Development of Ecological Thinking in Students-Managers in the University Ecosystem

Abstract

In the modern VUCA world, the higher education system is changing due to the needs of society and the economy, as well as widespread digitalization. To train competitive specialists, primarily in the field of economics and management, universities create their own ecosystems. They are designed to ensure the sustainability of the system and the quality of education through the diversity of the learning environment. Close interaction with the outside world requires new skills from student managers. One of these social skills is ecological thinking. The purpose of our study is to show the possibility of developing the ecological thinking of student managers in the conditions of the ecosystem of the university with the help of special pedagogical tools, which we call pedagogical cues. As the main author's method of empirical research, a questionnaire survey with a Likert scale and a set of 10 questions were used. This made it possible to identify the level of formation of ecological thinking among students of the Faculty of Economics and Management. The author's methodology assumes 5 levels of development of such a skill. This is necessary in order to learn in dynamics how quickly and efficiently a skill is formed. The article presents tools that contribute to the development of ecological thinking. For example, the WOOD strategy. Pedagogical cues, which were used as a universal pedagogical tool in teaching various disciplines, have shown their effectiveness. Student managers actively interacted with teachers and with each other, including in a distance format. The scientific significance of the article lies in the possibility of the practical use of this methodology for the development of the ecosystem of other universities. The listed pedagogical tips can be applied in any form of education, which also contributes to the creation of the stability of the system in a constantly changing world. Such a skill as ecological thinking is universal and necessary for all future specialists for successful work. The upbringing of environmentally literate students is the key to the sustainability of the university ecosystem.