IO1 was dedicated to prepare very strong basis for developing all next intellectual outputs. The aim of IO1 was to provide a research-based background for the development of syllabuses and teaching materials on sustainability. IO1 focused on two aspects:
- The analysis of students awareness on sustainability issues and also their needs and expectations of learning sustainability (task 1.1).
- Desk research on existing courses on sustainability in higher education in partner's countries (task 1.2).
Both tasks were completed as planned and within the allocated time.
Task 1.1
The idea of this task was to carry out questionnaire research among students at the partner universities. As a first step of task 1.1, a questionnaire in English was created. The questionnaire was devided into 2 gropus of statements: awareness and needs. The part of the questionnaire relating to sustainability awareness contained 18 statements, while the part of the questionnaire relating to studying needs consisted of 15 statements. For each statement, the participants responded on a 7-point Likert scale (1 - strongly disagree, 7 - strongly agree). The questionnaire design was neccessary to identify the issues of sustainability matter that students consider important in their countries (issues) and also to find out their studying needs.
Then, the questionnaire was translated into each Partner national language. Next the survey was distributed among students using the GoogleForms application in each Partner country. Target group were students, aged 19-25, studing at bacholor and master levels, mostly at business studies.
All project partners agreed that, in order to increase the quality of the project results, it would be beneficial to increase the size of the research sample in relation to that indicated in the project proposal. Therefore all participants reached a greater sample size than the required 100 participants per Partner (N=100). As a result a total of 1716 (N=1716) correctly completed questionnaires were collected. This is a significant increase (almost three times) on the 600 (N=600) respondents planned in the project proposal.
When it comes to research results students from 4 out 6 Partner universities, indicated "Climate change" as the biggest issue (Poland, the Czech Republic, Spain, Slovakia). On the other hand students from Croatia indicated "Functioning of public institutions" as the main issue, and students from Hungary "Income inequality". From the average of all countries "Sanitation conditions" was indicated as the less significant issue.
As far as studying needs, on average, students from all countries mentioned their high need to be taught about "Responsible consumption". Students from Poland and Croatia also mentioned that they mostly need to be taught about "Standard working conditions". On average, "public transportation" was indicated as the least needed subject for students to learn about.
One of the aims of the survey was to finding out if the issues that students consider important are associated with their studying needs. In order to do so, a regression analysis was carried out (using R Studio). The regression analysis allow to investigate if the “Issues” can explain the “Studying needs” of students. On average, indicated "issues" can serve as predictors of students' Studying needs’. Out of 16 "needs", only 5 are not directly connected with the indicated "issues".
Task 1.2
The desk research on the existing education offer of higher instutions in partners' countries is the basis to indentify the education gap and good practices in teaching sustainability. The aim of this task was to check the existing offer of leading universities in partners' countries connected with the sustainability.
The research focused on courses on sustainability that explicitly mention one of the following terms in their name/title: „sustainability”, or „sustainable. Different aspects of each course were analyzed: thecontent of course, education level, language of teaching, number of teaching hours, number of ECTS points, expected learning outcomes, and teaching methods.
In total, over 90 courses were identified that met the requirements. In half of the countries, most of these courses were delivered at the master's level (Croatia, Czech Republic, Slovakia). In all countries, most sustainability courses were taught in the national languages.
After completing tasks 1.1 and 1.2, a gap was found. None of the universities analysed in the desk research offers a course on sustainability that addresses all the identified research needs specified in Task 1.1. Most of the analysed courses had a rather narrow focus, e.g. only on sustainable logistics, sustainable urban management, etc.
The results of the IO1 study pointed to the need for a course on sustainability in the form that was proposed in the SUSTA project.
IO1 is available HERE>>>
- The analysis of students awareness on sustainability issues and also their needs and expectations of learning sustainability (task 1.1).
- Desk research on existing courses on sustainability in higher education in partner's countries (task 1.2).
Both tasks were completed as planned and within the allocated time.
Task 1.1
The idea of this task was to carry out questionnaire research among students at the partner universities. As a first step of task 1.1, a questionnaire in English was created. The questionnaire was devided into 2 gropus of statements: awareness and needs. The part of the questionnaire relating to sustainability awareness contained 18 statements, while the part of the questionnaire relating to studying needs consisted of 15 statements. For each statement, the participants responded on a 7-point Likert scale (1 - strongly disagree, 7 - strongly agree). The questionnaire design was neccessary to identify the issues of sustainability matter that students consider important in their countries (issues) and also to find out their studying needs.
Then, the questionnaire was translated into each Partner national language. Next the survey was distributed among students using the GoogleForms application in each Partner country. Target group were students, aged 19-25, studing at bacholor and master levels, mostly at business studies.
All project partners agreed that, in order to increase the quality of the project results, it would be beneficial to increase the size of the research sample in relation to that indicated in the project proposal. Therefore all participants reached a greater sample size than the required 100 participants per Partner (N=100). As a result a total of 1716 (N=1716) correctly completed questionnaires were collected. This is a significant increase (almost three times) on the 600 (N=600) respondents planned in the project proposal.
When it comes to research results students from 4 out 6 Partner universities, indicated "Climate change" as the biggest issue (Poland, the Czech Republic, Spain, Slovakia). On the other hand students from Croatia indicated "Functioning of public institutions" as the main issue, and students from Hungary "Income inequality". From the average of all countries "Sanitation conditions" was indicated as the less significant issue.
As far as studying needs, on average, students from all countries mentioned their high need to be taught about "Responsible consumption". Students from Poland and Croatia also mentioned that they mostly need to be taught about "Standard working conditions". On average, "public transportation" was indicated as the least needed subject for students to learn about.
One of the aims of the survey was to finding out if the issues that students consider important are associated with their studying needs. In order to do so, a regression analysis was carried out (using R Studio). The regression analysis allow to investigate if the “Issues” can explain the “Studying needs” of students. On average, indicated "issues" can serve as predictors of students' Studying needs’. Out of 16 "needs", only 5 are not directly connected with the indicated "issues".
Task 1.2
The desk research on the existing education offer of higher instutions in partners' countries is the basis to indentify the education gap and good practices in teaching sustainability. The aim of this task was to check the existing offer of leading universities in partners' countries connected with the sustainability.
The research focused on courses on sustainability that explicitly mention one of the following terms in their name/title: „sustainability”, or „sustainable. Different aspects of each course were analyzed: thecontent of course, education level, language of teaching, number of teaching hours, number of ECTS points, expected learning outcomes, and teaching methods.
In total, over 90 courses were identified that met the requirements. In half of the countries, most of these courses were delivered at the master's level (Croatia, Czech Republic, Slovakia). In all countries, most sustainability courses were taught in the national languages.
After completing tasks 1.1 and 1.2, a gap was found. None of the universities analysed in the desk research offers a course on sustainability that addresses all the identified research needs specified in Task 1.1. Most of the analysed courses had a rather narrow focus, e.g. only on sustainable logistics, sustainable urban management, etc.
The results of the IO1 study pointed to the need for a course on sustainability in the form that was proposed in the SUSTA project.
IO1 is available HERE>>>