IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ibn/jsd123/v12y2024i2p18.html

Educating for Sustainability: The Crucial Role of the Tertiary Sector

Author

Listed:
  • Wendy Fehlner

Abstract

The Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations represent a universal response to current global challenges that include climate change, poverty, political instability and the massive displacement of people worldwide. The central role of education in achieving sustainable development has been internationally acknowledged and successfully promoted- Global enrolment rates are now 90 percent for primary education and over 70 percent for secondary education. Building on these achievements, this paper focuses the role of tertiary education in contributing to sustainable development. This study reviewed recent theoretical and empirical research relating to the field. Conclusions from theoretical studies confirm that building on human capital is crucial for achieving the sustainable development goals. The majority of empirical studies also confirm a positive correlation between tertiary education and sustainable development. This study highlighted, however, that the full benefits of tertiary education to society may have been underestimated and that there are significant research gaps in the field. Furthermore, current challenges including funding, equity and market relevancy in tertiary education need to be addressed. Given the pressing global issues and the mounting evidence of positive impacts, this paper calls for more research and attention to be devoted to tertiary education in the sustainable development debate.

Suggested Citation

  • Wendy Fehlner, 2024. "Educating for Sustainability: The Crucial Role of the Tertiary Sector," Journal of Sustainable Development, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 12(2), pages 1-18, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:ibn:jsd123:v:12:y:2024:i:2:p:18
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jsd/article/download/0/0/38984/39732
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/jsd/article/view/0/38984
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Aghion, Philippe & Howitt, Peter, 1992. "A Model of Growth through Creative Destruction," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 60(2), pages 323-351, March.
    2. Ivo Šlaus & Garry Jacobs, 2011. "Human Capital and Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 3(1), pages 1-58, January.
    3. Montenegro, Claudio E. & Patrinos, Harry Anthony, 2014. "Comparable estimates of returns to schooling around the world," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7020, The World Bank.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Youngjin Woo & Euijune Kim & Jaewon Lim, 2017. "The Impact of Education and R&D Investment on Regional Economic Growth," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-18, April.
    2. World Bank Group, "undated". "Africa's Pulse, No. 18, October 2018," World Bank Publications - Reports 30455, The World Bank Group.
    3. Linda Glawe & Carlos Mendez, 2023. "Schooling Ain’t Learning in Europe: A Club Convergence Perspective," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 65(2), pages 324-361, June.
    4. Glawe, Linda & Wagner, Helmut, 2022. "Is schooling the same as learning? – The impact of the learning-adjusted years of schooling on growth in a dynamic panel data framework," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    5. Funke, Michael & Strulik, Holger, 2000. "On endogenous growth with physical capital, human capital and product variety," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 491-515, March.
    6. Abida Hafeez & Karim Bux Shah Syed & Fiza Qureshi, 2019. "Exploring the Relationship between Government R & D Expenditures and Economic Growth in a Global Perspective: A PMG Estimation Approach," International Business Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 12(4), pages 163-174, April.
    7. Magnus Henrekson & Dan Johansson & Johan Karlsson, 2024. "To Be or Not to Be: The Entrepreneur in Neo-Schumpeterian Growth Theory," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 48(1), pages 104-140, January.
    8. Boldrin, Michele & Levine, David K., 2008. "Perfectly competitive innovation," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(3), pages 435-453, April.
    9. Rik Rozendaal, 2025. "Market Power, Innovation, and the Green Transition," CESifo Working Paper Series 11938, CESifo.
    10. Chu, Angus C. & Cozzi, Guido & Furukawa, Yuichi, 2016. "Unions, innovation and cross-country wage inequality," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 104-118.
    11. Heijs, Joost, 2003. "Freerider behaviour and the public finance of R&D activities in enterprises: the case of the Spanish low interest credits for R&D," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 445-461, March.
    12. Boucekkine, Raouf & del Rio, Fernando & Licandro, Omar, 2005. "Obsolescence and modernization in the growth process," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 153-171, June.
    13. Stephen J. Turnovsky, 2000. "Growth in an open economy: some recent developments," Working Paper Research 05, National Bank of Belgium.
    14. Moura, Fabio Rodrigues de & Paes, Nelson Leitão & Farias, Tácito Augusto, 2014. "O Impacto do Tempo de Pendência das Patentes na Trajetória de Crescimento: Uma Análise com Base no Modelo Schumpeteriano de Crescimento Endógeno com Avanço de Qualidade," Revista Brasileira de Economia - RBE, EPGE Brazilian School of Economics and Finance - FGV EPGE (Brazil), vol. 68(1), April.
    15. Lin, Kang & Tian, Kailan & Gao, Xiang & Zhao, Yu & Yang, Cuihong, 2024. "Responses of China's cross-border investors to domestic environmental regulations," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    16. Schnell, Fabian, 2013. "Can Monetary Policy Delay the Reallocation of Capital?," Economics Working Paper Series 1329, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    17. Kawalec Paweł, 2020. "The dynamics of theories of economic growth: An impact of Unified Growth Theory," Economics and Business Review, Sciendo, vol. 6(2), pages 19-44, June.
    18. Kar, Sabyasachi & Pritchett, Lant & Raihan, Selim & Sen, Kunal, 2013. "Looking for a break: Identifying transitions in growth regimes," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 38(PB), pages 151-166.
    19. Klein, Michael A., 2025. "Patent policy, invention and innovation in the theory of Schumpeterian growth," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    20. Shahbaz, Muhammad & Song, Malin & Ahmad, Shabbir & Vo, Xuan Vinh, 2022. "Does economic growth stimulate energy consumption? The role of human capital and R&D expenditures in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    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:ibn:jsd123:v:12:y:2024:i:2:p:18. 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: Canadian Center of Science and Education (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cepflch.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.