University of Alicante faculty's knowledge about the Sustainable Development Goals: a comparative study

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5377/aes.v4i2.16537

Keywords:

2030 Agenda, sustainability, Higher Education, Teacher Professional Development, Education for Sustainable Development

Abstract

Higher education institutions play a decisive role in solving the economic, social and environmental problems affecting humanity. Hence, the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is a challenge for academia. In this area, the role of university faculty is crucial, since the sustainable awareness and culture of the professionals and leaders of the future will depend on their knowledge. Based on this, this study set out to identify the level of knowledge of university faculty on the SDGs and to ascertain the possible differences that exist according to gender and faculty of origin. To this end, 100 faculties from the Faculties of Education and Science of the University of Alicante completed a questionnaire on this topic. A descriptive and comparative analysis was carried out with the statistical program SPSS v. 22. According to the results, although the faculties had a general idea about sustainability, their specific knowledge was scarce and limited. Furthermore, there were no significant differences according to gender and center of assignment. It is concluded that it is necessary to promote university policies to design and implement specific training programs on sustainability.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Albareda, S., García, E., Jiménez, R., & Solís, C. (2019). Implementing Pedagogical Approaches for ESD in Initial Teacher Training at Spanish Universities. Sustainability, 11(18), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11184927

Albareda, S., Vidal, S., Pujol, M., & Fernández, M. (2018). Holistic approaches to develop sustainability and research competencies in pre-service teacher training. Sustainability, 10(10), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10103698

Aleixo, A., Azeiteiro, U., & Leal, S. (2020). Are the Sustainable Development Goals being implemented in the Portuguese higher education formative offer? International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 21(2), 336-352. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-04-2019-0150

Argento, D., Einarson, D., Martensson, L., Persson, C., Wendin, K., & Westergren, A. (2020). Integrating sustainability in higher education: a Swedish case. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 21(6), 1131-1150. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-10-2019-0292

Axon, S., & James, D. (2018). The UN sustainable development goals: how can sustainable chemistry contribute? A view from the chemical industry. Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry, 13, 140-145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogsc.2018.04.010

Badea, L., Serban, G., Debu, S., & Pirosca, G. (2020). The impact of education for sustainable development on Romanian economics and business students' behavior. Sustainability, 12(19), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12198169

Blanco, N., Poza, M., Junyent, M., Collazo, L., Solis, C., Benayas, J., & Gutiérrez, J. (2020). Action-participatory research for the university teachers training on education for sustainability: "Academy Sustainability Latino America". Profesorado. Revista de Currículum y Formación del Profesorado, 24(3), 99-123. https://doi.org/10.30827/profesorado.v24i3.15555

Blasco, N., Brusca, I., & Labrador, M. (2021). Drivers for universities' contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals: an Analysis of Spanish public universities. Sustainability, 13(1), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13010089

Buil, M., Casanovas, M., Ruiz, N., & Leal, W. (2019). Flipped classroom as an active learning sustainable development curricula. Sustainability, 11(7), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11174577

Castro, M., & Gómez, M. (2020). Challenge based learning: innovative pedagogy for sustainability through e-learning in higher education. Sustainability, 12(10), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12104063

Castro, P., Ares, A., & Dapena, A. (2020). Service-learning projects in university degrees based on Sustainable Development Goals: proposals and results. Sustainability, 12(19), 1-23. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12197940

Chankseliani, M., & McCowan, T. (2020). Higher education and the sustainable development goals. Higher Education, 81(1), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-020-00652-w

Collazo, L., & Granados, J. (2020). Implementation of SDGs in university teaching: a course for professional development of teachers in education for sustainability for a transformative action. Sustainability, 12(19), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12198267

Costanza, R., Daly, L., Fioramonti, L., Giovannini, E., Kubiszewski, I., Mortensen, L.F., Pickett, K. E., Ragnarsdottir, K. V., De Vogli, R., & Wilkinson, R. (2016). Modelling and measuring sustainable wellbeing in connection with the UN sustainable development goals. Ecological Economics, 130, 350-355. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2016.07.009

de Haan, G. (2010). The development of ESD-related competencies in supportive institutional frameworks. International Review of Education, 56(2-3), 315-328. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-010-9157-9

Falkenberg, T., & Babiuk, G. (2014). The status of education for sustainability in initial teacher education programmes: a Canadian case study. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 15(4), 418-430. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-10-2012-0088

Ferrer, M., & Chalmeta, R. (2021). Integrating sustainable development goals in educational institutions. The International Journal of Management Education, 19(2), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijme.2021.100494

Gazzoni, F., Scherer, F, L., Schneider , Hahn, I., de Maura, Carpes, A., & Brachak dos Santos, M. (2011). El papel de las IES en el desarrollo sostenible: un estudio de caso de la universidad Federal de Santa María. Revista Gestão Universitária na América Latina – GUAL, v.11, n.1. https://doi.org/10.5007/1983-4535.2018v11n1p48

Glance, D., Forsey, M., & Riley, M. (2013). The pedagogical foundations of massive open online courses. First Monday, 18(5). https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v18i5.4350

Gómez, E., & Duran, P. (2020). Learning design decisions in massive open online courses (MOOC) applied to higher education in civil-engineering topics. Sustainability, 12(20), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12208430

Hajdukiewicz, A., & Pera, B. (2020). Education for sustainable development-the case of massive open online courses. Sustainability, 12(20), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12208542

Hermann, R. R., & Bossle, M. B. (2020). Bringing an entrepreneurial focus to sustainability education: a teaching framework based on content analysis. Journal of Cleaner Production, 246, 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.119038

Hirsu, L., Quezada, Z., & Hashemi, L. (2020). Moving SDG5 forward: women's public engagement activities in higher education. Higher Education, 81(1), 51-67. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-020-00597-0

Hoffmann, T., & Siege, H. (2018). What is education for sustainable development (ESD)? Human Development, 1(8), 1-6. https://bit.ly/3c1W0O3

Iniesta, J., & Martínez, M. (2020). Sustainable development goals and education for sustainable development: applications to the teaching of the chemical kinetics subject of the degree in chemistry. Ensayos. Revista de la Facultad de Educación de Albacete, 35(2), 17-33. https://doi.org/10.18239/ensayos.v35i2.2250

King, K. (2017). Lost in translation? The challenge of translating the global education goal and targets into global indicators. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 47(6), 801-817. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2017.1339263

Lai, Y., & Peng, L. (2020). Effective teaching and activities of excellent teachers for the sustainable development of higher design education. Sustainability, 12(1), 1-27. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12010028

Lazzarini, B., Perez, A., & Boni, A. (2018). Key characteristics of academics promoting Sustainable Human Development within engineering studies. Journal of Cleaner Production, 188, 237-252. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.03.270

Leal, W., & Dahms, L. (2018). Incorporating sustainable development issues in teaching practice. En W. Leal-Filho (Ed.), Implementing sustainability in the curriculum of universities (pp. 323-333). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70281-0_20

Leal, W., Shiel, C., Paço, A., Mifsud, M., Ávila, L., Brandli, L., Molthan, P., Pace, P., Azeiteiro, U., Vargas, V., & Caeiro, S. (2019). Sustainable Development Goals and sustainability teaching at universities: falling behind or getting ahead of the pack? Journal of Cleaner Production, 232, 285–294. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.05.309

Leicht, A., Heiss, J., & Byund, W. (Eds.) (2018). Issues and trends in Education for Sustainable Development. UNESCO. https://bit.ly/3PcBhW7

Lozano, A., & Figueredo, V. (2021). Los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible en la formación de los futuros maestros: uso de metodologías activas. Campo Abierto, 40(2), 245-257. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.17398/0213-9529.40.2.245

Manolis, E., & Manoli, E. (2021). Raising awareness of the Sustainable Development Goals through ecological projects in higher education. Journal of Cleaner Production, 279, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.123614

Merritt, E., Hale, A., & Archambault, L. (2019). Changes in pre-service teachers’ values, sense of agency, motivation and consumption practices: A case study of an education for sustainability course. Sustainability, 11(1), 155. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11010155

Mondal, H., Mondal, S., Ghosal, T., & Mondal, S. (2019). Using Google Forms for medical survey: a technical note. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Psychology, 5(4), 216-218. https://doi.org/10.5530/ijcep.2018.5.4.26

Organización de las Naciones Unidas. (2000). From MDGs to SDGs. https://bit.ly/3NUo5nY

Organización de las Naciones Unidas. (2016). Transforming our world: the 2030 agenda for sustainable development. https://bit.ly/3d0eI6e

Pegalajar, M., Burgos, A., & Martínez, E. (2021). What does education for sustainable development offer in initial teacher training? A systematic review. Journal of Teacher Education for Sustainability, 23(1), 99-114. https://doi.org/10.2478/jtes-2021-0008

Pipere, A. (2019). Journal of Teacher Education for Sustainability after the UN decade of education for sustainable development: exploring for the future. Journal of Teacher Education for Sustainability, 21(1), 5-34. https://doi.org/10.2478/jtes-2019-0002

Potter, E., & O’Neil, J. (2019). Role of teachers on education for sustainable development. En W. Leal-Filho (Ed.), Encyclopedia of sustainability in higher education (pp. 1-10). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63951-2_226-1

Purcell, W., Henriksen, H., & Spengler, J. (2019). Universities as the engine of transformational sustainability toward delivering the sustainable development goals "Living labs" for sustainability. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 20(8), 1343-1357. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-02-2019-0103

Ramos, D. (2020). Contribution of higher education to the Sustainable Development Goals from teaching. Revista Española de Educación Comparada, 37, 89-110. https://doi.org/10.5944/reec.37.2021.27763

Rieckmann, M. (2017). Educación para los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible: objetivos de aprendizaje. UNESCO. https://bit.ly/2IHAwHs

Roni, S., Merga, M., & Morris, J. (2020). Conducting quantitative research in education. Springer.

Saitua, A., Corral, J., & Peña, N. (2020). Improving knowledge about the sustainable development goals through a collaborative learning methodology and serious game. Sustainability, 12(15), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12156169

Sonetti, G., Barioglio, C., & Campobenedetto, D. (2020). Education for sustainability in practice: a review of current strategies within Italian universities. Sustainability, 12(13), 1-23. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12135246

Sosa, M., & Fernandez, M. (2020). Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) within the framework of international developmental cooperation as a strategy to achieve Sustainable Development Goals. Sustainability, 12(23), 1-23. https://doi.org/10.3390/su122310187

Tejedor, G., Segalas, J., Barron, A., Fernandez, M., Fuertes, M., Ruiz, J., Gutierrez, I., Garcia, E., Aramburuzabala, P., & Hernandez, A. (2019). Didactic strategies to promote competencies in sustainability. Sustainability, 11(7), 1-24. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11072086

The Cloud Institute. (2021). The Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education. https://cloudinstitute.org/

UNESCO. (2015). Education 2030: Incheon Declaration and Framework for Action for the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 4: ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. https://bit.ly/3D1Jkid

UNESCO. (2017). Educación para los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible. Objetivos de aprendizaje. https://bit.ly/3HZxDMN

Valderrama, R., Alcántara, L., Sánchez, F., Caballero, D., Gil, D., Serrate, S., Vidal, S., & Miñano, R. (2019). ¿Forma en sostenibilidad el sistema universitario español? Visión del alumnado de cuatro universidades. Educación XX1, 23(1), 221-245. https://doi.org/10.5944/educxx1.23420

Vega, P., Varela, M., & Álvarez, P. (2015). Evaluation of an educational model based on the development of sustainable competencies in basic teacher training in Spain. Sustainability, 7(3), 2603-2622. https://doi.org/10.3390/su7032603

Verhulst, E., & Lambrechts, W. (2015). Fostering the incorporation of sustainable development in higher education. Lessons learned from a change management perspective. Journal of Cleaner Production, 106, 189-204. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.09.049

Vega-Marcote, P., Varela-Losada, M., & Álvarez-Suárez, P. (2015). Evaluation of an educational model based on the development of sustainable competencies in basic teacher training in Spain. Sustainability, 7(3), 2603-2622. https://doi.org/10.3390/su7032603

Xu, P., & Yue, X. (2019). Talent leadership strategies enhance teacher’s professional competencies in 21st century education for sustainable development. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 373(1), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/373/1/012003

Zamora, F., Sánchez, J., Corrales, M., & Espejo, L. (2019). What do university students know about sustainable development goals? A realistic approach to the reception of this UN program amongst the youth population. Sustainability, 11(13), 1-19. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su11133533

Published

2023-06-30

How to Cite

Merma-Molina, G., Urrea-Solano, M., & Hernández-Amorós, M. J. (2023). University of Alicante faculty’s knowledge about the Sustainable Development Goals: a comparative study. Scientific Journal "Notes on Economy and Society&Quot;, 4(2), 56–66. https://doi.org/10.5377/aes.v4i2.16537

Issue

Section

Artículos