Purpose -To date, little attention has been given to the circumstances in which the process of developing key competencies for sustainable development may take place. The purpose of this paper is to consider, the possibilities both of formal and informal learning and their relationship to competence development within higher education. Design/methodology/approach -An explorative, qualitative study based on focus groups was designed using different groups from formal and informal learning settings. Findings -The development of key competencies is based both on cognitive and non-cognitive dispositions and asks for multiple contexts. Through combining formal and informal learning settings within higher education -as part of a new learning culture -a variety of contexts can be given and competence development can be enhanced. Research limitations/implications -While aspects of both formal and informal learning settings could be identified, the interdependencies between them remain elusive. Practical implications -Based on the findings, some main aspects for acquiring competencies can be pointed out that may be crucial in higher education settings. Originality/value -The paper analyses the implications for both formal and informal learning settings of new ways of developing key competencies within higher education. Particular attention is given to interdisciplinarity and students' self-responsibility.

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An important issue in open agent systems such as the Internet is the discovery of service providers by potential consumers (requesters). This paper is concerned with services that involve the ongoing provision of up-to-date information to requesters. We explore three separate issues: subscription to an information provider for ongoing provision of information; monitoring for new information providers; and maintaining awareness of when providers disappear from the system. We explore several models for how this functionality may best be provided, with emphasis on the ways in which certain choices affect the overall system; and provide an analysis of preferred design options for environments with different characteristics.

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Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to comparatively analyse activities to integrate sustainability in teaching, research and operational practice in different higher education institutions, which differ both in the degree of how far implementation goes and in regards to the most active stakeholders. Against that background, the paper explores, in a process-oriented focus, which drivers and barriers are experienced as most important and how they relate to each other. Design/methodology/approach -A comparative multi-case study has been conducted, with two main steps to structure the research process: first, desktop research was used to select appropriate cases in a theoretical sampling. Second, data from interviews with relevant stakeholders in each case were analysed according to the constant comparison method. Findings -Across all cases, three distinctive patterns of implementation processes emerged, each of them with a unique set of influencing factors. For each pattern, drivers and barriers, as well as their relevance, are experienced differently and specific key constructs can be found to explain the implementation process.Research limitations/implications -The research focused on German institutions of higher educations and all cases are drawn from that population, which might limit the generalizability. Practical implications -It is hoped to provide valuable insights for future implementation processes and for various ways to support a sustainable transition in higher education. Originality/value -This is one of the first papers to consider the process of implementation and the interaction between drivers and barriers. The value of the paper lies in its potential to help in understanding what role different drivers and barriers play in different patterns of implementation.