competences, sustainable development, geographical education, learning conditions, university

In times of global crises, education managers are expected to be more imaginative, going beyond international, standardised tests of knowledge and skills, and moving towards properly preparing citizens worldwide for a changing reality. By combining formal and informal learning environments within higher education—as part of a new learning culture—universities will play an increasingly important role, particularly in developing future competences, including those relating to sustainable development. This article presents an international study conducted between students of geography in Poland (UAM) and Czechia (OU), examining the influence of selected learning conditions in the academic environment on the level of competences relating to sustainable development. The research was based on 12 new competences proposed in 2022 in the GreenComp document (Bianchi et al. in GreenComp the European sustainability competence framework. Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2022). Both Polish and Czech students declare that within the university environment, the level of competences relating to the values and complexity of sustainable development is predominantly influenced by study programmes, while for competences relating to the future and action, it is the non-academic environment. Statistical analyses confirm the regularities indicated above; however, strong positive correlations were noted between the competences of creative thinking and action and the way in which content is delivered in a study programme. The decisive factors for the development of these competences were problem-based learning and project-based learning, respectively.

n times of global crises, education managers are expected to be more imaginative, going beyond international, standardised tests of knowledge and skills, and moving towards properly preparing citizens worldwide for a changing reality. By combining formal and informal learning environments within higher education—as part of a new learning culture—universities will play an increasingly important role, particularly in developing future competences, including those relating to sustainable development. This article presents an international study conducted between students of geography in Poland (UAM) and Czechia (OU), examining the influence of selected learning conditions in the academic environment on the level of competences relating to sustainable development. The research was based on 12 new competences proposed in 2022 in the GreenComp document (Bianchi et al. in GreenComp the European sustainability competence framework. Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2022). Both Polish and Czech students declare that within the university environment, the level of competences relating to the values and complexity of sustainable development is predominantly influenced by study programmes, while for competences relating to the future and action, it is the non-academic environment. Statistical analyses confirm the regularities indicated above; however, strong positive correlations were noted between the competences of creative thinking and action and the way in which content is delivered in a study programme. The decisive factors for the development of these competences were problem-based learning and project-based learning, respectively.