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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine university students’ attitudes towards the concept of sustainable development and towards the need for the implementation of education for sustainable development into the higher education system. To that end, the paper explores in a process-oriented focus which drivers and barriers are experienced as being the most important ones and how they relate to one another. Design/methodology/approach The study is based on the questionnaire for the evaluation of attitudes towards the concept of sustainable development. This instrument consists of 9 batteries with 83 items presented in the form of the five-point Likert scale. The questionnaire evaluated different aspects of respondents’ attitudes towards the concept of sustainable development, but students’ attitudes in relation to the items from the following subscales will be presented for this paper: understanding the concept of sustainable development, position of sustainable development in the system of higher education, sources of information about sustainable development and entities responsible for sustainable development. The study sample consisted of students from the University of Novi Sad, specifically from the faculties with accredited programs in the field of humanities and technological sciences. Findings In general, students recognized the main determinants of sustainable development and they support an integral approach to sustainability, i.e. the need to include the knowledge, values and skills for sustainable development in the higher education programs. In addition, they identified a number of obstacles and the uncertainties of overcoming them. In this regard, the students did not recognize the responsibility of the higher education institutions as the key responsibility or their own responsibility in relation to sustainable development, which can be related to their feeling of marginalization and the doubt that their behaviour and decisions can influence the development of the local society, as well as the development of the society as a whole. On the other hand, the respondents acknowledged the role, the importance and the responsibility of the mass media in the process of developing the attitudes towards and opinions about the problems related to environmental protection and sustainable development. Practical implications The results of the study indicate the students’ attitudes towards sustainable development, thus making the directions for higher education reform clearer and in line with the present needs for sustainable development in Serbia. The obtained results can serve as a recommendation to the governing structures, i.e. to the relevant ministries of education and environmental protection, as well as to the universities in terms of which direction their process of planning and creating paths of sustainability should take. This is particularly important in the case of the Republic of Serbia, which is currently in the process of joining the European Union and responding to the requirements set by the process of negotiation for Chapter 27 in terms of improving the strategic framework and plans for the education for sustainable development and building the capacities in response to climate change. On the other hand, linking the results of this research with the results of similar studies around the world contributes to the further enrichment of the scientific knowledge base in this field and confirms the need for stronger and united efforts on the path to a sustainable future. It is a fact that, regardless of the national, economic, socio-political and cultural context, there is a global lack of success in shaping a humane and sustainable relationship between man and nature. Therefore, the results of this research should be considered as an invitation for new research initiatives regarding the ways to support the positive attitudes of students towards the concept of sustainable development and to facilitate their further development in the educational process, as well as in other academic domains. Originality/value This research is inspired by the fact that, in the Balkan countries, education for sustainable development has not been extensively discussed within the scientific discourse on higher education for sustainable development. This is one of the first papers to provide data about students’ attitudes towards the concept of sustainable development and the need for its implementation in the higher education system in Serbia. The value of the paper lies in its potential to help understand the role that different drivers and barriers play in higher education for sustainable development.

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Education in Serbia faces challenges of reforms and rapid adaptation to demands of global, developed environment, intensive changes in science, technology, economy, entrepreneurship and social relations in general, as well as to high standards and expectations. On the way to global integrations, education that wants to have a marker-sustainable-incorporates principles of sustainable development in its base: the principle of reconcilability with nature, economic sustainability, social justice, cultural identity, global joint work. After all the reforms and wandering around, the school recognizes that environmental, sustainable education forms a new way and style of life with relationships organized among adults and children at school and outside the school in the local community. Finally, a sustainable vision of education reform in Serbia has been focused on creation of a system that will be able to get together and engage relevant factors and respond to their actual needs. The education system that wants to have an indicator of sustainability is decentralized, efficient, effective, qualitative, and transparent; it employs highly professional, reflective, creative and motivated teaching staff; it has been focused on learning and it is a standard-based; it offers a high-quality program, promotes the culture of evaluation, self-evaluation and development of the school; it fosters fairness, ethics, tolerance, constructive communications-it is able to meet special educational needs, it has included the perspective of the lifelong learning, and it has a support of educational technologies. In essence it is a reengineering of the human spirit by mental transformations inspired by the principles of ecology and ecological engineering that needs to be implemented through sustainable environmental education. This paper will analyze whether all the opportunities offered in Serbia by environmental education are used, and what the obstacles are that need to be overcome in terms of normative principles and reduction of the gap between what "is" and what "should be" when considering the discourse of sustainable development in Serbia.

Abstract:Internet i sa njim sve više povezan Web 2.0 aplikacije, ne mogu da se izostave iz svakodnevnog života današnje dece i omladine. Mladi i deca odrastaju u medijskom okruženju, korištenje tehničkih inovacija i konvergento okruženje medijima predstavlja značajan izazov i (razvojni) zadatak kako za njih same, tako i za njihove roditelje i školu. Škola će se, sve više, baviti mogućnošću razvoja kompetencija za samostalno učenje učenika, kako bi im pomogla, da se adekvatno nose sa zahtevima radnog života. Novi mediji, kao što je Web 2.0 sa svojim mnogobrojnim formama korišćenja, ako se koristi u kontekstu procesa učenja, može ponuditi niz prednosti i pomoći onima koji uče, u samostalnom učenju u kontekstu aktivne i socijalne okoline za učenje. Mladi putem interneta formiraju slične vrednosti i stavove o zajedničkim aktivnostima i interesima, razvijaju važne intelektualne kompetencije društvenog povezivanja. Internet omogućava da se prevaziđe vezanost za prostor koji sputava društvene veze mladih, ali donosi i nove razvojne probleme mladih, pogotovo u slučaju izopštavanja ili izloženosti agresiji unutar vršnjačke grupe. Sa internetom su povezane brojne prednosti ali i mane. Prednosti su, učenje nezavisno od vremena i mesta, mogućnosti za uređivanje, dokumentaciju i ponovnu upotrebu sadržaja, mogućnosti promena faza komunikacije i pristup drugim digitalnim izvorima informacija; pri tome se nudi nova kultura učenja kroz koncept timskog, kooperativnog učenja. Nedostaci se ogledaju u tehničkim problemima i nedostatku prihvatanja korisnika, nedostatku socijalnih pokazatelja, pri čemu, fenomen, kao što je socijalna lenjost, može otežati virtuelnu kolaboraciju. Key words:Internet, Web 2.0, nastava, učenje, kooperativno učenje, mladi. UVODMladi odrastaju u medijskom svetu, korištenje tehničkih inovacija i konvergento okruženje medijima predstavljaju izazov i (razvojni) zadatak za njih same, njihove roditelje, ali i institucije obrazovanja. Konkretno, internet i sa njim povezane Web 2,0 aplikacije, ne mogu da se izostave iz svakodnevnog života današnje omladine i dece. Pred institucije obrazovanja, sve više se postavlja zahtev da se bave načinima i mogućnostima učenja uz pomoć medija, kako bi pomogle onima koji uče, da adekvatno odgovore zahtevima današnjeg životnog i radnog okruženja. Novi medijski obrasci, kao što je Web 2.0, svojim mnogobrojnim formama korišćenja u kontekstu procesa učenja, mogu ponuditi niz mogućnosti samostalnog ophođenje sa (novim) medijskim razvojima. Prema Kerresu/ Nattland-u [1] ovo se može postići pre svega u kontekstu aktivne i socijalne okoline za učenje.Prednosti učenja putem računara i interneta, su između ostalog, učenje nezavisno od vremena i mesta, mogućnosti za uređivanje, dokumentaciju i ponovnu upotrebu sadržaja, promena faza komunikacije, pristup drugim digitalnim izvorima informacija. Ovde se nudi koncept kooperativnog učenja, kome je cilj timski orijentisano, odnosno kolaborativno učenje. U literaturi nailazimo da ovakvo učenje izaziva veću motivisanost, a da oni koji uče imaju i...