Abstract:

A sustainable world is one of the main concerns at present times and even though the plans have appointed a development to be achieved by 2030, there are still some barriers that constrain the attainment of these objectives. Two of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) refer to an egalitarian access to education for everyone and the achievement of gender equality in all areas of life in society (SDGs 4 and 5, respectively). Throughout the years, several scholars, academics and organizations worldwide have pointed out the crucial centrality and importance of education in general, and higher education in particular, in order to guarantee the pursuit of gender equality. According to this matter, most universities around the globe have taken measures to implement plans and policies that seek an improvement of gender equality indicators. Some ways in which these measures have been approached are undergraduate and postgraduate programs available to all students interested in the topic; as they are critical actors that sustain not only university life at present but also society in the future. Two countries in which the mentioned programs have been implemented with a certain degree of success are Cuba and Romania. However, no evidence has been found regarding the perceptions that university students from these countries have about the role of higher education in attaining gender equality. Therefore, the main objective of the present study is to analyze the opinions of Cuban and Romanian higher education students regarding the importance of universities towards the achievement of gender equality. The study has been conducted by implementing a qualitative analysis using the technique of focus group to analyze the opinions of Cuban and Romanian university students regarding the topic, including male and female participants in an equal number. The results reveal that most of the students consider universities as places to incorporate new knowledge on gender equality and expand mindsets given all the changes in society and universities as part of the whole; however, some students consider there are still voids within the institutional procedures which undermine the progress towards gender equality, bringing up in this way latent issues that ratify the necessity of further work within the higher education area in order to maximize impacts on gender equality and, through these efforts, contribute successfully to the SDGs and consequently to society and the world.

Keywords:

Gender equality, higher education, sustainable development goals, Cuba, Romania.