Asee peer logo

Measuring Sustainability Literacy in Undergraduate and Graduate Engineering Students in a Colombian University

Download Paper |

Conference

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Baltimore , Maryland

Publication Date

June 25, 2023

Start Date

June 25, 2023

End Date

June 28, 2023

Conference Session

International Division (INTL) Technical Session #1: Global Competency

Tagged Division

International Division (INTL)

Page Count

11

DOI

10.18260/1-2--43572

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/43572

Download Count

168

Request a correction

Paper Authors

biography

Sandra Jennina Sanchez Florida International University

visit author page

Ph.D. student in Higher Education at Florida International University. Ph.D. in Business Competitiveness and Economic Development from University of Deusto in Spain. Master of Business Administration (MBA) from University of Dallas, Texas. B.S. in Business Administration from Externado University in Colombia. Bilingual in English, and Spanish.
Expert in transforming educational models, with 12 years of experience in the education sector, managing and leading programs of high academic recognition and international positioning. 10 years of business experience in financial and administrative areas, leading organizational change management processes

visit author page

author page

Milton Januario Rueda

author page

Douglas L. Robertson Florida International University

Download Paper |

Abstract

The role of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and engineering programs is crucial in the effort of creating sustainable awareness for building a prosperous and equitable society for all. Improving Sustainability Literacy (SL) worldwide contributes to both the advancement of Education for Sustainable Development and the progress of Sustainable Development Goals. Given the noteworthy contribution of both sustainability literacy and engineering programs in building a sustainable future for all, this paper aims to measure sustainability knowledge and to make comparisons among the educational levels of students enrolled in engineering programs such as undergraduate, master, and Ph.D. The sample is composed of 94 students from engineering programs at all levels of higher education: undergraduate, master, and doctoral engineering related programs in an ABET accredited university in Bogota, Colombia. The instrument used in this study is the Sustainability Literacy Test (Sulitest), a standardized assessment tool endorsed by the United Nations to measure the level of sustainability knowledge. The instrument has been administered through an online platform to examine the state of Sustainability Literacy of the Engineering students in both undergraduate and graduate academic programs. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied to test the hypotheses and make comparisons. The results show statistically significant differences of sustainability knowledge scores between students from undergraduate and graduate levels. An unexpected finding involved the effect of generation on sustainability literacy. The sample’s undergraduates come from Generation Z, students who were born from 1993 to 2005, while the sample’s graduate students (Ph.D. and Masters) come from Generation Y, students who were born from 1977 to 1993. Generation Z has a significantly higher sustainability literacy than Generation Y, regardless of education level. Within Generation Y (when generation is held constant), education level (Ph.D. or Masters) explains differences in sustainability literacy, with Ph.D. being significantly higher than Masters. The findings provide significant insights to understand students’ sustainability knowledge in higher education institutions and strengthen the design of future sustainable global engineering courses.

Sanchez, S. J., & Rueda, M. J., & Robertson, D. L. (2023, June), Measuring Sustainability Literacy in Undergraduate and Graduate Engineering Students in a Colombian University Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--43572

ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2023 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015