Abstract:

Education and acquiring new knowledge in the field of sustainability and smart cities are becoming increasingly important in today's world, where growing environmental and social challenges demand complex solutions. This article addresses the question of whether students at universities in Slovakia are receiving sufficient education in these key areas and whether educators at universities are paying enough attention to sustainability and smart cities in their teaching programs. This article aims to determine the extent to which these topics are a part of the educational process at Slovak universities. For this purpose, we are currently conducting extensive research, which includes questionnaire surveys among students from various fields of study at multiple universities in Slovakia. The research is being conducted in two years, 2019 and 2022, with the results currently being compared. Our aim is to identify the developmental trend of the obtained results. Based on our research, we are finding that most students at Slovak universities have only limited familiarity with the concepts of sustainability and smart cities. Most of them do not consider these topics as a primary part of their educational programs and do not perceive them as a given in their fields of study. Furthermore, we are attempting to assess whether students understand the concepts of sustainability and smart cities correctly through our questionnaire. The results show that there are certain gaps in the understanding of these terms among students. This article emphasizes the need to improve the educational process at Slovak universities in the field of sustainability and smart cities. It is essential to raise students' awareness of these topics and incorporate them into curricula and programs to prepare future leaders capable of addressing complex challenges in sustainable development and smart cities.

Keywords:

Sustainability, smart city, education.