This article revises the effects of the metacognition development on project-based learning by giving different cases for the graduate level students (n=86) at the innovation and entrepreneurship courses. The objective of the article is to understand clearly and deeply how metacognitive learning methodologies affect the learning process and outcome. As a result, cases in which everyday challenges, such as social, economic, cultural, and environmental are solved develop better environments for the development of metacognition due to the fact that the highest ‘meta-level’ of cognition is implicated. In the project-based learning, by solving different problems it is possible to develop creative ideas while improving highly developed skills

Sustainable development has been one of the critical issues on the world agenda since the 1970s given the depletion of natural resources, environmental degradation, inequalities, population growth, and urbanization. Therefore, uncovering the factors underlying sustainable development matters for the design of optimal policies. This study investigates the influence of higher education and globalization on sustainable development in the new EU members for the 2000–2019 duration with a panel data approach in view of the research gap in the empirical literature. The consequences of the analyses point out that higher education and globalization have significant influences on sustainable development in the short and long terms. However, the long-term influence of globalization over sustainable development is found to be relatively higher than the influence of higher education on sustainable development.

Environmental sustainability is one of three pillars of sustainability. However, a significant worldwide deterioration in the environment has been experienced since the Industrial Revolution, but the efforts to protect the environment date back to the 1970s. In this context, many economic and non-economic factors underlying environmental degradation have been investigated until today, but the influence of economic freedom indicators and education on the environment have been relatively less analyzed and the researchers have mainly focused on the influence of economic and institutional variables on the environment. Therefore, this paper investigates the reciprocal interplay among economic freedom indicators, education, and environment in EU member states over the 2000–2018 term by using a causality test with cross-sectional dependency and heterogeneity and taking the research gap into consideration. The causality analysis indicates that market-oriented economic structure and education can be beneficial in combatting environmental degradation.

Renewable energy has become a crucial factor for circular economies, sustainable development, and the environment given the limited non-renewable energy reserves and global environmental degradation mainly resulting from non-renewable energy use. This study explores the effect of educational attainment and economic growth on renewable energy use in a sample of selected emerging markets over the 2000–2018 period through causality and cointegration analyses. Causality analysis points out a significant unidirectional causality from indicators of educational attainment and economic growth to renewable energy use. In other words, educational attainment indicators and economic growth are significant determinants of renewable energy in the short run. Furthermore, the cointegration analysis ascertains a positive influence of indicators of educational attainment and economic growth on renewable energy use in the long run. The findings of both analyses indicate that educational attainment and economic growth have a significant impact on renewable energy use in the short and long term. Therefore, the policies fostering educational attainment can be used as instruments to increase the share of renewable energy use in total energy consumption.

Life expectancy is a significant indicator of public health, life quality, welfare and economic development. Therefore, improvement in life expectancy is among the priority targets of the countries. This paper investigates the effect of economic freedom and educational attainment on life expectancy in the new EU member states, experiencing an institutional, educational, and economic transformation, during the period 2000–2019 by using cointegration and causality tests, because economic freedom and educational attainment can foster the life expectancy through institutional and economic variables such as institutions, governance, sound monetary and fiscal policies, economic growth, innovation, technological development, better living standards and access to superior healthcare services. The causality and cointegration analyses reveal that economic freedom and educational attainment are significant factors underlying life expectancy in the short and long term. However, educational attainment is found to be more effective on life expectancy than economic freedom. The findings have important implications for educational and health policies in analyzed countries. Governments must understand the education–health relationship to be able to develop and promote educational policies that have the potential to improve public health.

Education is one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations and is also a vital factor for nearly all the other SDGs. Therefore, factors underlying educational attainment are crucial for achieving the SDGs by 2030. In this context, the financial system has become critical in building various schools and covering educational expenditures such as teachers’ salaries, teaching materials, and training. This paper uses static and dynamic regression methods to study the impact of financial sector development, remittances, real GDP per capita, information and communications technologies (ICT) development, and globalization on educational attainment in 18 emerging economies over the 2000–2020 period. The results indicate that financial development, remittances, real GDP per capita, ICT development, and globalization positively impact educational attainment. Real GDP per capita, ICT development, globalization, and financial development have the highest impact of these factors. In contrast, remittances have a limited positive influence on educational attainment compared with other variables.