Higher Education Challenges: Developing Skills to Address Contemporary Economic and Sustainability Issues

Boštjan Aver, Ajda Fošner and Nikša Alfirević
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Boštjan Aver: Faculty of Entrepreneurship, GEA College, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Ajda Fošner: Faculty of Entrepreneurship, GEA College, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Nikša Alfirević: Faculty of Economics, Business and Tourism, University of Split, 21000 Split, Croatia

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 22, 1-20

Abstract: This paper aims to provide brief insight into the economic and sustainability challenges that higher education institutions are facing today globally. It provides a theoretical overview of key trends and challenges of higher education, relevant for the development of a sustainable and resilient European economy and society. We support our theoretical proposition by a bibliometric analysis of previous studies dealing with the 21st-century business skills and the sustainability outlook to be produced by the higher education sector. Our main findings are related to a significant rise of researchers’ interest in the topic, along with the multi-disciplinary approach being emphasized, as the academic community seeks how to contribute to the pressing issues of ensuring the integration of sustainability with employers’ requirements, related to new skill profiles, relevant for the European transformation toward a more resilient, digital, green economy and society. We evaluate the proposed course of research and provide recommendations to researchers and other higher education stakeholders interested in promoting this educational sector’s sustainability and relevance in the 21st century.

Keywords: higher education; higher educational institutions (HEIs); skills; competences; sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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