In order to obtain some basic information useful for promoting the future of Higher Education for Sustainable Development (HESD), the present study attempted to grasp the awareness toward a sustainable future among university students through Personal Attitude Construct (PAC) analysis. The subjects of research were three university students, and each of them was interviewed separately. First, the interviewer used associative stimulus sentences to test each subject’s awareness towards a “sustainable future.” The investigator then evaluated the subject’s verbal description by PAC analysis.
  The results of the investigation were as follows: (1) The first student, who had no previous volunteer experience, expressed a desire to acquire different kinds of knowledge that would stimulate her interest. (2) Although the second student, who had worked as a volunteer for a while, understood the basis of ESD, he considered the concept of a “sustainable society” questionable. (3) The third student, who was engaged in volunteer activities, appeared to have a good understanding of the relationship between global-scale issues and local familiar issues.
  These findings suggest that, in order to promote HESD in the future, it will be important to establish educational programs that incorporate participatory aspects through which students can grasp the relationship between people and society.

View full abstract

  Landscape is an important element in environmental studies. There have been already many examples of the landscape education. But there are few examples that examine landscape from historical, biological, and cultural perspectives, proposing the further improvement of landscape.
  We conducted an educational program that examined river landscape closely from these different perspectives, using the idea of river landscape to improve university general education.
  In this practice, we used on-the-spot observation of the river, jigsaw method, and poster session.
  This educational program was effective in acquiring the multipronged view of river landscape and the rise of the concern for river landscape.

View full abstract

  The aim of this paper is to examine the formation of university students’ environmental consciousness and behavior. A survey has been given to university students in Japan, China and Malaysia. Those university students’ consciousness and behavior toward the environment are divided into “Environmental consciousness and behavior in daily life” and “Consciousness and behavior to solve environmental issues.” Then, comparative analyses have been conducted. The following were the results: 1) Many of the students have concern for environmental problems and also possess thorough knowledge of them. 2) There is a gap between student’s “Environmental consciousness and behavior in daily life” and “Consciousness and behavior to solve environmental issues.” 3) Students’ consciousness and behavior for environmental problems are related to personal attributes and experiences.

View full abstract