Bioeconomy perception by future stakeholders: hearing from European forestry students.

The forest sector plays a pivotal role within the European bioeconomy and forestry students should be regarded as key-future stakeholders for the development of a forest-based bioeconomy. Nonetheless, while a number of studies have been conducted on public perception of bioeconomy and bio-based products in Europe, none of them has been specifically focused on forestry students. Researchers of the PerForm European cooperation network developed a quantitative online survey targeted at forestry students, including Bachelor, Master and Doctorate ones. The survey addresses students within eight countries across Europe (Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Slovakia, Sweden and Russian Federation) and aims to analyse and compare their knowledge and perception of forest-based bioeconomy today and in a future perspective. It consists of a multi-language online questionnaire structured into six sections: from students’ knowledge and perception of key-concepts and topics, to concrete application for future job opportunities. A stratified sampling approach is adopted to cover the main forestry courses in selected countries. Data collection and analysis are performed as part of Master theses. Responses are analysed and compared among countries and programmes across Europe, in order to gain an up-to-date and in depth picture of the level of knowledge and perception of forest-based bioeconomy by students, as well as gaps and expectations. Findings from the survey provide useful inputs to develop future action for the promotion of education, training and skills opportunities in forest-based bioeconomy across Europe, thus contributing to key-actions defined by the 2018 European Union (EU) Bioeconomy Strategy Action Plan.