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Teaching Sustainable Development in New Business Schools (The Case of Transitional Economy)

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Co-author: Marta Struminska, M.A. Ph.D. student in this Academy. martastr_at_wspiz.edu.pl ... harmonization and coordination of policies, strategies and actions, ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Teaching Sustainable Development in New Business Schools (The Case of Transitional Economy)


1
Teaching Sustainable Development in New Business
Schools(The Case of Transitional Economy)
  • Author Professor Lech W. ZACHER
  • Director of the Centre for Impact Assessment
    Studies and Forecasting at the Leon Kozminski
    Academy of Entrepreneurship and Management,
    Warsaw, Poland
  • lzacher_at_wspiz.edu.pl
  • Co-author Marta Struminska, M.A.
  • Ph.D. student in this Academy
  • martastr_at_wspiz.edu.pl

2
Enlarged EU. Sustainability challenges and
necessary actions
  • information (building information networks),
  • harmonization and coordination of policies,
    strategies and actions,
  • joint programs, plans, co-financing,
  • aid (institutional, organizational, technological
    etc.)
  • promoting idea and practice of sustainable civil
    society (i.e.transnational civil society within
    EU)
  • building common sustainability knowledge base for
    education, politics and media.

3
Poland (and other transition economies) should
strive to solve such general issues like
  • learning how to function effectively within the
    EU framework of laws and regulations, strategies,
    policies and programs,
  • implementing environmental policies, strategies
    and plans in all fields and on all levels of
    decision-making,
  • imposing environment-friendly behaviour of
    domestic and foreign business, as well as of the
    people,
  • promoting (politically, ethically, financially)
    green entrepreneurship (e.g. by giving relevant
    certificates, prizes, support in risk taking),
  • educating people in order to create sustainable
    civil societies (widespread sustainability issues
    in curricula at schools, universities both
    general and technical, on post-diploma courses,
    in media, in political debates, in social
    debates, within business associations, various
    NGOs).

4
Green entreprenership as a prerequisite of
sustainability
  • Green etrepreneurship activities in a widely
    understood sector of environmental protection and
    on implementing ecological aspects in
    traditionalsectors of economy. Combination of
    materialistic motivations with ecological
    aspects.
  • Main problems in post-communist countries are
    material deficiencies and unemployment.
  • The economical mentality prevailing in
    post-communist countries associates activities in
    favour SD with costs or at best with public
    relations.
  • Prerequsite of a green economy is the education
    at university level, especially those teaching
    economics and management

5
Business schools and education for sustainable
development
  • 500 000 students (more then a half in Business
    Schools), who play and will play a important role
    in economic and social life making choices and
    decisions, evaluating risks and taking
    responsibilities
  • About 150 Business Schools within 300 new
    non-public schools.

6
Educational Market and Sustainability Issues
theoretical perspective
  1. Ecological requirements imposed by EU and
    domestic legislation
  2. Requirements of western consumers and companies
    with regard to social and ecological standards.
  3. Possibility to gain competitive adventage on
    sustainability basis

Demand for trainings, courses, programs and
consulting in the field of environmental
protection and sustainable development
Supply side strongly market oriented entities
(Business Schools) shall put sustainability and
environmental issues on curricula
7
Research qestions
  • Question on supply side
  • Do offered curricula take into account the issues
    related with sustanability?
  • Question on demand side
  • Do students request such knowledge?

8
Research on supply side. Some conclusions
  • Research objects 11 most renown business
    schools
  • Sustainable development issues are treated rather
    marginally
  • no postgraduate studies on topics relevant to SD,
    of the 11 p.studied reviewed 2 contained one
    course related to SD
  • Within regular studies 4 schools have one
    obligatory course related to SD, 1 school 2
    optional courses
  • Ecological and social issues in this education
    play a second-rate role at the utmost or simply
    are considered as irrelevant.

9
Research on demand side
  • Research objects students of Leon Kozminski
    Academy of Entrepreneurship and
    Management
  • Metodology survey focus group
  • Total number of students 5 000
  • Number surveyed 181
  • management and marketing (76)
  • finances and banking (28)
  • administration (37)
  • european studies (40)

10
Students demand for knowledge of SD
  • Did you hear about the concept of Sustainable
    development (vision of progress that links
    economic development, protection of the
    environment and social justice.)?
  • ? 50 of the respondents said YES

11
Students demand for knowledge of SD
  • Are you interested in SD issues?

Very interested Rather interested indifferent Rather not interested Not interested
24,3 53,0 14,9 5,5 1,1
  • Are other students interested in SD issues?

Very interested Rather interested indifferent Rather not interested Not interested
4,4 42,5 37,6 13,3 1,1
12
Students demand for knowledge of SD some Tables
  • Is the didactic offer in area of sustainability
    sufficient for the students?

yes Rather yes Hard to say Rather no no
9,9 34,3 14,9 34,3 5,0
  • 77 are personally interested in SD issues.
  • 47 declare majority of students is interested in
    SD issues.
  • 44 declare the didactic offer is sufficient
    (lets recall the offer contains one-semester
    course Elements of ecology and two courses
    facultative).

13
Attitude to main actors of implemention process
of SD
  • Only 16 asked, in whose interests lies
    implementation of SD chose business (63 human
    kind)
  • BUT THE IMPLEMENTATION IS SEEN FIRST OF ALL AS
    TASK FOR THE STATE
  • ? 80 admit that activities towards SD should be
    conducted by business in wider scope than the one
    required by law
  • ? 80 support citizens participation in
    environmental decision-making

14
Students demand for knowledge of SD short
conclusions
  • There are some resons to thinking, that an
    extension of the program in SD area would meet
    students acceptance.
  • Students attitude towards SD idea positive
    marked indifference.
  • Main obstacle students do not consider that
    social and environmental issues are appropriate
    to their educational path.

15
Main conlusions from research
  • strongly market oriented educational entities
    have not been adopting themselves to challenges
    linked with SD issues ? they dont see demand for
    SD knowledge ? This idea is still marginal in
    social and economic life.
  • as well business schools as students function in
    monodisiplinary system, what makes the
    implementation of SD in the curricula very
    difficult.
  • positive students attitude towards the SD idea,
    has undoubtly its potential.

16
Main conlusions from research (1)
  • Demand for trainings, courses, programs and
    consulting in the field of environment protection
    and sustainable development should emerge on the
    educational market. So far, however, the
    educational entities, including those strongly
    market-oriented, have not been adapting
    themselves to these challenges. Both the supply
    side (schools) and the demand side (students)
    function in a system in which everything has its
    own place, assigned long ago
  • ecology - at technical university or faculty of
    biology,
  • social issues within social policy sciences,
    and
  • economy within the sciences of economics or
    management and marketing.

17
Main conlusions from research (2)
  • An alteration of this status towards a systematic
    and interdisciplinary thinking, would be a
    peculiar learning process, requiring information
    and appropriate supporting policy. It is the
    university teaching staff that should become the
    target group to support such learning process. A
    change of their attitude should give a synergy
    effect in the form of a change in the students
    attitude. It is at the university-degree schools
    where students obtain information on the
    standards of economic life.

18
Recommended activities
  • contacts with university-degree schools abroad
    (partnership, joint research programs, exchange
    of the teaching staff and students) on condition
    that those schools pay more attention to
    sustainable development issues than the Polish
    ones,
  • information policy targeted above all on
    university staff (organization of conferences and
    scientific seminars) task for the government,
    non-government organizations, media,

19
Recommended activities
  • including the sustainable development issues into
    the frameworks of teaching contents of individual
    subjects and fields of studies (task for the
    Ministry of Education),
  • supporting research in the field in question
    (task for the government, non-government
    organizations, business which realizes the policy
    of sustainable development),
  • supporting education of university teaching staff
    in the area of sustainable development (the
    government, non-government organizations).

20
Final Summary
  • The mentioned changes can be enforced to some
    extent by the market itself. Is it, however,
    legitimate to suppose that the schools will react
    to the changing reality, if they have not done it
    so far? The dominant paradigm connected with the
    perception of economic activity does not contain
    the combination of materialistic, ecological and
    social interests.
  • In view of the acceptance of the concept of
    sustainable development as a leading one for the
    EU economic policy and its existence in the most
    important state documents one should expect that
    this paradigm will be subject to a change. It is
    hard, however, to resist an impression that both
    representatives of economy and representatives of
    economics do not believe that this all happens
    seriously.
  • Until they start believing, they will not take
    into account neither the limitations resulting
    from this fact nor the arising opportunities. If
    this status does not change, adaptation to the
    new regulations will take place in a passive and
    non-creative manner. Then we will have to do with
    a phenomenon of self-fulfilling prophecy
    striving for sustainable development will in fact
    bring to enterprises nothing but costs and the
    economic growth will slow down.
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