TRAINING NEEDS ASSESSMENT AMONG EU FOREST AND ENVIRONMENTAL UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENTS A study highlighting innovation and entrepreneurship gaps in university education

The document reports the results of a training needs assessment (TNA) survey conducted in the field of entrepreneurship, markets and economics of ecosystems and biodiversity. It targets university students - undergraduates and graduates, including Ph.D. students- within European countries. The survey was conducted through an online questionnaire aiming to gain a better understanding of the level of entrepreneurship and innovation education within forestry and environmental university courses in Europe, in order to highlight existing skill gaps and emphasizing areas for future potential improvements. About 100 valid questionnaires were filled in by respondents with 23 different nationalities (European and non- European) currently enrolled in different BSc, MSc and PhD courses within 14 different academic institutions. Main findings include: • Most respondents are familiar with the concepts of “Ecosystem services” and “Green economy” although they might perceive and define them in different ways, according to their level of familiarity and specific field of study. Less familiarity is perceived with other concepts like payments for ecosystem services, innovation and entrepreneurship. • About 80% of respondents are interested in entrepreneurship as a subject/topic for academic education. Awareness of entrepreneurship-related training offered by hosting universities (and even more by different ones), however, is low, and in most cases, limited to courses describing the state of the art for enterprises in the primary sector (e.g. trade in forest products or primary processing), rather than teaching students how to start and manage business activities. • In general terms, satisfaction with the commitment of hosting universities in relation to entrepreneurship education is quite limited and it results even lower when scaling-down to training opportunities offered by hosting faculties/schools. • According to the respondents, the 5 topics of key-importance within their field of study and future professional career consist of a combination of traditional technical topics within the domain of forest sciences -i.e. Forest Management Planning and Silviculture- and emerging/new topics, including Climate Change and Adaptation Tools/Policies, Good Governance of Natural Resources and Ecosystem Services Mapping and Assessment. • Based on self-evaluation, respondents believe they are currently more skilled in the field of cultural services (e.g. forest recreation) and carbon sequestration rather than in water-related services and wild-products. At the same time, they perceive they have higher skill levels with regard to biophysical ecosystem service estimations and the identification of appropriate forest management solutions/operations aiming to improve the delivery of ecosystem services. On the other hand, skill- gaps emerged with regard to marketing, as well as specific and in depth technical/professional skills needed for the management of ecosystem services (e.g. carbon footprint, investment analysis for developing a business activity on wild-products, etc.). • More than 60% of respondents declared they have already attended at least one course on ecosystem services. Courses mainly regard Management practices (i.e. forest management practices aiming to conserve and enhance ecosystem service delivery) GIS/Mapping tools and Economic assessment. • Respondents, however, are interested in attending additional training both on the same issues (in particular Economic assessment of ecosystem services) -to gain further and more specific knowledge and professional skills- and on different ones (e.g. marketing and governance). • Mixed training approaches and tools, for example combining short intensive courses with field visits/analysis of case studies and either the development of own case studies or an internship period, are the preferred option for additional training solutions.