DOI
10.1108/IJSHE-05-2017-0057

Summary
The abstract to this study provides a concise but comprehensive summary of the process and findings of the research, thus the paper does require a general summary here.




Novo-corti et al. used t-test analysis and ANOVA to assess differences between group answers from the questionnaire. The questionnaire aimed to achieve the following:

Identify the moving parts for sustainable development knowledge development in economic higher education in Romania.
Emphasize specific aspects of sustainability teaching from engagement with students, masters of PhD candidates.
Highlight a protocol for Romanian sustainable development.




Novo-corti et al. first set out some of the results by showing the various demographic percentages. 54.4% agreed that sustainability topics were discussed in a large and very large extent while the remaining candidates said that the same topics were discussed to a very low extent or not at all and was stated by the authors to be “worrying”.




The authors conclude on a number of points:




ESD has become a focus point for major academic journals.
The Romanian economic education system has begun with small steps towards environmental integration in learning but is still falling short of the required input.
A change in ‘attitude and mentality’ is required for all levels of students and the academic staff.
The authors claim that this study is a useful starting point for further research on implementing SD knowledge and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) learning.  

Relevance for Complex Systems Knowledge
This study is most relevant to the teaching and learning activities of sustainable development from an economic education programme context. The study consisted of a google forms questionnaire with a sample size of 1250 students from undergraduate, masters and PhD from top tier Romanian universities.

The study discusses ESD and brings the fact that there is no universally accepted definition for it. They define from UNESCO here as ‘ESD aims to help people to develop attitudes, skills, knowledge to make informed decisions for their and others benefits, now and in the future, and to act on these decisions’.

Novo-corti et al. state that ESD should be implemented at primary school level and built towards university level and beyond to develop critical thinking, self-reflection, dialogue and consciousness. They also bring the reader’s attention to the significance of social networks within ESD and how they are a multi-level and multi-actor for policy and governance.

The study states that higher education systems should be promoting inter-disciplinary thinking on three legs of SD and many universities are already integrating these topics through initiatives involving:




“

Corresponding results of student learning
University curricula and suitable methods of evaluation
Removing certain barriers
Changing paradigms staff
Developing social skills
Community relations and communication skills
Deeping involvement of universities and students in local and/or regional communities

                                                                                                                                                  “

Some barriers to the education of sustainable development in universities were found to be resistance to change, lack of support from administrators or lack of financial resources. 







(Comment !!!James M – Not sure if this is entirely relevant but it is an interesting finding nonetheless and may have some implication for teaching) The study finds that women are more likely to seek more guidance from teachers from the study question “Is there any academic staff which can guide you to get involved in projects for saving the environment” whereas men were found to consider conservation of resources to higher extent than women.

Point of Strength
The abstract is structured by (i)Purpose, (ii)Design/methodology/approach (iii)Findings and (iv) Originality/value. This is a useful aspect of the introductory page for anyone reading the document.




ESD is the pinnacle concept of this study. It is described and utilised throughout the methodology. T-test analysis and ANOVA are implemented to provide econometric data on questionnaire results.




The findings were disappointing to the researchers. Perhaps similar findings could be discovered in other areas of Europe. The authors have utilised a combination of valuable methodologies making this publication a possible reference point for replicating a similar study and making for furtherance on the research topic.