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Fostering Student Engagement with the AMS Sustainability Action Plan (ASAP)

University of British Columbia. Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability; University of British Columbia. Alma Mater Society; University of British Columbia. Campus and Community Planning

The current UBC AMS Sustainability Strategy lacks goals that the contemporary student body prioritizes, and can be improved by the integration of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs). This study aimed to obtain student feedback to analyze the focus areas most valued by those the AMS represents, and what information dissemination methods students prefer with regards to sustainability progress within the AMS. A Qualtrics survey was distributed via social media and email newsletters, and was completed by 93 UBC students and alumni. The survey included questions asking participants to report familiarity with sustainability focus areas, AMS sustainability initiatives, the UNSDGs, and their perceived importance of sustainability focus areas. Participants were also asked to report preferred information dissemination methods. After conducting paired-sample t tests, we found that students did not place greater importance on focus areas that directly impacted student wellbeing, such as economic and social sustainability, but found that students were not familiar with these focus areas and current AMS sustainability initiatives. We also observed that participants preferred the most convenient dissemination methods. These findings suggest that lack of familiarity with sustainability focus areas may impact their perceived importance, and if information is made easily accessible, students are more likely to engage. Disclaimer: “UBC SEEDS provides students with the opportunity to share the findings of their studies, as well as their opinions, conclusions and recommendations with the UBC community. The reader should bear in mind that this is a student project/report and is not an official document of UBC. Furthermore readers should bear in mind that these reports may not reflect the current status of activities at UBC. We urge you to contact the research persons mentioned in a report or the SEEDS Coordinator about the current status of the subject matter of a project/report.”

Report

eng

2020-08-12

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/75436

Unreviewed

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/