Abstract:

One big objective of all institutions of higher learning is to educate all students for a sustainable future; however, few institutions assess students’ knowledge of environmental sustainability concepts. Some Universities are assessing the sustainability knowledge of students before and after one course, much in the manner of pre- and post-test checks on content to provide students with the knowledge and skills they will need in their personal and professional lives. It become necessary for Universities to measure, reduce, and eventually neutralize campus greenhouse gas emissions, while, at the same time, developing student capacity that will prepare these graduates to help society do the same. Therefore, the study assessed students’ knowledge of environmental sustainability in the Nigerian Universities. The study was a survey type. Multistage sampling technique was used to randomly sample Three thousand eight hundred and eighty-five students (3,855). Environmental Sustainability Quick Quiz (ESQQ) assessment instrument was adapted for data collection with reliability coefficient of 0.89. The instrument has 15 open ended questions sent by e-mail to the respondents. Only One thousand, eight hundred and seventy-four (1,874) students responded and participated in the study. Descriptive statistics and t-test were used for data analysis. The result shows that graduate students scored significantly higher mean environmental sustainability score=77% than all undergraduate students (mean sustainability score=74%, p<0.05). Another finding from the assessment was the difference in environmental sustainability scores of the various ethnic groups. Igbo scored significantly higher than respondents who are Yoruba and Hausa (p=0.05). Respondents who are Yorubas scored significantly higher than respondents who are Hausas (p=0.05). No significant difference in environmental sustainability score was found between any other groups. This result found that most universities tend to integrate environmental and sustainability content into biological sciences as opposed to Technology, Social Sciences, or education faculties. It is therefore recommended that assessment should focuses on all aspects of sustainability, not just the environment but also civic involvement, consumption patterns, as well as the economics.

Keywords:

Sustainability, Environmental Sustainability, Emission, Assessment, Environment.