IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i12p4926-d372534.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Internships for Higher Education Students to Promote the Local Sustainability of Rural Places

Author

Listed:
  • Nieves García-Casarejos

    (Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zaragoza, Calle Doctor Cerrada 1-3, 50005 Zaragoza, Spain)

  • Luis Antonio Sáez-Pérez

    (Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zaragoza, Calle Doctor Cerrada 1-3, 50005 Zaragoza, Spain)

Abstract

Sustainability and population have a complex relationship. Popular versions of the first are usually based on the premise of reducing the population. However, in some remote rural areas with a low density, this condition needs to be reconsidered, as it would put the viability of the local community at risk and lead to environmental, economic and, above all, social losses. Although repopulation is impossible, since remote rural areas have an ageing demographic structure and an extremely low fertility rate, we can propose the regeneration of their human, social and relational capital by attracting talent and commitment. To achieve this, the Desafío Programme ( Rural Erasmus ) enables university students to do internships in companies and institutions in sparsely populated areas, living alongside their residents. Despite being an experimental policy with a narrow scope in statistical terms, the Desafío Programme is an inspiring experience supported by those who have participated in it and contributes to the social and economic regeneration of areas in decline. This is a practical case of applying a sustainable strategy to a rural area in crisis, which can be transferred to many other countries facing a similar problem.

Suggested Citation

  • Nieves García-Casarejos & Luis Antonio Sáez-Pérez, 2020. "Internships for Higher Education Students to Promote the Local Sustainability of Rural Places," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-25, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:12:p:4926-:d:372534
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/12/4926/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/12/4926/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Paul R. Ehrlich, 2008. "Demography and Policy: A View from Outside the Discipline," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 34(1), pages 103-113, March.
    2. Mokate, Karen Marie, 2001. "Eficacia, eficiencia, equidad y sostenibilidad: ¿Qué queremos decir?," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 1193, Inter-American Development Bank.
    3. Veronika Zavratnik & Andrej Kos & Emilija Stojmenova Duh, 2018. "Smart Villages: Comprehensive Review of Initiatives and Practices," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-14, July.
    4. Mankiw, N. Gregory & Weil, David N., 1989. "The baby boom, the baby bust, and the housing market," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 235-258, May.
    5. A. Dolinska & R. Jonczy & D. Rokita-Poskart, 2020. "Post-Secondary-School Migration of Young People to Large Regional Centres as a Factor of Depopulation and Disharmonious Regional Development in Poland," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(3), pages 260-279.
    6. Aldieri, Luigi & Kotsemir, Maxim & Vinci, Concetto Paolo, 2018. "The impact of research collaboration on academic performance: An empirical analysis for some European countries," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 13-30.
    7. Sarah Skerratt, 2010. "Hot Spots and Not Spots: Addressing Infrastructure and Service Provision through Combined Approaches in Rural Scotland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 2(6), pages 1-23, June.
    8. Jason Hickel, 2019. "The contradiction of the sustainable development goals: Growth versus ecology on a finite planet," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(5), pages 873-884, September.
    9. Cecilia Reynaud & Sara Miccoli, 2018. "Depopulation and the Aging Population: The Relationship in Italian Municipalities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-12, March.
    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. Andreea Marin-Pantelescu & Laurențiu Tăchiciu & Ionica Oncioiu & Mihaela Ștefan-Hint, 2022. "Erasmus Students’ Experiences as Cultural Visitors: Lessons in Destination Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-26, February.

    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. Shihong Zeng & Xinwei Zhang & Xiaowei Wang & Guowang Zeng, 2019. "Population Aging, Household Savings and Asset Prices: A Study Based on Urban Commercial Housing Prices," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-21, June.
    2. Megan Devonald & Nicola Jones & Sally Youssef, 2022. "‘We Have No Hope for Anything’: Exploring Interconnected Economic, Social and Environmental Risks to Adolescents in Lebanon," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-17, February.
    3. Peter S. Yoo, 1994. "The baby boom and international capital flows," Working Papers 1994-031, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
    4. Day, Creina & Guest, Ross, 2016. "Fertility and female wages: A new link via house prices," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 121-132.
    5. Hippolyte d’Albis & Élodie Djemaï, 2018. "Évolutions démographiques et marché de l’immobilier neuf," Revue d'économie régionale et urbaine, Armand Colin, vol. 0(1), pages 129-180.
    6. Hervé Corvellec & Johan Hultman & Anne Jerneck & Susanne Arvidsson & Johan Ekroos & Niklas Wahlberg & Timothy W. Luke, 2021. "Resourcification: A non‐essentialist theory of resources for sustainable development," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(6), pages 1249-1256, November.
    7. John Geanakoplos & William Zame, 2014. "Collateral equilibrium, I: a basic framework," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 56(3), pages 443-492, August.
    8. Ayuso, Juan & Restoy, Fernando, 2007. "House prices and rents in Spain: Does the discount factor matter?," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3-4), pages 291-308, November.
    9. Stefano DellaVigna & Joshua M. Pollet, 2005. "Attention, Demographics, and the Stock Market," NBER Working Papers 11211, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Oliver W. Lerbs, 2014. "House prices, housing development costs, and the supply of new single-family housing in German counties and cities," Journal of Property Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(3), pages 183-210, September.
    11. Patric H. Hendershott & Jesse M. Abraham, 1992. "Patterns and Determinants of Metropolitan House Prices, 1977-91," NBER Working Papers 4196, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Green, Richard & Hendershott, Patric H., 1996. "Age, housing demand, and real house prices," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 465-480, August.
    13. Gaia Garino & Lucio Sarno, 2004. "Speculative Bubbles in U.K. House Prices: Some New Evidence," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 70(4), pages 777-795, April.
    14. Diane J. Macunovich, 1999. "The fortunes of one's birth: Relative cohort size and the youth labor market in the United States," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 12(2), pages 215-272.
    15. Oliver Lerbs, "undated". "House Prices, Housing Development Costs, and the Supply of New Single-Family Housing in German Counties and Cities," Working Papers 201283, Institute of Spatial and Housing Economics, Munster Universitary.
    16. zu Ermgassen, Sophus & Drewniok, Michal & Bull, Joseph & Walker, Christine Corlet & Mancini, Mattia & Ryan-Collins, Josh & Serrenho, André Cabrera, 2022. "A home for all within planetary boundaries: pathways for meeting England’s housing needs without transgressing national climate and biodiversity goals," OSF Preprints 5kxce, Center for Open Science.
    17. Donald Hester, 1992. "Financial institutions and the collapse of real estate markets," Conference Series ; [Proceedings], Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, vol. 36, pages 114-150.
    18. Jaewon Lim & Changkeun Lee & Euijune Kim, 2015. "Contributions of human capital investment policy to regional economic growth: an interregional CGE model approach," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 55(2), pages 269-287, December.
    19. Kedar-Levy, Haim, 2014. "The potential effect of US baby-boom retirees on stock returns," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 106-121.
    20. Arno Vlist & Daniel Czamanski & Henk Folmer, 2011. "Immigration and urban housing market dynamics: the case of Haifa," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 47(3), pages 585-598, December.

    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:12:y:2020:i:12:p:4926-:d:372534. 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.