What does sustainability really mean to Maltese University students?

Abstract

Sustainability is a complex concept that can be interpreted in a variety of ways, and that is also affected by temporal and spatial frames of reference. The scope of this study was to examine what Maltese University students understand by sustainability, while also exploring their temporal and spatial orientation and prevalent environmental attitudes. This was carried out through questionnaire surveys with 368 students administered in person on the University of Malta campus. The questionnaire included an open-ended question and three pre-determined scales, with these respectively testing future orientation, spatial bias and environmental attitudes. Demographic data was also collected. Results showed that University students most commonly exhibited ecocentric attitudes, whilst environmental apathy was least prevalent. Ecocentric attitudes were found to be more common amongst women than men. Furthermore, students generally had a temporal orientation which took future scenarios into account, with this most evident amongst older students. Lastly, it was found that the phenomenon of spatial optimism noted in the literature is not present amongst Maltese students; on the contrary, these exhibited spatial pessimism. The student body rated environmental conditions of their localities and of Malta generally as worse than the same condition on a global scale. Older students were also more critical than younger students. These findings can be improved on in future by extending the study to the wider Maltese public and by incorporating additional dimensions of sustainability.