What about sustainability? Investigating engineering students’ sustainability awareness and attitude

Abstract

Engineers have a growing contribution towards attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Thus, graduate engineering students’ awareness and attitude will be crucial for dealing with these complex societal challenges. The purpose of this study is to investigate the sustainability awareness (SA) of engineering students from a developing country in comparison to that of those published from developed European countries. It also aims to explore engineering students’ attitudes and willingness to consider sustainability challenges as an important part of their future professional role. We have conducted a quantitative online survey (n=253) with the participation of engineering students from different majors at Bachelors and Masters levels. The data concerning students’ awareness and attitude underwent quantitative statistical analysis and was compared to that in the literature. The data was analyzed using SPSS to investigate differences and similarities between majors and validate its quality. The findings show good levels of SA and lower levels of knowledge in SDGs among engineering students compared to that presented by European studies. Thus, a gap in SDGs’ awareness exists between students from developed and developing countries. However, students’ positive attitudes and willingness to be involved in SDGs’ practices were remarkably high in understanding the leading role of engineers toward achieving the SDGs. Our results confirm engineering students’ motivation and strong positive attitude for resolving sustainability issues in developing countries despite challenging lifestyles. Our findings could be further used by engineering faculties in developing countries to minimize the gap and enhance future engineers’ contribution towards a more sustainable society.