Concepções de sustentabilidade de alunos do curso de administração numa instituição de ensino superior pública

Abstract

In the last decades, the sustainability thematic has been shown assiduous in discussions in the academic environment, arousing new debates about relevant issues related to the topic. In the same proportion of its dissemination, sustainability has been conceptualized in multiple ways, due to the lack of consensus about the term, which results in a focus indefiniteness, since it transmutes itself according to the interest of the study area. The application of this research in the undergraduate course in Administration occurs considering the importance of the position 9 of strong influence that the administrators occupy in the world of work, from each decision making, where they act as interveners in the society, contributing to the mutability and construction of a sustainable social conscience. In this context, the objective of this research is to analyze the concepts of sustainability of students of the Administration course, during their graduating, in a public higher education institution, the Federal University of Paraíba - UFPB. In methodological terms, this work carried out a phenomenological research, which is aligned with the interpretative paradigm and the qualitative type of research, so it refers to the description of the phenomena, as they appear to be to the individual, according to their experience, as he understands and assigns meaning. Therefore, the phenomenon studied in this research is the sustainability and, the object of study, the conceptions of sustainability of students of the Administration course of the UFPB throughout their training process. In this study, the concepts of sustainability were mapped and the variation of these maps was analyzed with the students of the course, representing them in five zones or distinct areas, but interrelated, ranging from the red zone or risk area - represented by those conceptions of lower level, where students do not credit the importance that the subject has, or even do not understand it - the blue zone or open area - where the deeper level of the analyzed concepts is identified, so it’s called open region, because the subject is without barriers, willing and open to acting in favor of sustainability. The results of this research contribute to the elucidation of how much progress is being made in the approach to Education for Sustainability at the Federal University of Paraíba, reflecting the need to evolve in the studies of the subject, and in the interdisciplinary way in which its integration to teaching in Administration demands that can forms administrators prepared for the new challenges demanded by the labor market, acting in a sustainable way and contributing to the construction of a better world.