Title: Teaching Sustainable Development in New Business Schools (The Case of Transitional Economy)
1Teaching 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
2Enlarged 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.
3Poland (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).
4Green 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
5Business 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.
6Educational Market and Sustainability Issues
theoretical perspective
- Ecological requirements imposed by EU and
domestic legislation - Requirements of western consumers and companies
with regard to social and ecological standards. - 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
7Research 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?
8Research 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.
9Research 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)
10Students 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
11Students 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
12Students 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).
13Attitude 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
14Students 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.
15Main 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.
16Main 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.
17Main 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.
18Recommended 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,
19Recommended 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).
20Final 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.