From vision to reality. What kind of graduates does the increasingly sustainability-oriented economy need? What attitudes, knowledge and skills are important? As the founder of a reusable packaging network, Jeannette Morath is passionate about reducing single-use waste. The company’s commitment to the circular economy aims to promote resource conservation and reuse in companies. In this keynote, we will hear about the experience in founding a sustainable company and the requirements for economic sciences programs to develop such business ideas.

In the midst of the serious and interdependent crises of our time, the question of why young people should study economics has to be asked anew. In her talk, Prof. Dr. Silja Graupe will show how a radical change of course is needed in the fundamental aims and motivations of these sciences, and how a life-world-oriented, future-shaping, transdisciplinary and responsibility-promoting curriculum can actually look like and be implemented at university level.

The Switzerland-wide survey 2024 shows the anchoring of sustainability in economic sciences departments at Swiss higher education institutions, as well as the integration of sustainable development topics and teaching/learning approaches into their study programs. The results point to interesting differences between the fields of Business Administration, Economics and Banking & Finance as well as combined study programs.