TY - JOUR

T1 - Students’ knowledge and expectations about sustainable food systems in higher education

AU - Migliorini, Paola

AU - Wezel, Alexander

AU - Veromann, Eve

AU - Strassner, Carola

AU - Średnicka-Tober, Dominika

AU - Kahl, Johannes

AU - Bügel, Susanne

AU - Briz, Teresa

AU - Kazimierczak, Renata

AU - Brives, Hélène

AU - Ploeger, Angelika

AU - Gilles, Ute

AU - Lüder, Vanessa

AU - Schleicher-Deis, Olesa

AU - Rastorgueva, Natalia

AU - Tuccillo, Fabio

AU - Talgre, Liina

AU - Kaart, Tanel

AU - Ismael, Diana

AU - Rembiałkowska, Ewa

N1 - CURIS 2020 NEXS 244

PY - 2020

Y1 - 2020

N2 - Purpose: To clarify needs and requests of the young generation to the contemporary and future education on food systems, this paper aims to examine the following issues: students’ background knowledge, students’ behaviour as consumers and food citizenship, most interesting topics of SFS for students and students’ preferences and expectations in developing different skills, topics and preferences in teaching/learning methods. Design/methodology/approach: This study was performed as an online-survey amongst eight European Universities in seven European Union (EU) countries to which 1,122 students responded. Data was analysed with descriptive and multivariate statistical analyses. Findings: Taste and Health are the most important values and motives that influence students’ food buying and consumption decisions, but significant differences were found amongst students from different universities and countries. The most important topics for students for future teaching courses are “organic food”, “fair trade”, “organic agriculture” and most important skills to learn are “ability to make a judgement and justify decisions” and the “ability to create and innovate”. Excursions and field trips as teaching methods was given the highest ranks. Research limitations/implications: Different study programmes and cultural backgrounds of the participating students in the different universities could be a limiting factor for the interpretation of some results. Originality/value: These results provide a basis for improvement of higher education in the EU towards sustainable food systems based on experiential learning/teaching methods.

AB - Purpose: To clarify needs and requests of the young generation to the contemporary and future education on food systems, this paper aims to examine the following issues: students’ background knowledge, students’ behaviour as consumers and food citizenship, most interesting topics of SFS for students and students’ preferences and expectations in developing different skills, topics and preferences in teaching/learning methods. Design/methodology/approach: This study was performed as an online-survey amongst eight European Universities in seven European Union (EU) countries to which 1,122 students responded. Data was analysed with descriptive and multivariate statistical analyses. Findings: Taste and Health are the most important values and motives that influence students’ food buying and consumption decisions, but significant differences were found amongst students from different universities and countries. The most important topics for students for future teaching courses are “organic food”, “fair trade”, “organic agriculture” and most important skills to learn are “ability to make a judgement and justify decisions” and the “ability to create and innovate”. Excursions and field trips as teaching methods was given the highest ranks. Research limitations/implications: Different study programmes and cultural backgrounds of the participating students in the different universities could be a limiting factor for the interpretation of some results. Originality/value: These results provide a basis for improvement of higher education in the EU towards sustainable food systems based on experiential learning/teaching methods.

KW - Consumer food choice

KW - Education for sustainable development

KW - Experiential learning

KW - Graduate employability

KW - Sustainability

KW - Teaching methods

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85088313743&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1108/IJSHE-12-2019-0356

DO - 10.1108/IJSHE-12-2019-0356

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85088313743

VL - 21

SP - 1087

EP - 1110

JO - International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education

JF - International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education

SN - 1467-6370

IS - 6

ER -