Students’ perception of bioeconomy as an important factor in communicating and further development of the bioeconomy in Slovakia and the Czech Republic

ABSTRACT This study focuses on the issues of bioeconomy perception of students at forestry faculties in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Bioeconomy is seen as a great window of opportunities, hence there is increased demand for bioeconomy education. This paper can help answer this demand and improve the curricula of universities providing bioeconomy-related education. The survey was conducted at the Technical University in Zvolen and the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague among 367 students. The results show that 70% of students have heard about bioeconomy, while this number is significantly higher amongst Slovak students. Considering bioeconomy awareness, we identified significant differences between different study programmes. The main information source about the bioeconomy issues turns out to be university courses followed by news. Czech students turned out to be less satisfied with bioeconomy involvement in curricula, and who also find it necessary to increase bioeconomy focus within their study curriculum. Our results show that targeted communication of bioeconomy is a key factor for general acceptance of bioeconomy and its further development among students and the general public. The results obtained can be used to increase the extent to which bioeconomy is being addressed in study programmes within the analysed universities.