IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i22p12567-d678808.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Higher Education Challenges: Developing Skills to Address Contemporary Economic and Sustainability Issues

Author

Listed:
  • Boštjan Aver

    (Faculty of Entrepreneurship, GEA College, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia)

  • Ajda Fošner

    (Faculty of Entrepreneurship, GEA College, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia)

  • Nikša Alfirević

    (Faculty of Economics, Business and Tourism, University of Split, 21000 Split, Croatia)

Abstract

This paper aims to provide brief insight into the economic and sustainability challenges that higher education institutions are facing today globally. It provides a theoretical overview of key trends and challenges of higher education, relevant for the development of a sustainable and resilient European economy and society. We support our theoretical proposition by a bibliometric analysis of previous studies dealing with the 21st-century business skills and the sustainability outlook to be produced by the higher education sector. Our main findings are related to a significant rise of researchers’ interest in the topic, along with the multi-disciplinary approach being emphasized, as the academic community seeks how to contribute to the pressing issues of ensuring the integration of sustainability with employers’ requirements, related to new skill profiles, relevant for the European transformation toward a more resilient, digital, green economy and society. We evaluate the proposed course of research and provide recommendations to researchers and other higher education stakeholders interested in promoting this educational sector’s sustainability and relevance in the 21st century.

Suggested Citation

  • Boštjan Aver & Ajda Fošner & Nikša Alfirević, 2021. "Higher Education Challenges: Developing Skills to Address Contemporary Economic and Sustainability Issues," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-20, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:22:p:12567-:d:678808
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/22/12567/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/22/12567/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Annemarie Körfgen & Klaus Förster & Ingomar Glatz & Stephan Maier & Benedikt Becsi & Anna Meyer & Helga Kromp-Kolb & Johann Stötter, 2018. "It’s a Hit! Mapping Austrian Research Contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-13, September.
    2. Nees Jan Eck & Ludo Waltman, 2017. "Citation-based clustering of publications using CitNetExplorer and VOSviewer," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 111(2), pages 1053-1070, May.
    3. Nees Jan Eck & Ludo Waltman, 2010. "Software survey: VOSviewer, a computer program for bibliometric mapping," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 84(2), pages 523-538, August.
    4. Vasiliki Kioupi & Nikolaos Voulvoulis, 2020. "Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Assessing the Contribution of Higher Education Programmes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-17, August.
    5. Gregory Trencher & Masaru Yarime & Kes B. McCormick & Christopher N. H. Doll & Steven B. Kraines, 2014. "Beyond the third mission: Exploring the emerging university function of co-creation for sustainability," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 41(2), pages 151-179.
    6. Walter Leal Filho & João Henrique Paulino Pires Eustachio & Adriana Cristina Ferreira Caldana & Markus Will & Amanda Lange Salvia & Izabela S. Rampasso & Rosley Anholon & Johannes Platje & Marina Kova, 2020. "Sustainability Leadership in Higher Education Institutions: An Overview of Challenges," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-19, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. María Nuria Sánchez & Emanuela Giancola & Silvia Soutullo & Ana Rosa Gamarra & Rafael Olmedo & José Antonio Ferrer & María José Jiménez, 2022. "Suitability Evaluation of Different Measured Variables to Assess the Occupancy Patterns of a Building: Analysis of a Classroom of a School in Madrid during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-15, April.
    2. Ana Ramalho Ribeiro & Billy Goodburn & Luis Mayor & Line F. Lindner & Christoph F. Knöbl & Jacques Trienekens & Daniel Rossi & Francesca Sanna & Remigio Berruto & Patrizia Busato, 2023. "Skill Needs for Sustainable Agri-Food and Forestry Sectors (II): Insights of a European Survey," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-22, February.
    3. Luis Mayor & Line F. Lindner & Christoph F. Knöbl & Ana Ramalho & Remigio Berruto & Francesca Sanna & Daniele Rossi & Camilla Tomao & Billy Goodburn & Concha Avila & Marg Leijdens & Katharina Stollewe, 2022. "Skill Needs for Sustainable Agri-Food and Forestry Sectors (I): Assessment through European and National Focus Groups," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-24, August.
    4. Muhammad Setiawan Kusmulyono & Wawan Dhewanto & Melia Famiola, 2023. "Energizing Higher Education Sustainability through Rural-Community Development Activation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-13, January.
    5. Jana Stofkova & Adela Poliakova & Katarina Repkova Stofkova & Peter Malega & Matej Krejnus & Vladimira Binasova & Naqibullah Daneshjo, 2022. "Digital Skills as a Significant Factor of Human Resources Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-18, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lutz Bornmann & Robin Haunschild & Sven E. Hug, 2018. "Visualizing the context of citations referencing papers published by Eugene Garfield: a new type of keyword co-occurrence analysis," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 114(2), pages 427-437, February.
    2. Ioana Bianca (Câmpean) Pătrînjan, 2022. "Global Evolution of Research on Sustainable Development and Carbon Dioxide Emissions: a Bibliometric Review," Ovidius University Annals, Economic Sciences Series, Ovidius University of Constantza, Faculty of Economic Sciences, vol. 0(2), pages 153-161, Decembrie.
    3. P. K. Priyan & Wakara Ibrahimu Nyabakora & Geofrey Rwezimula, 2023. "A bibliometric review of the knowledge base on financial inclusion," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 3(2), pages 1-21, February.
    4. Małgorzata Krzywonos & Zdzisława Romanowska-Duda & Przemysław Seruga & Beata Messyasz & Stanisław Mec, 2023. "The Use of Plants from the Lemnaceae Family for Biofuel Production—A Bibliometric and In-Depth Content Analysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-24, February.
    5. Antonina Dattolo & Marco Corbatto, 2022. "Assisting researchers in bibliographic tasks: A new usable, real‐time tool for analyzing bibliographies," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 73(6), pages 757-776, June.
    6. Mehtab Alam & Fu-Ren Lin, 2022. "Internalizing Sustainability into Research Practices of Higher Education Institutions: Case of a Research University in Taiwan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-30, August.
    7. Cheng Zhou & Ruilian Zhang & Julia Loginova & Vigya Sharma & Zhonghua Zhang & Zaijian Qian, 2022. "Institutional Logic of Carbon Neutrality Policies in China: What Can We Learn?," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-16, June.
    8. Quddus Tushar & Guomin Zhang & Satheeskumar Navaratnam & Muhammed A. Bhuiyan & Lei Hou & Filippo Giustozzi, 2023. "A Review of Evaluative Measures of Carbon-Neutral Buildings: The Bibliometric and Science Mapping Analysis towards Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-31, October.
    9. P. K. Priyan & Wakara Ibrahimu Nyabakora & Geofrey Rwezimula, 2023. "A Bibliometric Review of the Knowledge Base on Capital Structure Decisions," Vision, , vol. 27(2), pages 155-166, April.
    10. Gutiérrez-Nieto, Begoña & Ortiz, Cristina & Vicente, Luis, 2023. "A bibliometric analysis of the disposition effect: Origins and future research avenues," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    11. Paulina Phoobane & Muthoni Masinde & Tafadzwanashe Mabhaudhi, 2022. "Predicting Infectious Diseases: A Bibliometric Review on Africa," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-20, February.
    12. U Ubaidillah & Bhre Wangsa Lenggana & Seung-Bok Choi, 2022. "Bibliometric Review of Magnetorheological Materials," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-22, November.
    13. Saurav Chandra Talukder & Zoltán Lakner, 2023. "Exploring the Landscape of Social Entrepreneurship and Crowdfunding: A Bibliometric Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-22, June.
    14. Ole Ellegaard, 2018. "The application of bibliometric analysis: disciplinary and user aspects," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 116(1), pages 181-202, July.
    15. Xilu Dong & Xuqiu Wei & Fei Shu & Qiang Su & Juntao Wang & Ning Liu & Junping Qiu, 2022. "A Bibliometric Analysis on Global Psychological and Behavioral Research Landscape on COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(2), pages 1-13, January.
    16. Borazon, Elaine Quintana & Chuang, Hsueh-Hua, 2023. "Resilience in educational system: A systematic review and directions for future research," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    17. Marwa B. Hannouf & Alejandro Padilla‐Rivera & Getachew Assefa & Ian Gates, 2023. "Methodological framework to find links between life cycle sustainability assessment categories and the UN Sustainable Development Goals based on literature," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 27(3), pages 707-725, June.
    18. Hanane Rhomad & Karima Khalil & Khalid Elkalay, 2023. "Water Quality Modeling in Atlantic Region: Review, Science Mapping and Future Research Directions," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 37(1), pages 451-499, January.
    19. Yue Guiling & Siti Aisyah Panatik & Mohammad Saipol Mohd Sukor & Noraini Rusbadrol & Li Cunlin, 2022. "Bibliometric Analysis of Global Research on Organizational Citizenship Behavior From 2000 to 2019," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(1), pages 21582440221, February.
    20. Zezhou Wu & Danting Zhang & Shenghan Li & Jianbo Fei & Changhong Chen & Bin Tian & Maxwell Fordjour Antwi-Afari, 2022. "Visualizing and Understanding Shrinking Cities and Towns (SCT) Research: A Network Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-14, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:22:p:12567-:d:678808. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.