Awareness on Sustainable Development Goals Among University Students in Malaysia
List of Authors
  • Siew-Mun Ang

Keyword
  • Sustainable Development, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Green Campus, university students, Local Agenda 21

Abstract
  • This paper investigates university students’ awareness on the concepts of ‘Sustainable Development’ and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Thirty-one (31) Science students from a university in the mid-northern region of Malaysia responded to an exploratory, pen-and-paper survey that asked if they have read about or heard of ‘Sustainable Development’ and ‘SDGs’. Over half (N=18, 58%) of the respondents replied ‘yes’ while another 13 (41.9%) respondents replied ‘no’. However, among these 13 respondents who have not read about or heard of SDGs, all of them were aware of the climate change phenomenon. In fact, all 13 of them were able to explain this occurrence accurately, with ten (32.3%) being able to use terms like ‘change in weather patterns’ or ‘global warming’. Therefore, this preliminary study concluded that there is only moderate awareness among students on environmental literacy. The paper also concluded that many of these students (N=14; 45%) have not joined the university’s social programmes on SDGs even though the university itself adopts a ‘Green Campus’ philosophy and actively tries to achieve the Local Agenda 21 by integrating the SDGs into its mission. Finally, as far as Sustainable Development and its related issues are concerned, food wastage remains a problem in many Malaysian cities and towns (i.e., locally and nationally) and globally as well.

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