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Integrating sustainable development and circular economy principles into higher education curricula is critical for preparing future professionals to address complex global challenges. This study examines both the theoretical underpinnings and empirical evidence supporting the inclusion of these themes in academic programs in Latvia, emphasizing their role in fostering the competencies required for sustainable transformation. Using a mixed-methods approach, the research combines qualitative content analysis of curricula from five Latvian universities with a quantitative survey of students at the bachelor's, master's, and doctoral levels. The findings reveal that while sustainability is present in course content, key areas such as green public procurement remain significantly underrepresented. Drawing on comparative insights from other European countries, the study identifies emerging trends in entrepreneurship education, particularly those aligned with circular economy principles. Despite the strategic importance of universities in advancing the European Green Deal, many institutions face persistent barriers, including limited resources, insufficient policy support, and weak knowledge transfer to the business sector. The study underscores the need for a more structured and strategic approach to embedding sustainability in higher education - one that is supported by institutional commitment, faculty development, and coherent policy frameworks. These insights contribute to the broader European discourse on the transformative role of universities in achieving the objectives of the European Green Deal and the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
ABSTRACT
Integrating sustainable development and circular economy principles into higher education curricula is critical for preparing future professionals to address complex global challenges. This study examines both the theoretical underpinnings and empirical evidence supporting the inclusion of these themes in academic programs in Latvia, emphasizing their role in fostering the competencies required for sustainable transformation. Using a mixed-methods approach, the research combines qualitative content analysis of curricula from five Latvian universities with a quantitative survey of students at the bachelor's, master's, and doctoral levels. The findings reveal that while sustainability is present in course content, key areas such as green public procurement remain significantly underrepresented. Drawing on comparative insights from other European countries, the study identifies emerging trends in entrepreneurship education, particularly those aligned with circular economy principles. Despite the strategic importance of universities in advancing the European Green Deal, many institutions face persistent barriers, including limited resources, insufficient policy support, and weak knowledge transfer to the business sector. The study underscores the need for a more structured and strategic approach to embedding sustainability in higher education - one that is supported by institutional commitment, faculty development, and coherent policy frameworks. These insights contribute to the broader European discourse on the transformative role of universities in achieving the objectives of the European Green Deal and the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Keywords: Sustainable development, circular economy, green public procurement, higher education, sustainability education
INTRODUCTION
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has recently been increasingly emphasized as one of the most crucial components for the development of a sustainable society. ESD is a key element of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, with Goal 4.7 calling on countries to "ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable lifestyles, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship, and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture's contribution to sustainable development" by 2030 [1]. The UN Agenda 2030 serves as the foundation for international policy documents, such as the European Commission's strategies, including the European Competence Framework "GreenComp" [2], the European Green Deal, and the Digital Education Action Plan 2021-2027 [3]. Within the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), transformative learning principles that promote sustainable development are increasingly being integrated to ensure quality [4].
In Latvia, sustainable development goals are outlined in several policy documents. The Latvian Sustainable Development Strategy until 2030 (Latvia2030) [5] emphasizes that sustainability is a fundamental element of the state and that education plays a crucial role in fostering a society that lives in harmony with the environment, enhancing skills, and promoting knowledge about circular economy principles and environmentally friendly lifestyles necessary for sustainable development. The Education Development Guidelines 2021-2027 [6] also highlight the importance of fostering an understanding of sustainable development in the curriculum, including the integration of green skills, innovation, and digitalization in higher education. Article 5 of the Higher Education Law [7] states that universities must create knowledge beneficial to society and stimulate the development of science and culture, which implicitly requires universities to include topics such as environmental protection, sustainability, and digitalization in their study programs.
Approaches to sustainable development vary significantly across the European Union. For instance, in Portugal, despite a general lack of comprehensive national-level sustainable development initiatives, universities independently develop strategies to integrate sustainability issues into their courses [8], [9]. A similar situation exists in Germany, where sustainable development issues are included at the federal state level in STEM fields [10]. Many European universities use the CoDesignS model in their study programs, which helps integrate sustainable development goals into higher education curricula. The model structures study programs around three main competency groups: cognitive (knowledge and critical thinking), socio-emotional (empathy, collaboration), and behavioural competencies (practical actions and decision-making), to enhance student engagement and foster sustainable thinking [11].
Higher education institutions play an important role in integrating sustainability issues into curricula. This transfer requires an interdisciplinary approach to addressing social, environmental and economic challenges [1], [8]. Circular economy principles are integrated into various academic disciplines, especially design, engineering and business. Research highlights the need for new skills and competences to support sustainable development. For example, the University of Bern carried out a study identifying the need to develop systemic thinking, creativity and effective communication [12]. The University of Serbia analysed how different the degree of integration within one university can be [13]. The business management programme was changed to include sustainability in both compulsory and optional courses [14] [15]. It is noted that several European countries still lack a common approach and vision for the systematic integration of sustainability [13].
The analysis of 16 higher education programmes in Europe identifies emerging trends in entrepreneurial education that focus on the circular economy. Key areas include business models and management of green supply chains [16]. Comprehensive analysis of how sustainability issues are integrated into study programmes has not been performed in Latvian institutions of higher education. This study combines quantitative and qualitative data: analysis of curriculum content and student survey results. European experience has shown that successful integration of sustainability requires both an institutional strategy, the co-involvement of teachers and management, and appropriate study tools [11], [17]. Monitoring and evaluation are also essential: European HEIs are encouraged to use standardised tools to assess the effectiveness of sustainable development integration [10], [18]. European universities play a crucial role in achieving the goals of the European Green Deal, yet they often lack the necessary resources and policy support. The absence of sustainability-focused courses and the limited transfer of knowledge to the business sector remain significant challenges [19].
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The study is based on a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative content analysis of higher education programs with a quantitative student survey. This methodological design enables a comparison between students' subjective understanding of sustainability issues and the actual representation of these topics within academic curricula.
The qualitative analysis examined the extent to which concepts related to sustainable development and the circular economy are integrated into higher education curricula in Latvia. A keyword-based analytical method was employed to extract core sustainability-related terms from publicly available course descriptions across five Latvian universities: the University of Latvia (LU), Riga Stradin§ University (RSU), BA School of Business and Finance (BA), Riga Technical University (RTU), and Daugavpils University (DU). The analysis was grounded in the frequency of keyword stems, which were used to capture various morphological forms in Latvian and to reflect broader semantic relevance. The objective was to identify trends in the structured inclusion of sustainability topics, the depth of content, and the contextual framing across different academic disciplines.
The student survey was conducted online in the spring of 2025 and included bachelor's, master's, and doctoral students from several Latvian higher education institutions. A total of 231 students participated in the survey. Most respondents were bachelor's level students (71.4%), followed by master's students (26%). Five doctoral students also participated, although their responses were excluded from separate analyses due to the small sample size. Most respondents (72.7%) were enrolled in social sciences programs - such as business management, economics, hospitality management, and finance - while 11.7% studied humanities and 15.5% were in natural sciences. The aim of the questionnaire was to assess students" self-evaluated knowledge of sustainable development, the circular economy, green procurement, and digital transformation. The survey included both closed- and open-ended questions. The study adhered to general ethical principles and data privacy requirements. Participation was voluntary and anonymous, and students were informed about the purpose of data collection. No personally identifiable information was gathered. All collected data were securely stored and analyzed in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
RESULTS
Keyword frequency table is the first result of qualitative analysis of higher education program content (Table 1). We included concepts related to sustainable development, circular economy, digitalization, and research as keywords in this analysis. The most frequent keywords identified across all institutions were related to research (in Latvian: pelijum, pétniecib, pemiecibas meto), sustainability (in Latvian: Zletspej, ilgtspejiga attistib, ilgtspejigai attistib, ilgtspéjigu attistib), and digitalisation (in Latvian: digital, Digitalizacij, Digitalizäcija), suggesting a strong presence of theoretical and methodological elements within course content.
As we can see from Table 1 research-oriented keywords dominated the datasets, especially in LU and RTU. This indicates that academic programs highly emphasise research competencies, which are foundational to understanding and applying sustainable development concepts. Sustainability-related terms and its derivations appeared widely, particularly in LU, DU, and RTU. Combined counts from related keywords further affirm that sustainable development is a recurring theme. Circular economy concepts, including Recycling, circular economy, eco-design, and Life cycle analysis, are present but significantly less represented. For example, Circular economy appears only marginally in RTU and DU, indicating limited curricular emphasis. Digitalisation as a cross-cutting enabler of sustainability is moderately addressed, with keywords like Digital and Digitalisation appearing consistently across all institutions, especially RTU and LU. Green Public Procurement was only mentioned once per institution (BA, RTU, DU), confirming its underrepresentation, which aligns directly with the hypothesis in our research.
If we compare different universities, University of Latvia (LU) exhibited the most extensive use of sustainability-related and research-focused keywords, indicating a relatively strong integration of these themes in curricula. Riga Technical University (RTU) showed a distinct emphasis on research aligning with technical and engineering applications of sustainability and lifecycle analysis. Daugavpils University (DU) mirrored LU's patterns in terms of sustainability and research focus but also showed moderate emphasis on practical topics like Recycling and Energy efficiency. Riga Stradins University (RSU) included sustainability terms, though to a lesser extent, suggesting integration 1$ present but less comprehensive. Its focus might reflect a more health- and policy-oriented curriculum. BA School of Business and Finance (BA) had the lowest keyword frequency counts, implying limited curricular presence of sustainability and circular economy concepts. This may reflect a narrower business-focused curriculum that has not yet deeply integrated environmental and sustainability education.
On the other hand, we analysed how students perceive the extent to which sustainability issues are integrated into their study programs. According to the survey results, 11.7% of respondents indicated that these topics are systematically integrated into their curricula, 52.8% reported that sustainability-related themes appear in individual courses or topics, while 35.5% stated that such issues are not included at all.
Figure 1 illustrates students' self-assessed knowledge depending on whether, and to what extent, the topic of Sustainable Development is included in their study programs. It is evident that across all four topics-Sustainable Development, Sustainable Consumption, Circular Economy, and Green Procurement-students whose curricula include Sustainable Development in a more in-depth manner report the highest levels of self-assessed knowledge. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) conducted at a significance level of a = 0.01 revealed statistically significant differences across all four topics among the three groups: those whose programs do not include the topic, include it superficially, or include it in depth. A paired samples t-test comparing students' self-assessed knowledge of Sustainable Development and Green Procurement showed that knowledge of Green Procurement is significantly lower.
These findings highlight the importance of systematically integrating sustainability-related topics into higher education curricula. In particular, greater attention should be given to Green Procurement, as students" self-assessed knowledge in this area remains notably low. low.
Figure 2 presents students" self-assessed knowledge levels based on their level of study Bachelor's, Master's, or Doctoral. A clear trend emerges: across all four topics-Sustainable Development, Sustainable Consumption, Circular Economy, and Green Procurement-Master's students report the lowest self-assessments. This relatively low average can be partially explained by the fact that 63% of Master's students indicated that sustainability issues are not addressed in their study programs, and also by the observation that Master's students tend to be more self-critical. For instance, among students whose programs do not include sustainability topics, Bachelor's students rated their knowledge at 4.28, while Master's students rated theirs significantly lower at 2.97. This analysis underscores the importance of integrating sustainability topics not only into Bachelor's programs but also into Master' s-level curricula.
The survey also provided an indicative assessment of students" knowledge and their willingness to engage with these topics beyond their current coursework. Overall, students showed interest: 60% of respondents indicated they would be open to additional courses or seminars, provided they are not time-consuming; 10% were highly interested, while 29% stated that such topics are not relevant to them.
When asked which topics they would be willing to explore in more depth: 26.4% chose digitalization of processes related to sustainable development, 18.2% expressed interest in the circular economy, and 16.5% in green procurement.
Students were also asked how they believe digitalization can support sustainable development and the circular economy: 45.5% stated that digitalization improves resource efficiency and reduces waste, 43.7% noted that it enhances data availability and analysis for sustainable decision-making, 10% indicated that it helps create sustainable solutions.
In conclusion, students acknowledge their insufficient knowledge in this area, highlighting the need for more comprehensive and accessible sustainability education across all levels of higher education.
DISCUSSION
The aim of the study was to determine the extent to which sustainability issues are integrated into higher education curricula in Latvian universities and how students assess their knowledge of these topics. Data obtained from curriculum analysis and student surveys confirm that understanding of sustainability is generally superficial, and these topics are not consistently embedded in study programs. The findings align with those of other European researchers - for example, in Portugal, Germany, and Latvia - where the lack of a unified strategy for integrating sustainability is often noted, with implementation frequently depending on individual faculty members [5], [6].
Survey results indicate a strong correlation between students' knowledge of sustainability and the degree to which these topics are included in their academic programs. Students whose courses addressed sustainability in greater depth rated their knowledge of sustainable development, the circular economy, and green public procurement significantly higher. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed statistically significant differences between groups (a = 0.01), while comparative analysis showed that knowledge of green public procurement was the lowest among the topics assessed. These findings are consistent with those of Korzeb and Alonso-Fariñas (2024), who argue that the integration of sustainability in European universities remains fragmented and insufficient.
An interesting trend also emerged across study levels: master's students rated their knowledge lower than bachelor's students, particularly when sustainability topics were not included in their courses. This highlights the need to develop sustainability education at all levels of study, not just in undergraduate programs. Future research should evaluate the institutional support available for integrating sustainability into curricula, as well as analyse faculty capacity and understanding of how to effectively teach sustainable development.
CONCLUSION
This study reveals a significant gap between the strategic importance of sustainability in policy frameworks and its actual implementation in Latvian higher education curricula. While sustainability-related concepts are present, their integration is often fragmented and lacks consistency, particularly in areas such as circular economy and green public procurement. The findings demonstrate a clear link between the depth of sustainability content in study programs and students' self-assessed knowledge, with statistically significant differences across groups. Notably, master's students reported lower confidence in their knowledge, especially when sustainability topics were absent from their curricula. These insights underscore the urgent need for a more structured, institutionally supported approach to embedding sustainability across all levels of higher education.
These conclusions are consistent with similar studies conducted in European countries, where the integration of sustainability is often fragmented- particularly in universities that lack an internal strategy or political mandate [5], [6], [9]. However, an alternative interpretation is also possible: the low level of integration may not be solely due to the absence of a strategy, but also to limited faculty competencies and the lack of practical tools. Therefore, future research should also examine the readiness of academic staff and the need for support mechanisms within universities. It is equally important to compare data across different universities and countries at the regional level-for example, within the Baltic or Northern European context. Finally, monitoring systems should be developed to measure the quality and progress of sustainability integration over time, moving beyond merely declarative goals. Strengthening faculty capacity, aligning curricula with strategic goals, and fostering collaboration between academia, industry, and policymakers are essential steps toward equipping students with the competencies needed to address global sustainability challenges and contribute meaningfully to the European Green Deal and the UN 2030 Agenda.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This study is part of the project funded by Recovery and resilience Facility project "Internal and external consolidation of the University of Latvia" (No.5.2.1.1.1.0/24/1/CFLA/007), project grant «Integrating Socio-Economic Aspects of the European Green Deal into Research and Academic Content: A Circular Economy Framework » No. LU-BA-PA-2024/1-0046).
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