ROMANIAN STUDENTS’ KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIORS REGARDING SUSTAINABILITY. TESTING AN ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENT

Sorana Săveanu (), Raluca Buhaș (), Tomina Săveanu and Maria-Madela Abrudan ()
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Sorana Săveanu: Department of Sociology and Social Work, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Oradea, Oradea, Romania
Raluca Buhaș: Department of Sociology and Social Work, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Oradea, Oradea, Romania
Tomina Săveanu: Research Center for Competitiveness and Sustaibable Development, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Oradea, Oradea, Romania
Maria-Madela Abrudan: Department of Management-Marketing, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Oradea, Oradea, Romania

Annals of Faculty of Economics, 2024, vol. 33, issue 1, 602-617

Abstract: Universities’ role in promoting sustainability and the sustainable development goals (SDGs) is increasingly highlighted in the recent years. The high number of academic papers published in this field stands as proof of the attention received by these subjects. The integration of sustainability in education implies the transmission of principles, values and practices in teaching-learning activities, research and in institutional operations. While studies focus on the type of educational and extracurricular actions that universities may promote in order to develop more sustainability aware students, less attention is devoted to the actual impact of these practices. The Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) approach starts with the assessment of the current state: what is being done in universities and what is the level of sustainability awareness among the main actors, mainly students. Having a concrete picture regarding the students’ level of sustainability literacy, we can identify opportunities to develop new implementation practices that address the sustainability issue within higher education. Currently, there is no consensus over a tool to evaluate the knowledge, attitudes as well as behaviors of students regarding sustainability and the SDGs. Nevertheless, efforts were made in this line of research. Our study focuses on the methodologies to assess these aspects. Based on previously used tools, we developed and tested a questionnaire on Romanian student population. The tested scales for sustainability knowledge, attitudes and behaviors highlight the different pillars of sustainable development, namely: social, economic and environmental, revealing that more focus is given to the latter.

Keywords: Education for Sustainable Development (ESD); Higher education (HE); SDGs; students knowledge; attitudes and behaviors. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A20 I21 I23 I25 Q01 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ora:journl:v:33:y:2024:i:1:p:602-617

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