The Students’ Survey of Education for Sustainable Development Competencies: A Comparison Among Faculties

• Main Authors: Biasutti Michele, Surian Alessio
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sciendo 2012-01-01
• Series: Discourse and Communication for Sustainable Education
• Subjects: higher education; student competencies; education for sustainable development survey; quantitative approach; reorienting university programmes
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.2478/v10230-012-0005-y

The paper reports research employing a quantitative approach to investigating the competences of university students about educating for sustainable development (ESD). Participants were 467 bachelor students of the following five areas: social sciences, educational sciences, applied sciences, engineering and health sciences. The Student Survey of Education for Sustainable Development Competencies was employed. Internal consistency and factor structure of this questionnaire were investigated by assessing Cronbach’s alphas and by performing exploratory factor analysis. Data were subjected to ANOVA for comparing the students of the five faculties. The relevance of factors and the differences between students of different areas were discussed considering also how to infuse ESD principles in university curricula. The aim is reorienting university study programmes in various faculties to prepare students about sustainable development issues.