Sustainability issues have become increasingly important for decision makers in economics and management. They demand far-reaching changes in our society and economy with pro-active contributions of both large and small businesses. Today's education systems do not equip future leaders with action competences for sustainability: awareness for sustainability issues in combination with an entrepreneurial spirit and the ability not only to analyse long-term economic, environmental and social trends, but also to implement sustainability driven innovation.
Often, it has been students that have taken the initiative to address environmental, social and economic challenges in society. Now, they also act as change agents that create their own learning spaces for sustainability, target their co-students and aim to create institutional support for sustainability at their universities. oikos has been at the fore-front of this movement. Starting with a single Chapter at the University of St.Gallen in 1987, oikos has expanded into an international network of 20 student groups in 15 countries. oikos also advances research and teaching in the field of sustainability, targeting PhD students and faculty.
Using the example of oikos, this article explores how students engage towards an integration of sustainability issues into their curricula and university environment using academic resources and extracurricular activities.
The article starts with the situation of students in economics and management: Their world-views and aspirations, the resources they have available (students are able to manage their time more freely), and their special situation between academia and practice open exceptional opportunities for engagement.
The article then defines the concept of “educational entrepreneurship”, where students overcome their classic role as information receivers and actively pursue educational innovations. These entrepreneurial activities cover the integration of sustainability as a topic into established curricula and methodology, but also new forms of learning that are more participatory, engaging and action-oriented.
To provide concrete examples how students act as educational entrepreneurs, the article will revise the project experiences of selected oikos Chapters:
– with ‘Solar Power for Education”, a group of students finances sustainability learning at their university via the installation of a solar panel;
– in the African Development Partnership students cover the gap between African youth and business leaders;
– in the oikos Model WTO, students organise the simulation of the WTO;
Going beyond concrete student projects, the article will show how international networks (again taking oikos as case) empower students as educational entrepreneurs. They do so by providing networking spaces (Spring and Autumn Meetings), project management skills (ooikos Winter School), personal coaching (Project Leadership Programme), seed-funding (Project Development Fund) and rewards (oikos Student Award). The article will display both the individual support actions as well as their interdependence and the logic “circle” that links them into a systematic support system.
The article will conclude with anecdotal evidence on how student entrepreneurs had a long-term effect on practices in economics and management. It will pprovide a brief outlook on upcoming challenges and opportunities (e.g. through the Bologna process) and options to address these – entrepreneurially.