IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aes/amfeco/v22y2020i54p412.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How Do Students Assess the Sustainability of Their University? A Comparison between Dutch and Romanian Students from Business Schools

Author

Listed:
  • Florentin Popescu

    (HAN University of Applied Sciences (Arnhem Business School), Netherlands)

  • Tudor Edu

    (Romanian American University, Romania)

  • Iliuta Costel Negricea

    (Romanian American University, Romania)

  • Rãzvan Zaharia

    (The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania)

  • Rodica Milena Zaharia

    (The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania)

Abstract

This article is exploratory in its essence and aims to analyse the sustainability of universities in the case of three higher education institutions: one university from the Netherlands and two universities from Romania. The main focus is on the awareness of the sustainable university concept among students and on the perception students have about their university: do they consider their university as being a sustainable one? Why? Do they consider they are educated to act as future sustainable business persons? There is a growing interest in researching students’ perceptions on the sustainability of universities. Students are the key stakeholders; they represent the future business people, employees, managers or entrepreneurs, responsible for sustainable development. Therefore, universities have to build a “sustainable mindset” for their graduates. This research related to students’ perception on sustainable university has two phases. The first one involved a secondary data analysis, based on the online information provided by the universities, in order to assess the sustainability of these universities considering the adapted Deming spiral (planning, operating, reporting and innovating). The second phase involved a qualitative research among students from these three universities, based on focus groups, about the awareness of the sustainable university concept, how they perceive their university from the sustainability point of view and how prepared they consider to be to act as future sustainable persons. Comparisons between universities are performed. The conclusions discuss possible solutions for universities to become more sustainable, and good practices that can be shared among universities are identified.

Suggested Citation

  • Florentin Popescu & Tudor Edu & Iliuta Costel Negricea & Rãzvan Zaharia & Rodica Milena Zaharia, 2020. "How Do Students Assess the Sustainability of Their University? A Comparison between Dutch and Romanian Students from Business Schools," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 22(54), pages 412-412, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:aes:amfeco:v:22:y:2020:i:54:p:412
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.amfiteatrueconomic.ro/temp/Article_2901.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Giulia Sonetti & Patrizia Lombardi & Lorenzo Chelleri, 2016. "True Green and Sustainable University Campuses? Toward a Clusters Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(1), pages 1-23, January.
    2. Charles Kivunja, 2015. "Innovative Methodologies for 21st Century Learning, Teaching and Assessment: A Convenience Sampling Investigation into the Use of Social Media Technologies in Higher Education," International Journal of Higher Education, Sciedu Press, vol. 4(2), pages 1-1, 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. Elisabeta-Emilia Halmaghi & Diana-Elena Ranf & Dorel Badea, 2023. "Interdisciplinary Exploration between Organizational Culture and Sustainable Development Management Applied to the Romanian Higher Education Environment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-17, July.
    2. Liana Badea & George Laurențiu Șerban-Oprescu & Silvia Dedu & Grigore Ioan Piroșcă, 2020. "The Impact of Education for Sustainable Development on Romanian Economics and Business Students’ Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-17, 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. Yusuf A. Adenle & Edwin H. W. Chan & Yi Sun & C.K. Chau, 2020. "Modifiable Campus-Wide Appraisal Model (MOCAM) for Sustainability in Higher Education Institutions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-19, August.
    2. Andrea Okanović & Jelena Ješić & Vladimir Đaković & Simonida Vukadinović & Andrea Andrejević Panić, 2021. "Increasing University Competitiveness through Assessment of Green Content in Curriculum and Eco-Labeling in Higher Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-20, January.
    3. Mariana Cernicova-Buca & Gabriel-Mugurel Dragomir & Vasile Gherheș & Adina Palea, 2023. "Students’ Awareness Regarding Environment Protection in Campus Life: Evidence from Romania," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(23), pages 1-18, November.
    4. Daniela M. Salvioni & Simona Franzoni & Raffaella Cassano, 2017. "Sustainability in the Higher Education System: An Opportunity to Improve Quality and Image," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-27, May.
    5. Jacqueline Bailão da Silva Lopes & Thiago Almeida Vieira, 2021. "Sustainable University: From the Worldwide Conception to the Brazilian Amazonia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-31, September.
    6. Maki Ikegami & Bart Neuts, 2020. "Strategic Options for Campus Sustainability: Cluster Analysis on Higher Education Institutions in Japan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-13, March.
    7. Paul Save & Belgin Terim Cavka & Thomas Froese, 2021. "Evaluation and Lessons Learned from a Campus as a Living Lab Program to Promote Sustainable Practices," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-26, February.
    8. Simona Șimon & Claudia E. Stoian & Vasile Gherheș, 2020. "The Concept of Sustainability in the Romanian Top Universities’ Strategic Plans," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-22, April.
    9. Habib M. Alshuwaikhat & Ismaila R. Abubakar & Yusuf A. Aina & Yusuf A. Adenle & Muhammad Umair, 2017. "The Development of a GIS-Based Model for Campus Environmental Sustainability Assessment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-23, March.
    10. Niki Derlukiewicz & Anna Mempel-Śnieżyk & Dominika Mankowska & Arkadiusz Dyjakon & Stanisław Minta & Tomasz Pilawka, 2020. "How do Clusters Foster Sustainable Development? An Analysis of EU Policies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-15, February.
    11. Johan Colding & Stephan Barthel, 2017. "The Role of University Campuses in Reconnecting Humans to the Biosphere," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-13, December.
    12. Manuel Muñoz-Suárez & Natividad Guadalajara & José M. Osca, 2020. "A Comparative Analysis between Global University Rankings and Environmental Sustainability of Universities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-19, July.
    13. Dario Cottafava & Giulia Sonetti & Paolo Gambino & Andrea Tartaglino, 2018. "Explorative Multidimensional Analysis for Energy Efficiency: DataViz versus Clustering Algorithms," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-18, May.
    14. Giulia Sonetti & Caterina Barioglio & Daniele Campobenedetto, 2020. "Education for Sustainability in Practice: A Review of Current Strategies within Italian Universities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(13), pages 1-24, June.
    15. Andrea Appolloni & Nathalie Colasanti & Chiara Fantauzzi & Gloria Fiorani & Rocco Frondizi, 2021. "Distance Learning as a Resilience Strategy during Covid-19: An Analysis of the Italian Context," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-12, January.
    16. Rami Alawneh & Ismael Jannoud & Hesham Rabayah & Hikmat Ali, 2021. "Developing a Novel Index for Assessing and Managing the Contribution of Sustainable Campuses to Achieve UN SDGs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-16, October.
    17. Rosa Puertas & Luisa Marti, 2019. "Sustainability in Universities: DEA-GreenMetric," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(14), pages 1-17, July.
    18. Sandra Caeiro & Leyla Angélica Sandoval Hamón & Rute Martins & Cecilia Elizabeth Bayas Aldaz, 2020. "Sustainability Assessment and Benchmarking in Higher Education Institutions—A Critical Reflection," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-30, January.
    19. William Horan & Bernadette O’Regan, 2021. "Developing a Practical Framework of Sustainability Indicators Relevant to All Higher Education Institutions to Enable Meaningful International Rankings," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-15, January.
    20. Maria-Floriana Popescu & Bogdan-Cristian Chiripuci & Andreea Orîndaru & Marius Constantin & Albert Scrieciu, 2020. "Fostering Sustainable Development through Shifting Toward Rural Areas and Digitalization—The Case of Romanian Universities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-15, May.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    sustainable university; sustainable development; students’ opinion; Netherlands; Romania;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q01 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - General - - - Sustainable Development
    • Q56 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth
    • I29 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Other

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:aes:amfeco:v:22:y:2020:i:54:p:412. 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: Valentin Dumitru (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aseeero.html .

    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.