Framing Teaching for Sustainability in the Case of Business Engineering Education: Process-Centric Models and Good Practices

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The paper analyzes sustainable practices in Higher Education Institutions using the SIPOC method (Supplier, 22 Inputs, Process, Outputs, Customer) and the flowcharting technique to capture 23 flows of interactions between project processes and the surrounding structure of HEIs. The objectives and findings are clear, even though the research question can be more explicitly stated in the abstract and in the introduction. The literature review is sound and comprehensive, eliciting the main terms and concepts used in the research and their relevance. Minor improvements can be made to the methodology section: the SIPOC method needs a deeper description, including its limits and shortcomings. Furthermore, a deeper clarification about the context of the study (HEIs involved, institutional contexts) in the methods section. The conclusions need to be extended to include managerial and policy making implications. 

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

we would like to gratefully thank you for your effort and time to evaluate the manuscript, and for offering us valuable and constructive feedback needed to improve our research work.

We performed the revision of the manuscript following your comments, and also English language and style checking as follows:

• The objectives and findings are clear, even though the research question can be more explicitly stated in the abstract and in the introduction:

We explicitly stated the research question: the research question addressed the need for a comprehensive understanding of solving local complex problems through process-centric views and tested methodologies which may deliver value to various stakeholders, offering new possibilities for teaching sustainability.

• Minor improvements can be made to the methodology section: the SIPOC method needs a deeper description, including its limits and shortcomings:

We improved the manuscript by adding a deeper description: Even though the SIPOC method is a powerful tool to enable communication about problems, opportunities and alternatives during process analysis; it is bounded by certain limits given by its simplicity. Also, it seems to be inadequate for solving process-related issues on its own requiring it to be used in conjunction with the process mapping (i.e. flowcharting) method to provide additional details.

• A deeper clarification about the context of the study (HEIs involved, institutional contexts) in the methods section:

We added:

The context of the study is linked to the need of education from the area of business engineering and economic science for effective changes in relation to the acquisition of transversal skills and a better alignment of curricula outcomes to the expectations of local business and community;

and

The institutional context linked the real-world project scenario with the mutual commitment of four universities partners (i.e. University Politehnica of Bucharest - Romania, University of Ruse ²Angel Kanchev² - Bulgaria, University of Lodz - Poland, and Brno University of Technology – the Czech Republic) and of two firms from the adult education sector (i.e SC. Eurotraining Solution – Romania; SC. Inforelea - Italy) toward the regional cooperation in the area of education for sustainability.

• The conclusions need to be extended to include managerial and policy making implications: 

We added: Although there is no one-size-fits-all solution, the proposed process-centric models with good practices tested in a real-world scenario might be a valuable starting point for further developments of educational policy initiatives enhancing transformative teaching environments for better sustainability outcomes. Also, through further customization and harmonization of upstream and downstream processes relations within different higher education institutional contexts, the proposed process models advocate for specific managerial implications which may frame teaching and learning for sustainability in a wide range of educational areas.

We are confident that this improved version will fulfil the quality requirements and will be considered appropriate for publication.

Thank you for your consideration.

Reviewer 2 Report

Overall, I think the quality of this manuscript is satisfactory. I only  have one minor concern:

Is any empirical project that can be done to support the conceptual model provided by this paper? Might in the discussion part, propose we might consider conducting some field experiments to examine the effects of integrating sustainable parts into business engineering education.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

we would like to gratefully thank you for your effort and time to evaluate the manuscript, and for offering us valuable and constructive feedback needed to improve our research work.

We performed the revision of the manuscript following your comments, and also English language and style checking as follows:

• Is any empirical project that can be done to support the conceptual model provided by this paper? Might in the discussion part, propose we might consider conducting some field experiments to examine the effects of integrating sustainable parts into business engineering education.

We improved the discussion section by augmenting the content:

In addition, analyzing the medium-term effects of integrating sustainable parts into business engineering education and the contribution to the stakeholders are also considered through further field experiments and empirical projects. These will help to identify actions to improve the solution (i.e. process models) performance and increase value realization.

We are confident that this improved version will fulfil the quality requirements and will be considered appropriate for publication.

Thank you for your consideration.