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

Electrically Savvy or Not? Tentative Portrait of the Romanian Student as a Consumer of Electric Devices and Utilities

“…To obtain the desired profile of students as consumers of electrical utilities and devices, the analysis was carried out along the following variables: sociodemographic and tools [51]. In the sociodemographic set, the participants are of similar ages and level of education, two features having the potential of influencing the results: gender and place of residence [12]. The tools variable refers to the use of the amenities in homes or on campus, including the use of electrical equipment (type, availability, frequency) and the acknowledged energy-related behavior.…”

“…There are researchers whose findings point to the fact that students exhibit a continuum type of attitude at home and on campus [33] (p. 348), in the sense that behaviors that manifest at their homes in terms of energy saving, for instance, are perpetuated in the university environment. However, other studies show that students who live on campus have more environmentally conscious behavior than those who live in the city [12]. Actual behavior depends on the type of energy culture that students embrace.…”

“…Compared to the total number of approximately 13,000 Politehnica students, the margin error was estimated at ±3.3%. The sample was randomly stratified, and stratified by gender and place of residence-data that proved to bear weight in determining student behaviors [12]. Two balanced comparable groups were obtained, the final sample including 511 women and 512 men, with an average age of 22.92 years, and a distribution of 511 people living off-campus and 512 in on-campus residences.…”

“…The variation between the lowest and the highest consumptions can be interpreted in connection with the specific features of each residence in terms of orientation, exposure to the sun, insulation, and footage of the floors, but also depending on the consumption habits of the residents themselves. Future research should analyze, in-depth, these features, to identify potential areas of intervention in the pursuit of a strategy to green the campus [12].…”

“…However, the current energy crisis, the constant increase in electricity prices, and the commitment of educational institutions to pursue sustainability goals, in addition to educational and research tasks, have altered the forecast electricity plans and budgets of university campuses, which, at least in Europe, represent almost 50% of the total building demand [11]. Many universities ensure student housing on campuses [12], residential living resembling domestic homes, but also bearing specific features: seasonal occupancy, shared access to bathrooms, kitchens, study rooms, etc. [13].…”