Barriers to sustainable development in higher education in sports, physical culture and health
Reorientation of higher education (HE) at the sustainable development (SD) principles requires efforts from the professional community, policymakers and the society. In the article, the potential and the barriers for sustainable HE in sports, physical education and recreation were analyzed. In the review of publications in this thematic field, economic, social and environmental barriers to the implementation of SD principles were identified. Many scholars see sustainability through the lens of diversification of funding. In practice, public and private interests are not balanced. HE is increasingly oriented at the creation of private goods. Global competition grows. As a result, the starting positions of universities, academics and graduates in HE system are not equal, and inequalities are further accumulated. These aspects contradict the SD principles of the equality of access, social justice and long-term goal-setting. Community-university partnerships have a high potential to make HE more sustainable, as they incorporate the processes of production and transmission of local knowledge (of the local social and ecological environment). The environmental barriers include the persistence of academic boundaries. The academic professionals, administrators, resist the implementation of more inclusive forms of knowledge production, to retain control over this process and their position within the academic hierarchy. To overcome such barriers, university education is more promising than research. SD can be implemented through teaching. First, teaching is better linked to the local environment, it can integrate local knowledge. Second, the orientation at SD can be translated directly in professional practice of university graduates.