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This paper aims to seek accounting graduates' perspectives on the demand for accounting in their workplaces, on the gaps in accounting education (AE), and on the future of the accounting profession, inspired by the new definition of accounting proposed by Carnegie et al. (2021, 2022, 2023a), to adopt a strong focus on sustainable development goals (SDGs) in AE to inculcate tertiary students with the skills that lead them to approach and apply accounting as a multidimensional technical, social and moral (TSM) practice.

The online qualitative survey was distributed to 100 randomly selected New Zealand accounting graduates in order to gather insights from their workplaces. All responses from the 30 graduates who completed the questionnaire underwent qualitative analysis using Leximancer software, which automatically identifies high-level concepts and insights and offers interactive visualizations without bias.

The graduates’ experiences underscore the ongoing significance of technical skills in the New Zealand workplace. They emphasized the lack of non-technical skills training, stressed the necessity of diverse business knowledge and highlighted the importance of automation and digital skills.

The implications for transforming AE involve adopting an activist approach to integrate a TSM perspective into teaching and learning and being open to an interdisciplinary approach to expose tertiary students to the impact of accounting on sustainable development, including collaboration with professional bodies for real-world experiences.

The importance of engaging with SDG-related narratives is stressed to stimulate further discussion, debate and research aimed at identifying practical solutions for AE as a facilitator for SDGs in realizing accounting as a TSM practice.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and discuss the most important initiatives and the strategic framework of the European Union (EU) supporting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This paper also presents an overview of the progress towards the 4th Sustainable Development Goal (quality education) mainly in tertiary and adult education in the EU context.

The adopted research method includes a literature survey, a study of law regulations and strategic documents of the EU and their critical analysis. The main axis of empirical investigation is a comparative analysis. Thematic scope of the analysis embraces indicators such as tertiary educational attainment, employment rate of recent graduates and adult participation in learning.

The results of the comparative analysis confirm the diversity between Member States in achieving the goals of sustainable development. Overall positive trends in the development of quality education can be observed in the EU. However, the gender gaps in tertiary educational attainment and in the employment rate of recent graduates have been widening. Moreover, the EU is not on track to meet its 2020 benchmarks for adult participation in learning.

The paper systematizes knowledge of initiatives of the EU for sustainable development and supplements it with a comparative analysis in the field of statistical data, which allows for a better understanding of the state and the prospects of implementing the idea of quality education at the EU level.

The Philippines is one of the signatories to the historic Agenda 21 and was noted to be among the first countries to establish a National Council for Sustainable Development. Ten years after Rio, global society is again confronted with the question of whether sustainable development as a concept, philosophy and practice has improved the lives of peoples in different countries and cultures. This article attempts to discuss initiatives through which tertiary education has helped bring about sustainable development in the Philippines. It posits that for sustainable development to happen it must take root in the consciousness and cultures of society, a task in which education plays a very important part. The article discusses the efforts of two national networks for environmental education, the Environmental Education Network of the Philippines, Inc. (EENP) and the Philippine Association of Tertiary Level Educational Institutions in Environmental Protection and Management (PATLEPAM), which advocate for the integration of sustainable development in school curricula as well as in campus administration and organizational culture. It also includes the pioneering efforts of one institution, Miriam College, to integrate environmental education in its programs as part of its mission and commitment to become a genuine “steward of creation”.

This chapter explores policy matters that have arisen as a result of the impact of COVID-19 on the education sector, with a specific focus on tertiary education in one African country, namely Botswana. The terms tertiary education and higher education are used interchangeably to describe post-secondary level education. Information was sourced from the existing literature as well as tracking media reports on COVID-19 matters. COVID-19 has ushered in the new normal which has disrupted existing policies, practices and business models in the tertiary education sector. It has also given unprecedented momentum to the move towards online learning. It is argued in this chapter that these developments have led to the emergence of blended learning as the most suitable way of delivering tertiary education. The chapter highlights the need for a review of policies and strategies at both the national and institutional levels in order to respond appropriately to the challenges brought about by COVID-19 and build a foundation for a sustainable tertiary education system.

The purpose of this paper is to gain a deeper insight on how education boosts economic progress in key emerging economies. This project is aimed at exploring the interactive dynamics between the tertiary education sector and economic development in BRICS countries. The author also aims to examine how the structure of higher education contributes to economic expansion.

The author uses the time series data of BRICS countries across approximately two decades to determine the statistical causality between the size of tertiary enrollment and economic development. The linear regression model is then used to figure out the different impact levels of academic and vocational training programs at the tertiary level to economic development.

Data from all BRICS countries exhibited a unidirectional statistical causality relationship, except the Brazilian data. The national economic expansion Granger Caused increased tertiary enrollment in Russia and India, while in China and South Africa, higher education enrollment Granger Caused economic progress. The impact from tertiary academic training is found to be positive for all BRICS nations, while tertiary vocation training is shown to have impaired the Russian and South African economy.

This project is based on a rather small sample size, and the stationary feature of the time series could be different should a larger pool of data spanning a longer period of time is used. In addition, the author also neglects other control variables in the regression model. Therefore, the impact level could be distorted due to possible omitted variable bias.

Tertiary academic study is found to have a larger impact level to all countries’ economic advancement, except for China, during the time frame studied. There is a statistical correlation between the education and economic progress. This is particularly true for BRICS countries, especially China. But the exception is Brazil.

The government should provide education up to the certain level, as there is a direct correlation to the job creation and economic progress. Furthermore, the government should also work closely with industry to ensure growth of industry and creation of new jobs.

The comparative analysis and evaluation of the dynamic interaction of tertiary enrollment and economic output across all five BRICS nations is unique, and it deepens the understanding of the socioeconomic development in these countries from a holistic management perspective.

Purpose: The paper aims to examine the link between the indicators of competitiveness of World Economic Forums (WEFs) in the area of higher education, on the one hand, and the Global Competitiveness Index 4.0 and ‘Future Orientation of Government’ sub-pillar, on the other.

Method: Consideration of the link between the mentioned link will be conducted on a sample that includes European Union member countries and potential members. The key information basis for conducting this research makes data from the Global Competitiveness Report 2019 of the WEF. The research was conducted by applying multiple regression analysis.

Findings: The results of the research show that there is a positive correlation between higher education, on the one hand, and the level of national competitiveness and sustainable development, on the other.

Practical Implications: The obtained results of empirical research can serve as a ‘global benchmark’ of future public policy in the field of higher education in the analyzed countries.

Originality/Value: The key contribution of this paper is reflected in providing a clearer insight into the competitiveness factors of the analyzed countries that are expressed in the field of sustainable development and higher education and pointing out the priority activities of competent state authorities to their improving and raising the level of national competitiveness.

The concepts of environmental education and education for sustainability have been acknowledged by many tertiary institutions for over a decade. An appreciable number of institutions have signed agreements to educate students in all disciplines about sustainability. Although several Australian institutions of higher education have signed the Talloire Declaration, a recent survey finds little indication that their curricula have been changed to include sustainability education. Despite the apparent widespread support for the concept of student education in sustainability, there is little implementation. The experience of Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University suggests that those concerned about education and environment/sustainability need more than conviction and vision. A strategic approach – based on change management and supported by staff development – is needed to implement these sorts of changes. Rather than attempting to outline a grand plan or model for implementation, this paper identifies key issues and looks into the current experience associated with implementation approaches.

Education promotes the development of human capital, which has long been studied in the literature as a key determinant of economic development. Education is today listed as key part of public intangible capital and is further studied in the context of new growth determinants. This chapter extends the analysis of the contribution of education as a public intangible capital to the economic growth. It shows that education in fact promotes all three components of sustainable development. First, education promotes economic development and higher value-added creation, second, it is related to better and more job opportunities, higher wages, promotes health, etc., and consequently contributes to the achievement of the “social” dimension of sustainable development. Last, more educated population is also more prone toward supporting environmental goals. Therefore, investment into education is very important from the perspective of sustainable development. With offering a range of opportunities to individuals, the role of public education and policy-making in the field is essential to promote sustainable development from this perspective.

This paper applies a stakeholder salience theoretical framework to facilitate the understanding of the roles salient stakeholders can have in the integration of education for sustainable development, one of the important Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), into Jordan’s university accounting education.

We used stakeholder salience theory to inform our study. This study adopted a qualitative research method. The study used semi-structured interviews to collect qualitative, open-ended data that explored the salient stakeholders’ thoughts, beliefs and feelings about their roles in influencing the integration of education for sustainable development into the Jordanian accounting curriculum.

The results indicate that education for sustainable development in accounting is important; however, most Jordanian salient stakeholders indicate their inability to integrate sustainable education into the accounting curriculum due to their lack of power to do so. The findings show that there is currently an inappropriate distribution of power, legitimacy and urgency amongst the salient stakeholders, who indicate that a progressive education solution is required in the critical area of education for sustainable development in accounting. This research indicates that a significant number of salient stakeholders would like the Jordanian government to provide power, legitimacy and urgency to enable accounting educators to become definite stakeholders as this will enable them to integrate sustainable education into the accounting curriculum.

The study is limited to Jordan only. The paper draws attention to the need for an appropriate distribution of power, legitimacy and urgency amongst salient stakeholders in Jordan.

This paper provides evidence that the salient stakeholders in this emerging economy want to make changes in their education system to address climate change concerns, an important SDG, through a better education curriculum for sustainable development in Jordanian universities.

Accounting educators should be given the power to make changes in the accounting curriculum, such as integrating education for sustainable development.

There is an inappropriate distribution of power, legitimacy and urgency amongst the Jordanian salient stakeholders and this imbalance hinders the integration of education for sustainable development into the accounting curriculum.

This paper aims to investigate the strategy, accounting and accountability interface in sustainability implementation in a large public tertiary education organisation in New Zealand.

The study uses ethnography as an “engaging research” to help explain the real-life enactment of accounting and accountability in advancing/deterring sustainability initiatives. The study draws upon neo-institutional theoretical perspectives to help interpret the findings.

Accounting and accountability are powerful conduits for strategy implementation. Successful sustainability strategy implementation requires the embedding of financial accountability within the implementation process.

A strong ideological commitment from senior management is required to firmly embed sustainability in the tertiary organisation's belief systems, values and norms to get wider organisational acceptance and institutionalisation. Accounting needs to take a position of centrality within organisations to help facilitate sustainability implementation.

Government policy needs to incorporate specific concepts of sustainability into the tertiary education strategy and funding framework to make public tertiary organisations accountable for sustainability to the wider society.

This study provides unique insights into the sustainability implementation process. It complements existing literature on sustainability accounting and accountability.