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The Impact of Educational Standards on Sustainable Development in Slovenian Local Communities

Naše gospodarstvo/Our economy

Volume 72 (2026): Issue 3 (September 2026)

By: Igor Prah

Open Access

|Oct 2026

Abstract

The article examines the role of municipalities in linking education, local economic development, and sustainable development. The quantitative study, involving 149 Slovenian municipalities, analyses associations between different forms of municipal engagement in education and selected socioeconomic, institutional, and strategic characteristics of local communities. The findings do not confirm a statistically significant association between municipal cooperation in educational programme development and lower unemployment, nor do they support the assumption that city municipalities exert greater influence on educational programme development. By contrast, statistically significant associations are identified between selected forms of municipal co-financing of education and growth in the number of business entities, and between strategic sustainable-development documents and stronger cooperation among municipalities, educational institutions, and businesses. The findings suggest that municipalities’ role in education should be understood primarily through strategic planning, stakeholder coordination, and institutional cooperation rather than as a direct causal determinant of socioeconomic outcomes.

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Articles in this issue

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ngoe-2026-0016 | Journal eISSN: 2385-8052 | Journal ISSN: 0547-3101

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Language: English

Page range: 61 - 89

Submitted on: Jul 1, 2026

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Accepted on: Sep 1, 2026

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Published online: Oct 8, 2026

Published in print: Sep 1, 2026

Published by: University of Maribor

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Keywords:

Local governance,

Educational policy,

Sustainable development,

Decentralisation,

Regional development

JEL:

Related subjects:

Business and economics,

Political economics,

Economic policy,

Business management,

Management, organization, corporate governance,

Mathematics and statistics for economists,

© 2026 Igor Prah, published by University of Maribor
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Volume 72 (2026): Issue 3 (September 2026)

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