Perceptions and Attitudes of Nigerian undergraduates to sustainable development in some selected universities
Abstract
United Nations advocates the use of education as a tool to drive sustainable development. This study aims to examine the impact the introduction of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) has had on undergraduates in Nigeria. A survey involving 536 undergraduates from four selected Nigerian universities was conducted, to examine their perceptions and attitudes toward sustainable development concepts. The result revealed that the inclusion of sustainable development into the curricula of the selected universities brought about positive perceptions of the sustainable development concepts, as seen in the responses of a large proportion (> 74%) of the respondents. Respondents’ attitudes to the sustainable development concepts were largely positive (> 69%), thus showing that desired behaviour that promotes sustainability would be adopted. This study recommends the creation of sustainability centres in Nigerian universities to encourage undergraduates to undertake research that promotes sustainability. Also, the National Universities Commission should ensure that all Nigerian universities include ESD in their curricula.
Kigali Institute of Education (KIE) was issued with copyright registration Certificate No. Rw-C10000866 by the Office of the Registrar General in accordance to the Rwandan IPR Law No. 31/2009.
N.B.: KIE is now a College of Education, constituent of the University of Rwanda in accordance to the Rwandan Law No. 71/2013 of 10/09/2013 establishing the University of Rwanda (UR), and the College of Education as shown on its website: http://www.ce.ur.ac.rw/
