education in sustainability at the university level. The study describes in detail the design and elaboration of the map based on the competencies defined by the Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities (CRUE) and complemented with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) adopted by the United Nations. In addition, to externally evaluate the proposed SCM, we conducted a series of interviews with top managers and founders of five organizations that vary in size and industry. As the main contribution, the SCM for BAM studies is presented, containing 58 learning objectives. The qualitative research framework performed to obtain evidence from the interviewees showed that the holistic dimension of the proposed SCM is highly valued by the interviewed practitioners. Additionally, the SCM’s division of competencies into three levels of achievement was considered practical and helpful to measure them. Finally, the interviewees expressed concerns regarding the implementation of the SCM in real classroom, calling for the necessity of special training for teachers and flexibility of higher education system. Reinforced by the interviewees’ opinions, we believe that the SCM for BAM education presented here will facilitate the design of different methodologies by the teaching staff to guide students towards compliance with the 17 SDGs in 2030.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Integrating Sustainability in the Business Administration and Management Curriculum: A Sustainability Competencies Map

et al. 2021

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“…García-González et al ( 9 ) point out that although the FAO definition of a sustainable diet emphasizes that sustainable food should not only be environmentally friendly, but also culturally acceptable, accessible, and economically fair, these aspects are underestimated by the Spanish population ( 9 ). Research with university samples in Spain and other countries has also found that this population lacks a holistic view of the concept of a sustainable diet ( 13 – 15 , 19 ). These results suggest that it is crucial to develop training activities to foster a broader and more complex conception of food sustainability among the university community.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Universities have a great and undeniable potential as catalyzers for sustainability, being both formal learning institutions and places where informal, mutual influences and lay/expert knowledge meet ( 13 – 15 ). These organizations are also fundamental to achieving the SDGs proposed by the United Nations ( 16 – 18 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Another study, conducted with teaching staff at the University of Valencia (Spain) showed that teachers had a lack of environmental knowledge and inadequate training in sustainability-related issues ( 13 ). Busquets et al ( 15 ) also verified among professors at several Spanish universities that their perceptions of sustainability often did not cover all its dimensions and were mainly focused on environmental aspects ( 15 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Knowledge and perceptions of food sustainability in a Spanish university population

et al. 2022

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In 2015, the United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at its core. Besides tackling climate change and the fight to reduce inequality, the SDG number 12 is specifically focused to develop strategies toward food sustainability. The aim of this study, aligned with SDG number 12, was to analyze the level of knowledge and perceptions of food sustainability in a university community from Spain. A descriptive cross-sectional study, based on an online questionnaire, was carried out between July and November 2021 with convenience sampling. The survey included 28 items and was distributed among students, teachers, researchers and administrative staff from a Spanish university. A total of 1,220 participants completed the survey. 70.4% of the respondents heard about the environmental impact of food and more than 50% were aware of the existence of the SDGs. The different aspects related to diet that concerned them the most were food waste, plastic usage, and environmental impact. They reported that a sustainable diet should be mainly based on local and seasonal products and with a low environmental impact as well as no or the minimum food waste. When asked if they were following a sustainable diet, 77% answered affirmatively. Moreover, the food groups more involved in a sustainable diet should be vegetables and fruits, olive oil, legumes, and whole grains. Regarding food waste, 60% of the surveyed population claimed to generate it at home, with the use of leftovers and planning shopping and meals being some of the most important domestic actions to avoid it. Further initiatives must be implemented to increase the level of knowledge as well as to raise the awareness on the importance to translate it into individual and collective actions that allow a shift toward more sustainable practices.

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“…In general, engineering teachers have not received a complete training in all professional competencies, specifically in sustainability competencies. This increases their difficulty when it comes to embedding learning outcomes for education for sustainable development (ESD) in their subjects [22][23][24].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Competency Maps for Embedding and Assessing Sustainability in Engineering Degrees

Coral

Busquets

Camacho

et al. 2022

Trends in Higher Education

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This paper features a methodology for embedding and assessing a competency in an academic curriculum using competency maps. This methodology enables embedding and assessment of any competency in any curriculum, regardless of the educational level, as long as the competency is correctly described by means of a competency map. As an example of the application of this methodology, a proposal for embedding and assessing sustainability in engineering degrees is presented. A competency map embodies the set of learning outcomes of the competency that students should have acquired upon completion of their studies. This information allows the designers of the curriculum to determine the learning outcomes that should be developed in the degree and to distribute them appropriately among the subjects. The presence map can be constructed from the competency map. It contains information regarding the extent to which each learning outcome of the competency map is being developed in the degree. This paper proposes the construction of a presence map in two steps: (1) perform a survey and (2) conduct a semi-structured interview with professors. The interview, which is conducted by one or several experts in the competency, allows the different criteria used by the professors when filling out the questionnaire to be unified, whereas the presence map shows whether a particular competency is correctly embedded in the curriculum and the aspects that could be improved. Finally, to validate that the students are achieving the learning outcomes of the competency map, we propose a survey to measure the students’ perception about their own learning in the competency. These results can be compared with the presence map to help determine whether, from the students’ point of view, the expected learning outcomes are being achieved in the corresponding subjects. The aim of this process is to provide the information necessary to indicate any changes in the curriculum that may improve the embedding of the competency.

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Sustainability Education in the Spanish Higher Education System: Faculty Practice, Concerns and Needs

Cited by 26 publications

References 24 publications

Integrating Sustainability in the Business Administration and Management Curriculum: A Sustainability Competencies Map

Integrating Sustainability in the Business Administration and Management Curriculum: A Sustainability Competencies Map

Knowledge and perceptions of food sustainability in a Spanish university population

Using Competency Maps for Embedding and Assessing Sustainability in Engineering Degrees

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