Student Perspectives on Sustainability Report
Student Perspectives on Sustainability at Iowa State University
This research project employed focus groups and a student body survey to understand Iowa State University (ISU) students' perspectives on how well the curriculum and extracurricular activities are preparing them to address the various social, economic and ecological sustainability challenges that society faces. Our data showed that ISU students value sustainability education highly and would like the university to place more emphasis on integrating sustainability into coursework and extracurricular activities. Survey and focus group participants suggested many ways that ISU could incorporate sustainability learning into the ISU experience to better prepare students with the sustainability knowledge and skills needed to face present and future sustainability challenges.
Twenty-one students from multiple colleges participated in focus group discussions between October 2021 and December 2021, and 1,206 students responded to a web-based survey of juniors and seniors conducted between April 18 and May 16, 2022. Our sample represents all colleges offering undergraduate degree programs at Iowa State University.