Certificate-Based Good Practice To Motivate Engineering Students To Learn Sustainability Skills

Engineering plays a crucial role both in addressing sustainability challenges and in helping to achieve the sustainability transition. However, tackling the complex problems of sustainability needs a broader understanding of these issues from nonengineering perspectives as well. The Department of Environmental Economics and Sustainable Development of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME), Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences (GTK), has developed a unique method for a uniform certification of studies in the fields of sustainability, environmental economics, and environmental management for engineering students. The so-called green certificate is provided after the successful completion of at least five elective courses such as sustainable business models, green economic development, smart and sustainable digitalisation-related solutions, sustainable rural or urban development, sustainable energy management or climate change oriented courses etc. The certificate can be obtained either in the framework of a bachelor\u27s or master\u27s degree programme, and it is available both in Hungarian and in English, even for incoming mobility students. By achieving the green certificate, the engineering students gain a complex vision, a sustainability mindset and a truly green attitude. Our study analyses the green certificates\u27 data quantitatively, focusing on the engineering students\u27 profiles and the most frequently chosen courses. Our results can help further refine our methods to reach even more engineering students, and it can serve as a good practice to follow for other universities

Integrating sustainable competences and green skills in the hungarian environmental engineering education

Engineering plays a crucial part in responding to the biggest challenges of our era, including the transition toward a green economy by meeting the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 and by achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Engineering education could be the leading actor in preparing engineers for these complex tasks and spread the necessary green knowledge, interdisciplinary skills, and competences to pursue a sustainable future. Hungary's education system has improved significantly in the last decade, considering the Central Eastern European region. A new national higher education strategy in 2014 set new directions for its development in many aspects, including an emphasis on soft skill development in the curricula. The Hungarian higher education system was characterized for decades by memorizing facts and figures; therefore, the effective integration of soft skill development is a slow process. In our study, we first provide a systematic review of the international and national literature to identify fundamental sustainability skills and competences for engineering. We also examine the Hungarian higher education frameworks and the skill-related output requirements in the environmental engineering programs. In the second part of the research, we present a qualitative study of in-depth interviews with Hungarian experts with different academic profiles and a focus group study with environmental engineering students about their views on green skills. Our results show that the concept of green skills is slowly spreading in environmental engineering university communities in Hungary; however, the effective implementation into the curricula will require some more time and work

How Can Development Strategies Foster Agri-digitalisation in the Era of Climate Change? A Common Agriculture Policy based Consistency Analysis in Hungary

In recent years, several forward-looking initiatives have been taken in the direction of digital and sustainability transitions. Digitalisation is also gaining importance in EU, national agricultural and rural development policies, as it can enhance all three dimensions of sustainability and can lead to more efficient agricultural production and development. In this study, we conducted a consistency analysis to identify the interdependencies, impacts, and possible contradictions between the strategic objectives. The analysis compares the EU Common Agricultural Policy objectives with the Second Climate Change Strategy of Hungary (NCCS-2), the National Framework Strategy on Sustainable Development (NFSSD), the National Digital Agricultural Strategy (NDAS), and the National Rural Strategy (NRS) and explores the policy linkages between digital and sustainability transitions. The strategy documents are examined hierarchically between the EU and national levels, with a particular focus on the sector’s important role in climate change mitigation and adaptation-related processes. The results can support the emergence of innovative solutions and activities in rural areas and can contribute to improving the competitiveness of the agricultural sector, thereby supporting both the decision-making process and the achievement of rural sustainability ambitions

Usage of Production Function in Linear Economy

In this study, the Cobb Douglas production function was built in order to investigate the linear economy, the redesign of intralogistics in a company. Authors have investigated a production function that describes the connection between the production of liquids, energy efficiency and water usage based on the logistic processes. The authors were able to build and simplify it to a linearized Cobb Douglas equation. With the help of mathematical-statistical analysis, the authors found that energy efficiency and water usage have a negative effect on production due to European legal considerations and logistic improvement could help in the solution of the problem. Then, the differences between the linear economy and the circular economy were examined. As a summary, a SWOT analysis exploring the differences was prepared.

How Can Development Strategies Foster Agri-digitalisation in the Era of Climate Change? A Common Agriculture Policy based Consistency Analysis in Hungary

In recent years, several forward-looking initiatives have been taken in the direction of digital and sustainability transitions. Digitalisation is also gaining importance in EU, national agricultural and rural development policies, as it can enhance all three dimensions of sustainability and can lead to more efficient agricultural production and development. In this study, we conducted a consistency analysis to identify the interdependencies, impacts, and possible contradictions between the strategic objectives. The analysis compares the EU Common Agricultural Policy objectives with the Second Climate Change Strategy of Hungary (NCCS-2), the National Framework Strategy on Sustainable Development (NFSSD), the National Digital Agricultural Strategy (NDAS), and the National Rural Strategy (NRS) and explores the policy linkages between digital and sustainability transitions. The strategy documents are examined hierarchically between the EU and national levels, with a particular focus on the sector’s important role in climate change mitigation and adaptation-related processes. The results can support the emergence of innovative solutions and activities in rural areas and can contribute to improving the competitiveness of the agricultural sector, thereby supporting both the decision-making process and the achievement of rural sustainability ambitions

Természetvédelmi értékek meghatározási folyamata, múltja, jelene és jövője

A fajok kihalását számos tényező befolyásolja. A fajok közötti verseny, a természetes szelekció mellett sokkal jelentősebb az emberi tevékenységek káros hatása, a fokozódó környezetszennyezés, az élőhelyek megsemmisülése, a turizmus vagy a gyűjtőszenvedély mind-mind hozzájárulnak a biodiverzitás csökkenéséhez. Természetesen egyetlen egy fajt sem lehet kiváltani pénzben meghatározott értékekkel, mert a biológiai körforgásban betöltött szerepük nem teszi ezt lehetővé, azonban természetvédelmi értékekkel való felruházásuk mégis szükséges. A vizsgálatok során kiderült, hogy a védett fajok eszmei értékének meghatározására nem létezik sem Magyarországon, sem az Európai Unió más tagországaiban egységesen kidolgozott módszertan, szakértői véleményeken alapszik. A jelenleg hatályos védett és a fokozottan védett növény- és állatfajokról, a fokozottan védett barlangok köréről, valamint az Európai Közösségben természetvédelmi szempontból jelentős növény-és állatfajok közzétételéről szóló 13/2001. (V. 9.) KöM rendelet mellékletei tartalmazzák az egyes fajok természetvédelmi értékeit. A közel 2100 védett faj költségkategóriákba sorolásának szempontjai között az egyedszám alakulása, a globális, illetve lokális ritkaság, veszélyeztetettség, az élőhelyek állapota, a felismerhetőség, dekorativitás szerepelnek. A téma aktualitását az adja, hogy az elmúlt 4 évtizedben szabályozás tekintetében 3 jelentős változás történt (12/1993. (III. 31.) KTM rendelet, 13/2001. (V. 9.) KöM rendelet, 100/2012. (IX. 28.) VM rendelet), és a közeljövőben lenne esedékes a jelenleg hatályos jogszabály széleskörű felülvizsgálata. A nemzeti park igazgatóságok természetvédelmi őrszolgálatainak feladata a védett növény, állat- és gombafajok megóvása, károsításának megelőzése, azonban az őrszolgálatok kapacitáshiánya nehézzé teszi az ellenőrzést és a helyszíni intézkedéseket