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This study aims to analyse the positioning of young people in the face of the challenges posed by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It focuses on the case of Erasmus+ students at a Spanish university and tries to evaluate the importance of each of the SDGs for them.

Based on primary data obtained through a survey of more than 300 young people, factor analysis was applied to evaluate the importance assigned to each SDG and quantify the degree of concern assigned to each of them.

Results show a high degree of concern for all the SDGs among Erasmus students, although they have done so with different levels of intensity. College students especially value education. Women are more concerned about socioeconomic problems. Furthermore, surprising results have been found in terms of gender equality, which indicates the need to deepen this analysis.

This work contributes to the academic literature, still limited but growing, on how Erasmus students perceive the SDGs and to what level they feel committed to these objectives. Furthermore, it can be helpful for public policy managers regarding a specific group of young university students and a hot topic such as sustainability.

Smart cities can be understood as an inclusive space for each and everyone to achieve their best options, within the framework of sustainable development, where institutions boost information and technology environments that help achieve the highest individual and social well-being with the aim of improving the lives of citizens. The youth group (between 15 and 24 years) was severely affected by the crisis. In this paper, youth employability, in relation to the new challenges of smart cities, is analyzed in the EU with the aim of assessing the influence of information and communication technologies (ICTs) skills on youth employability.

By means of a mean analysis and structural equation modeling, the differences between the Eurozone and the other countries in the EU is analyzed, as well as the importance of information technologies and the computer skills for increasing youth employability.

The results indicate that awareness of the importance of IT skills is greater in the Eurozone and that computer skills are highly significant to explain the employability of young people.

The achieved conclusions point out to the training on computers skills as a key factor for boosting youth employment.

This work could provide some tools to help policymakers design instruments for increasing youth employment, as well as to provide training mechanisms to obtain the skilled workforce needed for the enterprises that emerged in the environment of smart cities.

The main original value of this work is to relate computers skills and the employment rates for youth in the framework of the European Union.

This paper aims to emphasize how economics courses offered at higher education institutions can influence sustainable development, in general, and Romania’s sustainable development, in particular.

The conclusions are based on a pilot questionnaire conducted by the authors on the level of Romanian students enrolled in public and private economic faculties. The results were based on a sample of 1,250 respondents – students, master and PhD – from the economic faculties of some prestigious Romanian universities. To identify differences between some groups, t-test analysis and ANOVA were conducted.

Education is an important pillar for ensuring sustainable development because through education, people understand and learn how to become more responsible toward the environment. Studies conducted in the twenty-first century are showing a direct link between the investment in education and economic, social and human development. The present study revealed that the economic higher education system in Romania has started with small steps to adapt to the environmental requirements. Unfortunately, the efforts still required to be made are significant, since it is observed that all undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD require a change of attitude and mentality. Romanian public universities are more involved than private universities in the implementation of programs, projects, debates and courses on sustainable development and students’ reactions are positive.

This paper provides useful insights, allowing a better understanding of the role of universities in fostering sustainable development. This research is useful to find solutions for developing education for sustainable development in Romania and it can be a starting point for ESD programs and policies.

The persistence of shanty towns in cities is a major public issue due to the situation of poverty and abandonment of its inhabitants. Despite public authorities are concerned about this serious issue, they often fail to address suitably the problem due to their short-term goals. The purpose of this paper is to assess the public policies and green economy projects to improve the quality of life of people living in shanty towns in northwest Spain from the point of view of sustainable development and the interaction between social, economic and environmental areas.

A systemic causal diagram is proposed for the empirical analysis. It has been contrasted through the study of the various actions undertaken in some shanty towns in Spain. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to complement this analysis.

As a result, the study shows that the actions should not only be limited to providing access to adequate housing, but should also require more extensive cross-cutting projects. In this, green economy policies are shown as a good choice for improving the quality of life and development of the population.

The study highlights the potential of green economic policies to mitigate environmental problems in slum areas and to support the social and economic development of its inhabitants. This paper provides some lines of action to improve the efficiency of public policies implemented in these cases. Thus, benefits in multiple areas such as social, environmental and urban could be generated.

The purpose of this paper is to address two issues. First research goal is about analyzing differences in perceived quality in higher education (HE) between a private and a public university centre. Second, the research aims to analyze which are the key dimensions in perceived quality in HE from the students’ standpoint.

An analysis based on a modified SERVQUAL instrument was used to respond to the objectives put forward. Then, a mean comparison and covariance structure analysis approach was carried out to test the differences in perceived quality between the students from both centres, as well as the dimensions with higher influence in perceived quality.

The results suggest that tangibility and empathy dimensions are the most influent variables on perceived quality in HE. Furthermore, some relevant significant differences were found between the public and the private centre.

The results give an opportunity to HE institutions’ managers to develop enhancing quality strategies for their institutions, given that the present study relies on a sample of actual undergraduate university students.

The present research provides with a comparative analysis between a private and a public centre, in order to assess which one offers higher educational and teaching quality from the students’ viewpoint, as well as an approach to the main variables in HE perceived quality.

This research had two main objectives: To measure the productivity of companies in the Colombian dairy industry and to identify efficient decision-making units (DMUs) that can be used as work sample in future case studies.

In the measurement of productivity, financial variables were considered for a sample of 19 DMUs. Efficient companies were identified through the data envelopment analysis (DEAs) methodology with the VRS model oriented to inputs and outputs. The input variables analyzed were “current asset,” “property, plant and equipment,” “non-current liability” and “equity,” while the output variables were “revenue” and “profit.”

Findings revealed that seven DMUs are efficient in the input and output orientation and that companies of different sizes and with or without quality certifications are efficient in the sample analyzed. Additionally, the benchmark efficient DMUs were identified for each of the non-efficient DMUs.

The implications for the research include the contribution to the theory, on the one hand, with the analysis of the current state of the literature on the use of DEA in the food sector, and on the other, with the use of DEA to measure the productivity of Colombian dairy industry companies and with the identification of a sample of efficient units that can be analyzed in future case studies.

This article is novel and pioneering because it measures for the first time the productivity of DMUs of the Colombian dairy industry, in addition to including the current state of the literature on the application of the DEA methodology in the food sector. These findings contribute to the consolidation of the theory and also provide inputs for researchers, practitioners, managers, and policy makers.