Abstract:

Nowadays, sustainability is an imperative need for the economy and society, and therefore, education must align with this and incorporate sustainability in the curriculum and in the syllabus of as many subjects as possible. A separate way of incorporating sustainability in higher education is to provide students from different specialties and backgrounds a unique ”minor” or certificate, the Minor in Sustainability. Many universities usually offer this ”Minor in Sustainability” to align their educational offer to the SDGs and environmental concerns. Our study investigates which are the students‘ motivators to enroll and pursue a sustainability minor at a university. The investigation focuses on the case of the University of Oradea, Romania, a university member of the EU-Green European Alliance, trying to design and implement a Minor in sustainability for its students. Consequently, a survey instrument was developed starting from the literature and a pilot survey was conducted. In this paper, we present and discuss the impact of different variables such as the students’ main field of study, age, gender, family income, learning experience, sustainability literacy, etc. The exploratory study is based on the pilot survey administered to 58 students enrolled in various study programs from the University of Oradea, a comprehensive middle-sized university.

Keywords:

Minor in sustainability, students' motivators, University of Oradea.