THE LEVEL OF AWARENESS OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AMONG THIRD-YEAR STUDENTS AT SELECTED UNIVERSITIES IN HO CHI MINH CITY

Nguyen Vien Thong1,
1 Trường Đại học Khoa học Xã hội và Nhân văn Tp.HCM

Main Article Content

Abstract

Higher education institutions have integrated sustainability education into their development strategies. In this context, conducting a study to assess students’ awareness levels is essential for informing the universities’ policies. This study measures the level of awareness of sustainable development among 528 third-year students from some universities in Ho Chi Minh City, aiming to explore the relationship between students’ knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors towards sustainable development. The results reveal that although students exhibit positive knowledge and attitudes toward sustainable development, these factors are insufficient to foster corresponding behaviors, which remain moderate. Students tend to access information about sustainable development primarily through social media and mainstream news channels, rather than through university education programs. Notably, there is no significant difference in students' awareness across universities, regardless of whether their academic programs incorporate sustainability-related content. Consequently, the study proposes several practical educational implications that aim not only to enhance awareness and attitudes but also to promote specific behaviors contributing to comprehensive sustainable development.

Article Details

References

Abu-Alruz, J., Hailat, S., Al-Jaradat, M., & Khasawneh, S. (2018). Attitudes toward pillars of sustainable development: the case for university science education students in Jordan. Journal of Teacher Education for Sustainability, 20(2), 64-73. https://doi.org/10.2478/jtes-2018-0015
Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational behavior and human decision processes, 50(2), 179-211.
Chiba, M., Sustarsic, M., Perriton, S., & Edwards Jr, D. B. (2021). Investigating effective teaching and learning for sustainable development and global citizenship: Implications from a systematic review of the literature. International Journal of Educational Development, 81, 102337. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2020.102337
Dagiliūtė, R., Liobikienė, G., & Minelgaitė, A. (2018). Sustainability at universities: Students’ perceptions from Green and Non-Green universities. Journal of Cleaner Production, 181, 473-482. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.01.213
Dekel, E., Lipman, B. L., & Rustichini, A. (1998). Standard state-space models preclude unawareness. Econometrica, 66(1), 159–173. https://doi.org/10.2307/2998545
Đỗ, T. V. H. (2023). Vai trò của giáo dục đại học trong phát triển bền vững. Tạp chí Giáo dục, 104-108.
Gapor, S. A., Aziz, A. M. A., Razak, D. A., & Sanusi, Z. A. (2014). Implementing education for sustainable development in higher education: case study of Albukhary International University, Malaysia. Sustainable Development and Quality Assurance in Higher Education: Transformation of Learning and Society, 255-281.
Gericke, N., Boeve‐de Pauw, J., Berglund, T., & Olsson, D. (2019). The Sustainability Consciousness Questionnaire: The theoretical development and empirical validation of an evaluation instrument for stakeholders working with sustainable development. Sustainable Development, 27(1), 35-49. https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.1859
Jadhav, A. S., Jadhav, V. V., & Raut, P. D. (2014). Role of higher education institutions in environmental conservation and sustainable development: A case study of Shivaji University, Maharashtra, India. Journal of Environment and Earth Science, 4(5), 30-34.
Li, X., Tan, H., & Rackes, A. (2015). Carbon footprint analysis of student behavior for a sustainable university campus in China. Journal of cleaner production, 106, 97-108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.11.084
Li, Y., Yang, D., & Liu, S. (2024). The impact of environmental education at Chinese Universities on college students’ environmental attitudes. Plos one, 19(2), e0299231. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0299231
Liere, K. D. V., & Dunlap, R. E. (1980). The social bases of environmental concern: A review of hypotheses, explanations and empirical evidence. Public opinion quarterly, 44(2), 181-197. https://doi.org/10.1086/268583
López, M. E. N., Huddleston, R., & Lozano, R. P. M. (2020). Integrating Sustainable Development into the Curriculum: A Case Study on the Developing of Sustainability Competencies in Industrial Design Students at a Bachelor Level in Mexico. In Integrating Sustainable Development into the Curriculum (pp. 57-71). Emerald Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2055-364120200000018022
Lương, M.P., Ngô, T.T.T., Đinh, T.B..L., Phạm, T.V.,& Nguyễn, T.T.T. (2024). Thực trạng đào tạo kĩ năng xanh trong các cơ sở giáo dục đại học ở Việt Nam. Tạp Chí Khoa Học Giáo Dục Việt Nam, (20)3, 15-23. https://doi.org/10.15625/2615-8957/12410303
Manolis, E. N., & Manoli, E. N. (2021). Raising awareness of the sustainable development goals through ecological projects in higher education. Journal of Cleaner Production, 279, 123614. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.123614
Maoela, M. A., Chapungu, L., & Nhamo, G. (2024). Students’ awareness, knowledge and attitudes towards the sustainable development goals at the University of South Africa. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 25(9), 455-473. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-11-2023-0518
Meade, A. W., & Craig, S. B. (2012). Identifying careless responses in survey data. Psychological methods, 17(3), 437. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0028085
Modica, S., & Rustichini, A. (1999). Unawareness and partitional information structures. Games and Economic Behavior, 27(2), 265–298. https://doi.org/10.1006/game.1998.0666
Nunnally, J. C., & Bernstein, I. H. (1994). Psychometric Theory (3r ed.), McGraw-Hill, New York, NY.
Nguyễn, P. T., Lê, N. H., Nguyễn, N. A., Nguyễn, V. H., Kiều, T. K., Nguyễn, T. H. Y., & Nguyễn, D. C. (2022). Đánh giá sự thay đổi nhận thức của học sinh phổ thông về phát triển bền vững. Tạp chí Khoa học Giáo dục, 3(2), 45–57.
Olsson, D., Gericke, N., & Boeve-de Pauw, J. (2022). The effectiveness of education for sustainable development revisited–a longitudinal study on secondary students’ action competence for sustainability. Environmental Education Research, 28(3), 405-429. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2022.2033170
Perry, W. G. (1970). Forms of intellectual and ethical development in the college years: A scheme. Holt, Reinhart, & Winston.
Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Lee, J. Y., & Podsakoff, N. P. (2003). Common method biases in behavioral research: a critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(5), 879. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.88.5.879
Thủ tướng Chính phủ. (2019). Chỉ thị về phát triển bền vững (Chỉ thị số 13/CT-TTg, ngày 20 tháng 5 năm 2019).
Thủ tướng Chính phủ. (2019). Quyết định về lộ trình thực hiện các mục tiêu phát triển bền vững đến năm 2030 (Quyết định số 681/QĐ-TTg, ngày 4 tháng 6 năm 2019).
UI Green Metric. (2022). Overall rankings 2022: World University Rankings. https://greenmetric.ui.ac.id/rankings/overall-rankings-2022.
Yuan, X., & Zuo, J. (2013). A critical assessment of the Higher Education For Sustainable Development from students' perspectives–a Chinese study. Journal of Cleaner Production, 48, 108-115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2012.10.041
Zeman, A. (2002). Consciousness: a user's guide. Yale University Press.
Zhang, X., Geng, G., & Sun, P. (2017). Determinants and implications of citizens’ environmental complaint in China: Integrating theory of planned behavior and norm activation model. Journal of Cleaner Production, 166, 148-156. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.08.020
Zhao, M., Li, Z., Xia, B., Chen, W., Tang, T., Meng, Z., & Ding, Y. (2022). Enhancing residents’ environmentally responsible behavioral intentions: The role of awe and place attachment in potatso national park communities, Tibet. Forests, 13(8), 1251. https://doi.org/10.3390/f13081251