Comparison of environmental responsibility of construction management students based on exposure to sustainability in curricula and on campus

Universities around the world are focusing more on sustainability, not only in their academic education but also in the overall administration of their campuses. Sustainability is becoming more important for both students and the employers hiring them upon graduation. Specifically in programs such as architecture, engineering, and construction management (CM), the focus on environmental responsibility is increasing faster due to increased regulations, codes of ethics, and increasing opportunities for practicing green building knowledge upon graduation. While the efforts both at the curriculum level and at the whole campus level to promote sustainability have been increasing, it is not yet fully determined how effective these approaches are in advancing the environmental responsibility of students. This study presents the results of a survey to measure the environmental responsibility of subjects from three different groups of students studying CM at two different universities with different records of sustainability initiatives. The results of this study reveal that CM programs can significantly strengthen students' environmental responsibility by adding sustainability course(s) into higher education curricula. This study was unable to identify a positive and linear relationship between a university's sustainability record and its students' environmental responsibility.