IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i23p16444-d1291421.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Students’ Awareness Regarding Environment Protection in Campus Life: Evidence from Romania

Author

Listed:
  • Mariana Cernicova-Buca

    (Department of Communication and Foreign Languages, Interdisciplinary Research Center for Communication and Sustainability (PoliCom), Politehnica University of Timisoara, 300006 Timisoara, Romania)

  • Gabriel-Mugurel Dragomir

    (Department of Teaching Training, Interdisciplinary Research Center for Communication and Sustainability (PoliCom), Politehnica University of Timisoara, 300006 Timisoara, Romania)

  • Vasile Gherheș

    (Department of Communication and Foreign Languages, Interdisciplinary Research Center for Communication and Sustainability (PoliCom), Politehnica University of Timisoara, 300006 Timisoara, Romania)

  • Adina Palea

    (Department of Communication and Foreign Languages, Interdisciplinary Research Center for Communication and Sustainability (PoliCom), Politehnica University of Timisoara, 300006 Timisoara, Romania)

Abstract

Climate awareness is a major topic of concern, and the Green Deal in Europe attempts to turn states, communities, and local actors towards more environmentally conscious action to reduce, by 2030, the net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55%. Universities voluntarily adhered to the 2030 Agenda, displaying a wide variety of approaches to respond to sustainability goals and calls for greening. The purpose of the present study is to establish the students’ readiness for action as sustainability promoters, starting with their awareness of environmental issues. Upon focusing on the perceptions of students from the oldest university in western Romania gathered via an online questionnaire in 2023, the research showed that 95.6% of respondents consider climate issues as important or very important to them, even though less than 50% of the sample evaluate their own knowledge of environmental protection as good or very good. The results show that of the parameters that differentiate student awareness and actions, gender and place of residence (on campus/off campus) play a significant role, helping shape tailored strategies and projects to capitalize on students’ predispositions to engage (or not) in environment-related activities.

Suggested Citation

  • Mariana Cernicova-Buca & Gabriel-Mugurel Dragomir & Vasile Gherheș & Adina Palea, 2023. "Students’ Awareness Regarding Environment Protection in Campus Life: Evidence from Romania," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(23), pages 1-18, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:23:p:16444-:d:1291421
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/23/16444/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/23/16444/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Minou Ella Mebane & Maura Benedetti & Daniela Barni & Donata Francescato, 2023. "Promoting Climate Change Awareness with High School Students for a Sustainable Community," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-15, July.
    2. Vasile Gherheș & Mariana Cernicova-Buca & Marcela Alina Fărcașiu & Adina Palea, 2021. "Romanian Students’ Environment-Related Routines during COVID-19 Home Confinement: Water, Plastic, and Paper Consumption," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(15), pages 1-24, August.
    3. Michele Micheletti & Dietlind Stolle, 2012. "Sustainable Citizenship and the New Politics of Consumption," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 644(1), pages 88-120, November.
    4. Giulia Sonetti & Patrizia Lombardi & Lorenzo Chelleri, 2016. "True Green and Sustainable University Campuses? Toward a Clusters Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(1), pages 1-23, January.
    5. Cristina I. Fernandes & Pedro Mota Veiga & João J.M. Ferreira & Mathew Hughes, 2021. "Green growth versus economic growth: Do sustainable technology transfer and innovations lead to an imperfect choice?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 2021-2037, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ferreira, Joao J. & Fernandes, Cristina I. & Veiga, Pedro Mota & Caputo, Andrea, 2022. "The interactions of entrepreneurial attitudes, abilities and aspirations in the (twin) environmental and digital transitions? A dynamic panel data approach," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    2. Andrea Okanović & Jelena Ješić & Vladimir Đaković & Simonida Vukadinović & Andrea Andrejević Panić, 2021. "Increasing University Competitiveness through Assessment of Green Content in Curriculum and Eco-Labeling in Higher Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-20, January.
    3. Aldieri, Luigi & Bruno, Bruna & Makkonen, Teemu & Vinci, Concetto Paolo, 2023. "Environmental innovations, geographically mediated knowledge spillovers, economic and environmental performance," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    4. Yongqin Niu, 2024. "RETRACTED ARTICLE: Toward a greener energy transition: examining the effects of circular economy and carbon footprint for sustainable development," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 1-22, April.
    5. Alberto Burchi & Bogdan Włodarczyk & Marek Szturo & Duccio Martelli, 2021. "The Effects of Financial Literacy on Sustainable Entrepreneurship," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-21, April.
    6. Daniela M. Salvioni & Simona Franzoni & Raffaella Cassano, 2017. "Sustainability in the Higher Education System: An Opportunity to Improve Quality and Image," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-27, May.
    7. Xiaoxue Liu & Fuzhen Cao & Shuangshuang Fan, 2022. "Does Human Capital Matter for China’s Green Growth?—Examination Based on Econometric Model and Machine Learning Methods," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-27, September.
    8. Lin, Boqiang & Ullah, Sami, 2023. "Towards the goal of going green: Do green growth and innovation matter for environmental sustainability in Pakistan," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
    9. Wang, Feipeng & Wong, Wing-Keung & Wang, Zheng & Albasher, Gadah & Alsultan, Nouf & Fatemah, Ambreen, 2023. "Emerging pathways to sustainable economic development: An interdisciplinary exploration of resource efficiency, technological innovation, and ecosystem resilience in resource-rich regions," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PA).
    10. Wafa Alwakid & Sebastian Aparicio & David Urbano, 2021. "The Influence of Green Entrepreneurship on Sustainable Development in Saudi Arabia: The Role of Formal Institutions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(10), pages 1-23, May.
    11. Manuel Muñoz-Suárez & Natividad Guadalajara & José M. Osca, 2020. "A Comparative Analysis between Global University Rankings and Environmental Sustainability of Universities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-19, July.
    12. Dario Cottafava & Giulia Sonetti & Paolo Gambino & Andrea Tartaglino, 2018. "Explorative Multidimensional Analysis for Energy Efficiency: DataViz versus Clustering Algorithms," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-18, May.
    13. Giulia Sonetti & Caterina Barioglio & Daniele Campobenedetto, 2020. "Education for Sustainability in Practice: A Review of Current Strategies within Italian Universities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(13), pages 1-24, June.
    14. Pervin Ersoy & Gülmüş Börühan & Sachin Kumar Mangla & Jorge Hernandez Hormazabal & Yigit Kazancoglu & Çisem Lafcı, 2022. "Impact of information technology and knowledge sharing on circular food supply chains for green business growth," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(5), pages 1875-1904, July.
    15. Rosa Puertas & Luisa Marti, 2019. "Sustainability in Universities: DEA-GreenMetric," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(14), pages 1-17, July.
    16. Bucher, Florian & Scheu, Lucas & Schröpf, Benedikt, 2022. "Economic complexity and environmental pollution: Evidence from the former socialist transition countries," Discussion Papers 124, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Chair of Labour and Regional Economics.
    17. Donato, Carmela & Monsurrò, Luigi & Di Cioccio, Martina, 2024. "A matter of identity: Promoting plant-based food among meat-eaters through a common identity priming," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    18. Ze, Fu & Yu, Wence & Ali, Anis & Hishan, Sanil S. & Muda, Iskandar & Khudoykulov, Khurshid, 2023. "Influence of natural resources, ICT, and financial globalization on economic growth: Evidence from G10 countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    19. Carolin V. Zorell, 2022. "Central Persons in Sustainable (Food) Consumption," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-17, March.
    20. Awais, Minahil & Afzal, Ayesha & Firdousi, Saba & Hasnaoui, Amir, 2023. "Is fintech the new path to sustainable resource utilisation and economic development?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:23:p:16444-:d:1291421. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.