The Role of South African Universities in Driving Sustainable Development: The Student’s Perspective

Tshedu Matiwaza () and Suvera Boodhoo ()
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Tshedu Matiwaza: University of the Witwatersrand
Suvera Boodhoo: University of the Witwatersrand

A chapter in Eurasian Economic Perspectives, 2020, pp 273-287 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract Students are seen as future decision makers and leaders of tomorrow. Therefore, this study addresses student perceptions of sustainable development. As universities are instrumental in educating future leaders and decision makers, it is imperative for universities to play a critical role in educating students to carry out research that facilitates sustainable practices. This study is conducted to determine the factors influencing student perceptions of sustainable development, especially their perceptions of environmental development, economic development, and social development. The study focuses on postgraduate students studying at a South African university. In addition, the study investigated how the university addresses sustainable development through teaching in order to equip students to be responsible and sustainability-conscious individuals. The study adopts a quantitative research design and makes use of factor analysis to assess the quantitative data. The results indicated that students view education and social development as key to sustainable development. However, it is evident that more emphasis needs to be placed on economic and environmental development through the enrichment of curricula.

Keywords: Sustainable development; Higher education; Sustainable education; South Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:eurchp:978-3-030-53536-0_19

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-53536-0_19

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