Exploring university students’ perceptions and engagement in environmental awareness and sustainable practices

Abstract

Environmental education plays a critical role in advancing university students’ environmental sustainability, yet a gap persists between their awareness of environmental issues and their everyday actions. Situated within the Theory of Planned Behavior and Environmental Education Theory, this study aimed to explore how university students perceive, understand, and engage with environmental challenges, with a focus on understanding the relationship between awareness, attitudes and sustainable behaviours. Using a qualitative research design, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 32 participants representing different fields of study. The data was analysed thematically following Braun and Clarke (2006) to identify patterns across students’ experiences and perceptions. The findings showed most participants to demonstrate a good level of environmental awareness, favourable environmental attitudes, but fail to engage fully with sustainability issues, suggesting an awareness-attitude-action gap. The findings suggest that the theoretical framework underpinning the study, while valuable, may lack sufficient explanatory power, thus calling for an extension/refinement of environmental theories to account for other socio-cultural factors that mediate the translation of awareness and attitudes into action. In light of the findings, the study concludes with several recommendations, including the promotion of experiential and community-based learning, integration of family and peer discussions about environmental challenges, and improving institutional support for sustainable choices.