The article presents different approaches to the relationship between higher education and sustainable development. Its purpose is firstly to provide an overview of four main approaches to this relationship and their key conflicts. Secondly, it argues that the approach "lifelong learning skills for a resilient life" is beginning to establish itself as part of a main conflict with the approach "necessary knowledge for a secured life." That is to say that these two approaches to the question of the relationship between higher education and sustainable development are in conflict with each other and with understanding of higher education, in casu with the curriculum and assessment activity of the university, as well as with sustainable development. This gives rise to very different conditions for future forms of life and learning inside, as well as outside, higher education.
Within discussions of the history of the Balkan nations, their Ottoman past is a period whose interpretation is characterized by a strong ethnocentric enthusiasm. The terminology that each national community traditionally uses to identify this epoch, also attests to their highly emotional evaluations. The natural linking of a particular concept with a nation's ideology is most evident in Bulgaria, where the traditional terms "Turkish slavery" and "Turkish yoke" persist in the social discourse. This terminology comes into opposition with the neutral concepts of Ottoman dominion or administration, which are used in serious historiography. Discussions of the essence of the Ottoman period in Bulgarian history thus confirm that it is still a living component of the national narrative. The confrontation between the above-mentioned interpretative models, which also appear in school curricula and textbooks, likewise provides evidence of this effect. This study specifically analyzes the spectrum of socio-cultural reflections of the Ottoman past in the context of the latest national curriculum. Within this framework, the Bulgarian Ministry of Education proposed in early 2016 the politically correct term "coexistence" of Bulgarians with Ottoman Turks. It can be said that these discussions have reopened the question of what to actually call the Ottoman period of Bulgarian history. and Osmanská minulost představuje v dějinách balkánských národů období, jehož interpretace jsou charakterizovány silným etnocentrickým zaujetím. Svědectvím emocionálních hodnocení je i terminologie, s níž dané národní společenství tuto epochu tradičně označuje. Přirozené sepětí příslušného pojmu s národní ideologií se přitom nejvýrazněji projevuje zejména v Bulharsku, kde v nejširším diskurzu přetrvává zažitý termín tureckého otroctví či jha. Tato terminologie vstupuje do opozice k neutrálním pojmům osmanská nadvláda či správa, které užívá i seriózní historiografie. Diskuze o podstatě osmanského období bulharských dějin tak potvrzují, že se jedná o dodnes živou součást národního narativu. Dokladem tohoto působení jsou konfrontace uvedených interpretačních modelů, které se dostávají i do školních osnov a učebnic. Stať proto v kontextu nových učebních plánů, v jejichž rámci navrhlo počátkem roku 2016 bulharské ministerstvo školství politicky korektní termín "společné soužití" Bulharů s osmanskými Turky, analyzuje spektrum sociokulturních reflexí osmanské minulosti.