International Conference and Workshop
“Education for Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Sustainability in the Knowledge Economy”
Bucharest, ROMANIA
- UNESCO DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, THE BUCHAREST UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMIC STUDIES, BUCHAREST, ROMANIA
The UNESCO Department for Business Administration, as organizational entity,ispart of the Faculty of Business Administration in foreign languages (FABIZ), one of the twelve schools of the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Bucharest, ROMANIA.
The mission of the UNESCO Department for Business Administration is three-folded:
- Education – providing the most relevant and up-to-date programmes in the field of business administration
- Research – integrating all members of the department in high-performing research teams and running impactful research projects
- Relationship with society – developing mutual beneficial partnerships between the academic community and the economic, social and cultural environment.
The UNESCO Department for Business Administration ensures high-qualityfaculty members teaching in the bachelor, master and doctorate programmes offered by FABIZ as well as the University’s doctoral school. FABIZ’s educational offer includes only programmes taught in foreign languages (English, French and German), at the bachelor and master level,in the field of Business Administration:
Bachelor programmes:
-Business Administration in English language;
-Business Administration in French language;
-Business Administration in German language;
Master programmes:
-Entrepreneurship and Business Administration in English language;
-Entrepreneurship and Business Administration in French language;
-Entrepreneurship and Business Administration in German language;
MBA programmes:
-Romanian-German “Entrepreneurship Management”;
-Entrepreneurship and Business Administration in Energy.
Doctorate programme on Business Administration
Through its faculty members and research staff, the UNESCO Department for Business Administration supports and carries outthe scientific research activities of its Research Center in Intellectual Capital and Entrepreneurship (RCICE). In the academic year 2017-2018 there are 20 full professors, 20 associated professors and 20 PhD students conducting research in the RCICE.
Also, the UNESCO Department for Business Administration coordinatesthe international scientific journal Management & Marketing. Challenges for the Knowledge Society, published by De Gruyter, a debating forum of the newest ideas in management and marketing fields: strategic management, intellectual capital, business management, entrepreneurship, international marketing, online marketing, international business, university management, social responsibility, knowledge management, change management, human resources management, and so forth.
The UNESCO Department for Business Administration has extended partnerships and has structural collaboration with various private companies, governmental organizations, NGOs and other institutions, such as: EY, Kaufland, P&G, Norwath&Partners, Schaeffler, AHK etc. These collaborations focus, for example, on internships during bachelor and master programmes.
Through all its activities and results accomplished, the UNESCO Department for Business Administration sustains change in the economic and academic society by fostering entrepreneurship, innovation and social responsibility, while supporting the creation of a knowledge society.
2. GLOBAL EDUCATION AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
Sustainable development can be defined as “the goal of integrating economic activity with environmental integrity, social concerns and effective governance systems, while maximizing the contribution to the well-being of the current generation, fairly sharing the cost and benefits, without comprising the potential for the next generations to meet their needs” (International Institute for Environment and Development- IIED, 2002).
From other perspectives, “sustainable development may reflect a managerial and incremental approach, more attractive to government and business, while sustainability focuses the attention on the people’s ability to continue to live within environmental constraints, more adopted by NGOs and academic environmentalists” (Robinson, 2004).
The 17 Sustainable Development Goals were formally adopted by the UNESCO members in September 2015 and include the following(
1. No poverty;
2. Zero hunger;
3. Good health and well-being;
4. Quality education;
5. Gender equality;
6. Clean water and sanitation;
7. Affordable and clean energy;
8. Decent work and economic growth;
9. Industry, innovation and infrastructure;
10. Reduced inequalities;
11. Sustainable cities and communities;
12. Responsible consumption and production;
13. Climate action;
14. Life below water;
15. Life on land;
16. Peace, justice and strong institutions;
17. Partnerships for the goals.
The new vision for Sustainable Development Goal 4 Quality education (SDG4), expressed by the Incheon Declaration for Education 2030, is: “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all” (Education 2030 Agenda)
3. EDUCATION IN BALKAN REGION
Higher education can be considered as an important“resource for sustainability” (Oprean et al., 2011) The higher education system integrates students, faculty members, researchers and administrative staff. Perhaps, one of the most valuable resources for sustainability is the student. From this perspective, higher education needs to take into consideration also the needs of the society. The most relevant contribution to sustainability expected from graduates is to promote “diversity at higher education level and transdisiciplinarity, because humans are capable to assimilate many correlated dimensions of knowledge” (Oprean et al., 2011).
3.1. Participation in education and training in Balkan region
The students are seen as future graduates who further play an important role within the society, by assuming responsibilities and using their achieved skills. Figure 1 compares the total number of persons who are enrolled in tertiary education (including university and non-university studies) in formal education system in each country. This indicator underlines the number of persons who had access to tertiary education and are expected to complete their studies, contributing to an increase of the education attainment level of the population in the country, in case they continue to live and work in their country at the end of their studies.
At the level of the year 2012, the distribution of students among Balkan countries was:
-Turkey: 4,353,500 students;
-Romania: 705,000 students;
-Greece: 663,700 students;
-Bulgaria: 285,000 students;
-Croatia: 157,000 students;
-Slovenia: 104,000 students;
-Republic of Macedonia: 63,300 students.
Figure 1. Students in tertiary education (thousand)(2001-2012)*
* The figure presents only the data available for the countries of Balkan region
Source: Eurostat, 2017
3.2. Learning mobility in Balkan region
The learning mobility is an indicator which underlines the number of the incoming students and outgoing students for each country, based on the figures provided by the host country on foreign students enrolled in tertiary education by nationality. For a given nationality, the number of students studying abroad is calculated by summing the numbers provided for this nationality by the receiving countries. The lack of data on the distribution of students by nationality in some countries leads to underestimation of the values. (Figure 2)
Based on the available data for the year 2012, the mobility of students in Europe in tertiary education was:
-Turkey: 56,600 students;
-Greece: 38,200 students;
-Romania: 37,500 students;
-Bulgaria: 27,200 students;
-Croatia: 10,000 students;
-Republic of Macedonia: 4,500 students;
-Slovenia: 2,700 students.
Figure 2. Mobility of students in Europe (thousand) (2001-2012)*
* The figure presents only the data available for the countries of Balkan region
Source: Eurostat, 2017
3.3. Education financing in Balkan region
The annual expenditure on public and private educational institutions per pupil/ student compared to GDP per capitarelates the resources (e.g. expenditure for personnel, other current and capital expenditure) being devoted to education in public and private educational institutions to the overall economic welfare of a country. This indicator is based on full-time equivalent enrolment. (Figure 3)
At the level of the year 2011, the annual expenditure on public and private institutions compared to GDP per capita is represented as follows:
-Slovenia: 32.3%;
-Croatia: 25.7%;
-Bulgaria: 23.2%;
-Turkey: 19.2%;
-Romania: 17.5%.
Figure 3. Annual expenditure on public and private educational institutions compared to GDP per capita (%- based on full-time equivalents) (2000-2011)
* The figure presents only the data available for the countries of Balkan region
Source: Eurostat, 2017
3.4. Education and training outcomes in Balkan region
One of the outcomes of education and training is represented by the number of pupils/ students who dropped out or left the school before they finish. The percentage of early leavers from education in Balkan countries had the following distribution at the level of the year 2016 (Figure 4):
-Turkey: 34.3%;
-Romania: 18.5%;
-Bulgaria: 13.8%;
-Republic of Macedonia: 9.9%;
-Greece: 6.2%;
-Slovenia: 4.9%;
-Croatia: 2.8%.
Figure 4. Early leavers from education (%) (2000- 2016)
* The figure presents only the data available for the countries of Balkan region
Source: Eurostat, 2017
Another indicator, the employment rate of recent graduates refers to the employment rates of persons aged 20 to 34 fulfilling the following conditions: being employed, having attained at least upper secondary education as the highest level of education, not having received any education or training in the four weeks preceding the survey and having successfully completed their highest educational attainment 1, 2 or 3 years before the survey. (Figure 5)
For the Balkan countries, the employment rates of recent graduates at the level of the year 2016 were:
-Slovenia: 76.7%;
-Bulgaria: 72%;
-Romania: 69.3%;
-Turkey: 61.1%;
-Greece: 49.2%;
-Republic of Macedonia: 49.9%.
Figure 5. Employment rate of recent graduates (%) (2005-2016)
* The figure presents only the data available for the countries of Balkan region
Source: Eurostat, 2017
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