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

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 8389
Author(s):  
Pere Busquets ◽  
Jordi Segalas ◽  
Antonio Gomera ◽  
Miguel Antúnez ◽  
Jorge Ruiz-Morales ◽  
...  

This article presents the results of the EDINSOST project in relation to the university faculty’s practice concerns and the need to embed sustainability education in the Spanish Higher Education system. Four questions were devised to determine (1) which conceptions the university faculty has about sustainability in the context of the Spanish higher education (2) what sustainability competencies the university faculty holds (3) the ways in which sustainability teaching strategies are implemented and (4) the ways in which practical coursework related to sustainability is undertaken in a Spanish university context. The methodology that was applied was comprised of a discourse analysis of faculty focus groups. To that end, a category system and a focus group implementation protocol were designed and validated, as well as processes of construct elaboration based on the analysis of the focus groups’ discourses. Among the most relevant contributions stemming from the research questions regarding the faculty’s assumptions was the evidence that the holistic conception of sustainability is not addressed in all its dimensions and the environmental dimension is overemphasised. The need for training to teach sustainability competencies and the faculty’s lack of awareness were also identified. As far as sustainability teaching strategies are concerned, project-based learning prevails, with service-learning emerging as the most effective strategy, even though its application is hindered by faculty training gaps. Finally, the absence of sustainability in teaching guides and study plans and the scarce institutional support for establishing sustainability as a strategic subject in the university were significant findings.

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-137
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Grzywacz ◽  
Grażyna Miłkowska ◽  
Magdalena Piorunek ◽  
Lech Sałaciński

This report is a part of the results of the international project entitled “Studium in Osteuropa: Ausgewählte Aspekte (Analysen, Befunde)” conducted in the years 2013-2015 under supervision of Prof. Wilfried Schubarth and Dr Andreas Seidl from the Potsdam University, Department of Education Science, and Prof. Karsten Speck from the University of Oldenburg, Germany. The project was conducted jointly by representatives of academic centres from Germany, the Czech Republic, Poland and Russia. Its general aim was a comparative analysis of the effects of implementation of Bologna Process directives into the higher education systems of the individual countries. The changes introduced into the higher education systems in the countries involved in the project were described and evaluated, discussed was in particular the problems of education of teachers at the university level. The following text is the result of the contribution of the Polish group participating in the project. The report will be presented in two parts. The first part is focused on the macro-societal context of transformations in the higher education system in Poland. The implementation of selected aspects of Bologna Process directives is described and supplemented by empirical comments. The second part deals with selected aspects of university level education of teachers, followed by a polemic against the assumptions and execution of the target transformations of higher education system.


Author(s):  
Ирина Ивановна Широкорад ◽  
Олеся Михайловна Фадеева ◽  
Елена Геннадьевна Пафнутова

Система высшего образования развивается не в изоляции. Она находится в непосредственной зависимости от школьной системы и от рынка труда. С одной стороны, образовательные результаты, полученные в университете, зависят от уровня знаний и навыков, которые получили студенты на предыдущем этапе образования, с другой стороны, ожидаемое высокое качество жизни, которое является ключевой мотивацией для поступления в вуз для большинства населения, определяется состоянием и структурой рынка труда. Именно наличие спроса на продуктивную рабочую силу определяет результативность системы высшего образования. The higher education system does not develop in isolation. It is directly dependent on the school system and the labor market. On the one hand, the educational results obtained at the University depend on the level of knowledge and skills that students received at the previous stage of education, on the other hand, the expected high quality of life, which is a key motivation for entering the University for the majority of the population, is determined by the state and structure of the labor market. It is the demand for productive labor that determines the effectiveness of the higher education system.


2016 ◽  
pp. 27-28
Author(s):  
Gangolf Braband ◽  
Justin J.W. Powell

Luxembourg has an expanding higher education system, with one of the youngest European national research universities at its center. The University of Luxembourg was founded, against local resistance, as an elite institutional response to global norms and to the Europe-wide Bologna Process. 


2014 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 1209-1221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katia Fach Gómez

For the last fifteen years I have taught final year law students at a Spanish state university on a regular basis. While it is extremely difficult to generalize about matters such as the following, I believe that the typical profile of the different groups of students I have taught over the years has been relatively homogenous in terms of quality and performance. Along with a minority of highly motivated and able students, at the beginning of every academic year the classes are mostly made up of silent students who area priorireluctant to accept individual responsibilities in the learning process. Having presented this seemingly harsh appraisal with no preamble, one of the aims of this essay is to set out a series of arguments that enable us to go beyond the glib self-righteousness of blaming the students for all their woes. In my opinion, it is the Spanish higher education system that is the mainly to blame for many of the factors currently holding law students back. The following factors contribute to this outcome.


2019 ◽  
pp. 130-136
Author(s):  
E. V. Gurova ◽  
N. I. Laas ◽  
A. V. Pritolyuk ◽  
I. A. Romanova

The main way to implement this principle of equality in the education of persons with disabilities and persons with disabilities (HIA) is now inclusive education at all levels of education throughout life. The basic concepts related to disability, integration of persons with disabilities into society, educational environment have been highlighted in the article, the differences in the understanding and interpretation of these concepts have been shown. The factors of adaptation of students with invalidity and disabilities have been disclosed. The formation of an inclusive educational environment in the University is impossible without improving the management of inclusive education in higher education system.


Author(s):  
Е.Ю. Гирфанова

Актуальность статьи обусловлена тем, что в современных условиях конкурентной среды работодатели становятся центром потребления выпускников высших учебных заведений. Однако на протяжении последних десятилетий система высшего образования не соответствует запросам своей целевой аудитории – социума и рынка труда. Рынок труда на сегодняшний день невозможно прогнозировать, наше общество все еще находится на этапе реформирования и часто социально-экономическая сфера страдает от несистемных трансформаций. Из-за увеличения информационного потока, глобализации и цифровизации происходят качественные изменения на рынке труда, перевес специалистов одних направлений подготовки при колоссальном дефиците других. Выпускники остаются невостребованными после получения диплома. Безусловно, те специалисты, которые уже имеют высшее образование, встают на траекторию постоянного обучения, но имеющиеся проблемы формируют гигантский провал между сторонами одной системы – вузом, работодателями и самими выпускниками. Часто работодатели проявляют излишне высокие требования к выпускникам. Компетенции будущих финансовых менеджеров формируются иногда без учета потребности в реальном секторе. Потребители системы высшего образования остаются не удовлетворены качеством выпускников, производители не имеют связи со сферой рынка труда для обеспечения нужными компетенциями. Кадровая политика большинства российских организаций ориентирована в основном на достижение текущих результатов, а не на перспективное развитие; вузы же должны строить свой учебный процесс на перспективу, готовя специалистов с ориентацией на опережающий спрос на рабочую силу. Возникает разрыв между двумя системами, которые должны работать в прочной связке. Отсутствует государственное регулирование прямой и обратной связи между рынком образовательных услуг и запросами работодателей. Поэтому данные виды коллаборации необходимо продумывать самим вузам либо работодателям. Автором проведено исследование работодателей, выявившее основные формы и показатели коллаборации вузовской системы и работодателей. Определены уровень потенциальной вовлеченности в систему сотрудничества с работодателями, возможные варианты и направления совместной деятельности в области набора студентов, организации практики и формирования компетенций для повышения эффективности. Статья предназначена для руководителей образовательных организаций, преподавателей, работодателей. Today employers are the center of consumption for university graduates. But over the past decades, the higher education system has discrepancy for its target audience - society and the labor market. It is impossible to predict the progress of labor market, our society is still at the stage of reforming. The socio-economic sphere suffers from non-systemic transformations. Qualitative changes are taking place in the labor market, the preponderance of specialists in some areas of training, while there is a colossal shortage of other specialists. Graduates remain unclaimed after graduation. Graduates are embarking on a continuous learning trajectory, but problems create a gap between the parties of the same system - the university, employers and graduates. Often employers show excessively high demands on graduates. The competencies of future financial managers are building up without taking into account the need for the real sector. Consumers of the higher education system remain dissatisfied with the quality of graduates, manufacturers have no connection with the labor market to provide the necessary competencies. The personnel policy of most Russian organizations is focused mainly on achieving current results without long-term development. Universities should build their educational process for the future based on labor`s demands. There is a gap between the two systems, which must work in a strong bond. There is no government regulation of direct and feedback between the educational services market and employers' requests. Therefore, universities should make collaborations with employers by themselves. The author conducted a study of employers, which revealed the main forms and indicators of collaboration between the university system and employers. The level of potential involvement in the system of cooperation with employers, possible options and directions of joint activities in the field of student recruitment, organization of practice and the formation of competencies to improve efficiency have been determined. The article is intended for heads of educational organizations, teachers, employers.


2012 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-64
Author(s):  
Jingyi Dong

This research focuses its inquiry on the economic aspect of rural university students' life in China, but the discussion goes beyond the economic field. Massification in the Chinese higher education system has increased the chance for rural youths to receive tertiary education. However, there is rarely sufficient data to record their status quo on the campus. This research intends to fill up the gap by making a comparison between the rural students who are located at different levels in the higher education system. This comparative analysis eventually leads to such findings: Those at the higher extreme of the hierarchy, who have more subsidies, tend to experience more frustration under financial pressure than those at the lower extreme, who are insufficiently funded. Presumably, the former are more directly exposed to rural-urban disparity. While the latter experience less frustration, they are less prepared to impacts from the unfamiliar urban society. The research, eventually going beyond the economic problems, has exposed a process in which the rural youths are victimized by the system that discriminates against the Chinese peasants, in which the higher education system plays a critical role. Key words: higher education, inequality, poverty, rural students.


2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 731-743
Author(s):  
Janina Godłów-Legiędź

Motivation: The crisis of liberal democracy reveals a new dimension to the dispute over the role of the university. Declining trust in elites and the growing uncertainty during the pandemic challenge the belief that the key aim of the university reform should be to subject it to the global mechanism of competition as well as to introduce modern management principles. In the American society, there is a growing belief that the higher education system in the United States is heading in the wrong direction and that universities are politically biased. Despite this, the American system inspires higher education all over the world, including Poland. Even during the pandemic, the attention of the academic community in Poland is focused on the lists of journals constituting the basis for the evaluation of universities and academics. Aim: The aim of the article is to demonstrate the threats posed by a higher education system governed by the dominant economic and political forces. The author evaluates the economic forces behind the parameterisation and ranking system, challenging the rationality of the Polish higher education reforms. The source of the arguments for academic freedom is the political economy that places economic goals in the perspective of long-term universal goals and examines the complex relationships between the economic, political and moral aspects. Results: Academic freedom is not a privilege of the academic world, but one of the foundations of the successful development of a democratic society because science and education cannot be subject to existing patterns of thinking and current economic and political forces. But modern universities are driven to act like firms in competitive market places and they are following trends set by short-term economic and politic interests. Political economy is an effective tool for analysing functioning of higher education operating in quasi-market conditions, imposed by the dominant market players and the state. Understanding the forces underlying the reform of universities requires an analysis of the processes of interpenetration of economic and political processes, which means that the paradigm of political economy is gaining importance. In view of the requirements imposed on universities, dictated by short-term interests, the most important thing is the awareness that the necessity of state financing means that no solution will guarantee autonomy, if there is no responsibility of the academic community and self-discipline of its members.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chetan Sinha

The current socio-political situation in India has gradually shifted the meaning of leader, power and identity in the Indian higher education system. Normalizing the diverse voices, oppression, concretizing the social categories and policing of education created a crisis of ethics. The majoritarian and populist leadership took the shape of an authentic leader, representing the identities of the groups who prejudice towards the minorities. The higher education systems such as universities have become a seat of monitoring and limiting dissenting voices and a neoliberal wave has taken over the whole system in the name of morality, nationalism and religious dominance. This article presents a critical analysis of leadership in the university settings and the way leadership processes are considered to be authentic and ethical in a cultural context.


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