Attitudes of Sultan Qaboos University Students Towards Some Environmental Problems and Their Willingness to Take Action to Reduce Them

This study aims to investigate the attitudes of Sultan Qaboos University students to some environmental problems, and their willingness to take action to ameliorate these problems. Out of a total student population of 1,700, 317 students from five different faculties of the university contributed to the study. The data was collected by using a questionnaire containing 48 items distributed in 5 dimensions: energy, water, air pollution, waste and desertification. Validity and reliability were examined. The results showed generally that the students hold positive attitudes towards the issues raised, and that female students showed more positive attitudes than males. The results also indicate that students’ attitudes towards environmental problems do not appear to be influenced by the university faculties in which they are studying, except in the case of energy, where significant differences were observed between the attitudes of students from the Faculty of Education and the Faculty of Agriculture, the former showing more positive attitudes than the latter. The results also indicate that students are willing to take action to reduce environmental problems; this was not affected by gender or faculty.