Towards Sustainability: Challenges and Demands for Environmental Education in Hungary

1. Towards Sustainability:Challenges and Demands forEnvironmental Education in Hungary Budapest University of Technology and Economics Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences Department of Environmental Economics Márton HERCZEG & Noémi NAGYPÁL Ph.D. Student and Assistant Lecturer Ph.D. Student

2. Introduction • 1. Demands by Society • State of the environmental awareness in Hungary • 2. Demands by Industry and Firms • Level of corporate environmental awareness • 3. Challenges in Hungarian Environmental Higher Education • State of environmental education • 4. Environmental Management Specialist Post-grad Course • A responsefor the need Budapest University of Technology and Economics Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences Department of Environmental Economics

3. Hungary • Founded in 1000 AD • Population of 10 million • Will join the EuropeanUnion in May 2004 • The European Union has a market size of around 380 million people Budapest University of Technology and Economics Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences Department of Environmental Economics

4. Budapest University of Technology and Economics • Founded in 1782 • Became the 1st technical university in the world in 1881 • Has about 13,000 students • DoEE has 2,000 students • Curriculum in“Environmental”… Economics, Management, Audit, Law, Performance evaluation, Policies, Strategy,Evaluation, etc. Budapest University of Technology and Economics Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences Department of Environmental Economics

5. Environmental Awareness in HungaryA SurveyQuestionnaire • Sample of 1,000 people • Representative regarding gender, education, age and residence of the Hungarian population • Control group formed by university students taking environmental courses Budapest University of Technology and Economics Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences Department of Environmental Economics

6. Environmental Awareness in HungaryA Survey Questionnaire Issues in focus: • State of the environment • Interest in environmental issues and participation in programs • Opinion concerning environmental liability of firms • Environmental information, source of information • Environmental programs at school, work and home • Environmental issues related to consumption • Willingness to pay for environmentally sound products Budapest University of Technology and Economics Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences Department of Environmental Economics

7. Environmental Awareness in Hungary Budapest University of Technology and Economics Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences Department of Environmental Economics

8. Environmental Awareness inHungary Budapest University of Technology and Economics Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences Department of Environmental Economics

9. Environmental Awareness in Hungary Budapest University of Technology and Economics Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences Department of Environmental Economics

10. Environmental Awareness in Hungary Budapest University of Technology and Economics Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences Department of Environmental Economics

11. Environmental Awareness in Hungary • Conclusions of the survey • Generally, people are aware of their own environmental role and the negative impacts related to their consumption of goods and services. • They follow environmental related events: main source of information is the electronic media. • Consumers would like to consider environmental information when choosing products and services, but … • Consumers would like to have more environmental information about the products and services they buy. • The willingness to pay seems to be remarkable. Budapest University of Technology and Economics Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences Department of Environmental Economics

12. Increasing demand from society and business since the early ´90s • Must confront two issues: • Inadequate preparation of applicants • The demand for more and better prepared graduates • European initiatives: Cardiff and Bologna Processes • Positive tendencies: • General improving tendency • Different forms of training • New educational tools implemented • Negative tendencies: • Environmental education is not compulsory for every student • Lack of effective cooperation with environmental associations • “Professional jealousy” Environmental Higher Education Budapest University of Technology and Economics Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences Department of Environmental Economics

13. Environmental Higher Education • Full-time, other forms and (sub-branch) specializations • Environmental engineer • Environmental economic agricultural engineer • Environmental sciences teacher • Environmental protection teacher • Environmental sciences • Environmental pedagogy Budapest University of Technology and Economics Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences Department of Environmental Economics

14. Organizations observed by our study: • 1. Companies with ISO 14001 certificate • 2. Companies not certificated but having significant environmental impacts • 3. Local authorities of municipalities • For companies certified under ISO 14001 it is more important to employ environmental specialists than for the rest of the sample: • 9to11 specialist vs. 1 to 3. • For both groups of companies it is important to employ experts in order to fulfill legal requirements and have good relationships with authorities, while higher market share is less important. • ISO 14001 certificated companies find positive image more important in environmental issues than non-certified companies. Business Need for Professionals Budapest University of Technology and Economics Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences Department of Environmental Economics

15. Business Need for Professionals Budapest University of Technology and Economics Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences Department of Environmental Economics

16. Business Need for Professionals Budapest University of Technology and Economics Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences Department of Environmental Economics

17. Environmental Management SpecialistPost graduate course at DoEE • Environmental management specialists will have an up-to-date knowledge of: • environmental management systems, • environmental impact assessment, • environmental risk assessment, • environmental audit, • project management, projects with significant environmental impacts, • preparation environmental policies, reports and statements. Budapest University of Technology and Economics Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences Department of Environmental Economics

18. Environmental Management SpecialistPost graduate course at DoEE • Correspondent course • 450 contact hours (lectures and lab work) • Friday & Saturday 9.00 am to 18.00 pm • 4 semesters • 120 credits must be earned • First semester finished with 19 students Budapest University of Technology and Economics Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences Department of Environmental Economics

19. Table 3. Curriculum program for Environmental Management Specialist post grad program Thank you for your attention! Márton HERCZEG Ph.D. Student and Assistant Lecturer herczegm@eik.bme.hu Phone: + 36 1 463 19 41 Fax: + 36 1 463 11 49 Address: Budapest University of Technology and Economics Department of Environmental Economics H–1111 Budapest, Stoczek u. 2. HUNGARY Budapest University of Technology and Economics Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences Department of Environmental Economics In the brackets the obtainable credits can be seen. Abbreviations: e – exam, i – inter semester mark, c – course-unit exam. Course-unit: „ Environmental economics and management I-II.”, and collective course-unit from „Environmental management systems” and „ Environmental audit” subjects. Final examination’s compulsory subjects are: „ Environmental audit”, „Environmental impact assessment” (and an optional subject from „ Risk assessment” or „Environmental management systems”).