AWARENESS AND KNOWLEDGE OF THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS (SDGs) AMONG UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN STUDENTS

Abstract

The Sustainable Development Goals otherwise known as the global goals are collection of 17 ambitious goals set by the United Nations which have been ascribed for implementation with a deadline of 2030. Education has been identified as one of the major drivers towards sustainable development and higher educational institutions have been charged with the responsibility of increasing students awareness about the global goals to enable them participate in the implementation. Little research has been conducted in tertiary institutions on this phenomenon. This study was conducted to investigate the level of awareness and knowledge about the Sustainable Development Goals among University of Ibadan students. A descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted among 387 students of the University of Ibadan. The study involved undergraduate and postgraduate students who were selected based on their level of education i.e undergraduate/postgraduate category using a 50 50 ration. Multi-stage probability sampling was used to select respondents from each faculty. Data were collected using a pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire and was analyzed using SPSS version 21. Knowledge was determined using an 18 point knowledge scale which was categorized into good knowledge (>13), fair knowledge (> 7 < 13), poor knowledge < 6 points. Chi-square test was used to determine if there is an association between level of education and knowledge about the SDGs. T-test was used to determine if knowledge occurs differently among undergraduate and postgraduate students. The mean age of the respondents was 23.7+4.0. About two-thirds (66.3%) of the respondents (Male, 42%; Female, 24.4%) were aware of the SDGs, with the major source of information from internet/social media (34.9%) and the University course work (10.1%). Majority of the respondents, 73.0% and 78.6% stated correctly that there are 17 SDGs and the deadline for achieving the goals is year 2030 respectively. Only 48.6% of the respondents correctly defined sustainable development. Only 25.1% of the respondents had “good” knowledge and “fair” knowledge was 23.0%. Good knowledge was associated with higher level of education (p=0.00). Majority of the respondents (77.5%) had positive perception towards implementation of the SDGs and 60.3% opined the goals are achievable by 2030. More than half of the respondents (59.9%) affirmed voluntary contribution towards socio-economic development of their community/town/nation in the areas of education and empowerment, health, poverty eradication and food security and environmental protection among others. However, major constraints to respondents’ volunteerism include: inadequate/ lack of fund to participate in volunteerism (34.6%), time constraint (13.1%) and language barrier (3.4%) among others. The result revealed high level of awareness about the SDGs but low level of knowledge about the goals. This might have negative implication on students’ participation in implementation of the SDGs. It is recommended that SDG related issues should be embedded into the institution’s curriculum and co-curricular activities.