Regional Planning, Sustainability Goals and the Mitch-Match between Educational Practice and Climate, Energy and Business Plans

While a number of studies have explored campus planning and higher education in the context of regional sustainable initiatives, little emphasis has been put into the analysis of education for sustainability across scale. This article presents an empirical analysis of education for sustainability related to regional planning. The study combines multiscalar governance on RSI with a research project of HEI students’ opinion on sustainability competences. Drawing upon a sample of 398 respondents the survey is supplemented with a discussion on the nexuses and linkages between business, education, environmental and regional development plans. The results from the survey illustrate that students generally value sustainability competences and that they consider such competences important to possess in order to become attractive in future labour markets. By relating student perception to regional climate and energy planning, the study also highlights a mismatch between policy and (educational) practice. The findings from the survey and the discussion have implications for the traditional lack of coherence between policy areas relevant to sustainable development and stress an urgent need for better coordination between business, education, environmental and regional development plans.