Chapman, Molliede Scisciolo, TobiaEppinga, MaartenMijts, Eric2024-08-282024-08-282023de Scisciolo, T., Eppinga M., Chapman, M., Mijts, E. (2023, May). Pre-university education for local ownership and initiatives for sustainable development in small island states: monitoring engagement at the Academic Foundation Year. At Sustainable Islands Solutions through STEM symposium, University of Aruba, Aruba/Online.https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14473/150Small island states face several threats to sustainable development, including low participation grades in university education, high dropout rates, and brain drain. These issues contribute to a lack of locally developed expertise and ownership of sustainable development processes, as such creating a dependency on external consultants and expertise that may not fit the specific context of the region. To address this challenge, the University of Aruba has implemented the Academic Foundation Year (AFY) program, which has been available since 2016. This program is a full-time, one-year pre-university program designed to equip students with the necessary skills for higher education, whether in Aruba or abroad. Along with academic development, the program also aims to foster students’ understanding of their context, culture, and history, as well as the opportunities and challenges for sustainable development in small island states. To gain a better understanding of the potential and challenges for developing local ownership and initiatives for sustainable development in small island states through education, this contribution presents a study of alumni evaluations and quantitative research, along with interviews and focus group meetings with lecturers, students, and alumni of the AFY program.EnglishConference presentation