Institutional Management and Professors’ Perception in the Strengthening of Education for Sustainability

Abstract

Education for Sustainability (EpS), with its focus on transformative approaches, focused on integrating sustainable principles in a multidisciplinary way, enriches the learning and teaching of the Business Administration. In this sense, its effectiveness will only be possible as long as institutions and professors rethink their roles as agents of change. In this way, the present study aims to identify the perceptions of professors of the Business Administration Graduate Programs in Stricto Sensu of Rio Grande do Sul regarding EpS, as well as to identify the management practices and policies of these programs related to EpS. In this regard, six of the nine Master programs in Business Administration in Rio Grande do Sul were surveyed. In terms of methodological procedures, a descriptive and exploratory qualitative research was carried out. For data collection, interviews were carried out with program coordinators, aiming at identifying concepts about the management of Sustainability programs and also with professors from different lines of research, aiming to identify Sustainability concepts, teaching strategies and methodologies of sustainability and learning. Altogether, sixteen professors and coordinators were interviewed. The results indicate that the Graduate programs do not have incentives for sustainable management and the conceptions of the professors are private, having a relation with the line of research in which they are linked and not with the Graduate Program. In this way, it is analyzed that the scenario is still subject to improvement, especially regarding sustainable management, aiming the development of management policies that seek to promote the awareness of professors as trainers of citizens.