Elsevier

Journal of Cleaner Production

Volume 181, 20 April 2018, Pages 473-482
Journal of Cleaner Production

Sustainability at universities: Students’ perceptions from Green and Non-Green universities

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.01.213Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Sustainability at university from the students' perspective is analysed.

  • Only some differences between “green” and “non-green” universities are determined.

  • Campus sustainability and environmental information drive students' sustainability performance.

  • Official commitments might remain only declarations if not realised in practice.

Abstract

As institutions of higher education, universities have a significant impact on society and can play a key role in sustainability provision. Particularly, it is expected that green universities, because they are becoming more widespread, would contribute to the sustainability performance the most. However, none of the case studies have analysed the differences in sustainability performance between the “green” and the “non-green” universities from the perspective of the students. Therefore, the objective of this study was to contribute to this topic and compare students' attitudes towards sustainability in Vytautas Magnus University (a non-green university) and Kaunas University of Technology (a green university). According to a survey conducted in 2015, the differences in campus sustainability, environmental information, the university's role in sustainable development, students' attitudes to the university's self-presentation as green, and students' involvement in sustainability in these two universities were analysed. Results indicate that there were no significant differences regarding sustainability aspects in general, but green university students more often agree that their university presents itself as environmentally friendly. They get more environmental information and more often participate in sustainability activities compared with students from the non-green university. After applying the regression analysis, it was found that only campus sustainability and environmental information determined students' involvement in sustainability significantly. This suggests that official declarations and commitments should be realised in particular activities on campus and via information campaigns to contribute to sustainability provisions in a more holistic manner. Otherwise, commitments will remain as statements only.

Introduction

The specific (educational) mission of universities in society implies a very important role for them in the provision of sustainability (Yuan et al., 2013). Universities contribute to sustainability by internal (i.e., sustainability policy, campus sustainability, environmental initiatives, curricula, and research) and external (i.e., universities' role in the region) performances (Dagiliūtė and Liobikienė, 2015). Therefore, universities are expected to engage in sustainability both internally (i.e., as an organization) and externally (i.e., as an agent in the region). As organizations, universities contribute most to the student's personal identity, worldview, and values. By compiling and formulating appropriate curricula and course plans, the university can shape student personality with certain provisions, in this case, sustainability, and be an example to other institutions. Thus, the importance of universities as such and their future transformations for the creation of sustainable society are acknowledged and envisioned (Beynaghi et al., 2016).

The vast number of international declarations (Lozano and Young, 2013, Lozano et al., 2015) and initiatives (e.g., Higher Education Sustainability Initiative, Principles for Responsible Management Education) regarding sustainability and higher education were launched since sustainable development became part of the agenda. The role of universities in sustainability performance was especially emphasized during the decade of UNESCO Education for Sustainable Development (2005–2014). Sustainability aspects became important determinants even for university rankings (e.g., UO green metric). Particularly, it is expected that the green universities, as institutions, will contribute to the sustainability the most (Yuan et al., 2013). Lozano et al. (2015) indicated that committed (e.g., signed charters, initiatives, declarations) universities tend to engage more in the implementation of sustainable development in comparison to uncommitted ones. Yuan et al. (2013) investigated the awareness of faculty, alumni and student's parents on sustainable development and their perceptions on the Green University in China. However, it has not been widely analysed yet whether green universities really contribute to sustainability performance more than conventional universities do. The declaration that a university is green might remain at this level, not making any efforts for greening the campus or including more environmental disciplines in the curriculum. As Nejati and Nejati (2013) stated, signing international declarations and committing to international policies might not be enough.

Students are one of the biggest groups of stakeholders at universities and could make a significant impact on sustainability. Furthermore, they express a willingness to contribute to and support the sustainability of campuses and beyond (Emanuel and Adams, 2011). In addition, a large number of studies have analysed the determinants of pro-environmental student behaviour (e.g., Vincente-Mollino et al., 2013, Cotton et al., 2016, Rodríguez-Barreiro et al., 2013, Ting and Cheng, 2017). However, these studies do not include the role of universities in curriculum or campus sustainability. Relatively few studies speak in greater detail about the involvement of students in policy formation and implementation regarding sustainability. In general, research on the influence of green (i.e., committed) and non-green (i.e., non-committed) universities in sustainability activities from students’ perceptions is undeveloped.

Therefore, the objective of this study is to compare the attitudes of students considering university sustainability and possibilities to act in a sustainable manner in two universities in Lithuania: Kaunas University of Technology (KTU), which presents itself as a green university and Vytautas Magnus University (VMU). To compare the universities, the survey was conducted, and differences in the scores of the campus sustainability, environmental information, and the university's role in sustainable development between green and non-green universities were tested. Some background factors were analysed as well. The influence of different determinants on students' sustainability involvement was assessed by applying regression analysis.

Thus, the paper proceeds as follows. First, a short literature review to ground the approach applied is present. Afterwards, the results of students’ activities and their perceptions towards the university role in sustainability followed by the factors influencing their involvement in sustainability are discussed. The paper is finalized with a discussion and closing remarks.

Section snippets

University contributions to sustainable development, students’ perceptions of university sustainability, and the importance of participation

Research works, particularly regarding university contributions to sustainability, has become a subject of study in recent decades. A university's role in sustainability encompasses the whole spectrum of aspects starting with the university's mission, education and research, administration, and external stakeholders (Koscielniak, 2014). This means “the whole system approach” (Koester et al., 2006) must be applied while seeking efficient contributions of higher education to sustainability,

Applied conceptual model

Based on the literature review and covered sustainability aspects, the conceptual framework was developed (Fig. 1.) to answer the following main study questions from the students' (one of the university stakeholders) point of view: 1) what are the main points of sustainability in universities; 2) whether committed universities express their sustainability commitments, in reality, more effectively than non-committed ones, and 3) how this influences students' involvement in sustainability (which

University's role in sustainable development and campus sustainability

Universities as higher education institutions play a very important role in sustainability provision. By compiling and formulating appropriate curricula and course plans, the university can shape students' personalities with certain provisions, in this case, sustainability. However, regarding students' attitudes about the university's role in sustainable development, the results of the survey in both universities showed that students consider social aspects to be the most important for a

Discussion and recommendations

In general, as institutions of higher education, universities have a significant impact on sustainability provisions. The phenomenon of the green university is becoming more prevalent. However, it is very important that being green not be in declaration only. So far, this topic is under-researched. Thus, in this paper, campus sustainability, environmental information, student attitudes about universities' self-presentation as green, university's role in sustainable development, and students'

Limitations and future directions

In this paper, the curriculum sustainability, environmental information, and the university's role in sustainable development between green/committed and non-green/non-committed universities are compared, and the determinants of students' involvement in sustainability are analysed. However, several limitations need to be acknowledged. First, the reliabilities of the following constructs—campus sustainability and environmental information—are rather low. As these scales tend to influence student

Conclusions

In recent decade the growth of interest in green universities is observed. Moreover, it is expected that the role of green universities in the sustainability should be higher than the non-green ones. To test this assumption, there were two Lithuanian universities—one green and one non-green—compared from the students' perspective, covering not only students’ attitudes but also factors behind their involvement in sustainability at the university.

Overall, from the students' perspective, both

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