Training young leaders: Premises for a university committed to Sustainable Local Development

Abstract

The 2030 Agenda has positioned higher education as a central axis for rethinking university practices and strengthening University Social Responsibility (USR). Higher education assumes the responsibility of training professionals with autonomy, critical thinking, and creativity, capable of leading transformation processes toward sustainability. However, gaps persist: leadership training predominates at the postgraduate level, there is a lack of explicit theoretical and methodological foundations, and proposals are fragmented. In Cuba, although young people have historically been key to development and demonstrated their resilience during the pandemic, there is still a lack of a comprehensive pedagogical approach for training youth leaders in Sustainable Local Development (SLD). Given this problem, this scientific text poses the question: How can universities contribute to the training of young leaders in sustainable local development? The objective was defined as: to determine the premises for universities to contribute to the training of young leaders in sustainable local development.