Ecological awareness of university students about UN sustainable development goals at global, national and regional levels

Abstract

The article presents a research of the ecological awareness of young people studying at universities. The research was carried out in the framework of global issues, including environmental, presented as goals in the United Nations program of 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The UN SDGs is a comprehensive global framework for the better future of the planet and its people aimed at solving urgent problems in the world and adopted by global community. The authors conducted a sociological survey of university students living mostly in the South-West of Siberia about their knowledge of the Sustainable Development Goals and understanding of global problems that humanity is facing. They questioned the respondents about their opinion on the priority of global issues – what problems must be solved first of all: environmental, social or economic. The problems in the questionnaire were presented in the wording of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The respondents have chosen the most urgent problems at global, national and regional levels. Their priorities were not the same at different levels. At the same time the research have shown that many university students in the surveyed region do not know about the United Nations program of 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which began in 2015 and has been in progress already for four years. To study young people’s attitude to solving global problems, the university students were asked if they can help and what they can personally do in that respect. The survey revealed active position of many students toward ecological and other problems. The results of the research were analyzed and presented in the form of seven tables.