Environmental Literacy Level Comparison of Undergraduates in the Conventional and ODLs Universities in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Developing positive attitudes by upgrading the environmental literacy level is very important to protect nature from anthropogenic pressures. This study evaluates existing knowledge, awareness, attitude and behavior, perceived issues, and solutions of undergraduates on major environmental issues of two national universities with different teaching methods of the Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL: open distance learning) and the University of Peradeniya (UP: conventional). A questionnaire survey (29 structured and 04 open-ended items) was adapted with 800 undergraduates of engineering, science, management, law, and arts/ social sciences disciplines. We computerized descriptive statistics, such as frequency and cross-tabulation, and mean comparison using the SPSS software. The results showed that there was no significant difference (p > 0.05) of existing environmental knowledge in undergraduates of two universities. However, there was a significant difference in undergraduates’ family income (F = 5.387, p < 0.001) and family educational background (p < 0.05) with environmental knowledge. School education played a main role in building environmental concepts for undergraduates. The environmental attitude and behavior of both student groups showed a fairly favorable status. The majority of respondents suggested that TV and radio were the most effective media for environmental awareness. Undergraduates of the OUSL and UP were more interested in “tree planting”/ “gardening” (22.7%) and “hiking (mountain climbing)” (25.7%), respectively. Both OUSL and UP groups recognized “global warming” as the major global environmental issue and air pollution as the local issue. This study highlights the importance of building environmental knowledge among undergraduates, mainly on global and local environmental issues, to improve sustainable environment management.