Toward a Sustainable Future

Zayed University is a national and regional leader in educational innovation. Bearing the name of the Founder of the Nation. the late HH Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the university was established in 1998. Zayed University offers globally recognised bachelor degrees in Arts and Sciences, Business, Education, IT and Media.

The Department of Life and Environmental Sciences in the College of Natural and Health Sciences (CNHS) at the Zayed University (ZU) offers undergraduate students a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree in Environmental Science and Sustainability (ESS). The ESS programme was established in response to the UAE’s rapidly expanding environmental needs for graduates with a broad multidisciplinary approach to identifying and addressing the complex, intertwined requirements of modern society while maintaining a sustainable relationship with the natural environment. The department offers a high quality, interdisciplinary programme that prepares undergraduate students with the knowledge and skills to assume professional roles to address local and global environmental issues in line with the UAE’s National Strategic Plan 2021 for a sustainable environment and infrastructure.

The department aims to achieve national and international recognition in Environmental Science and Sustainability practices through innovation, highquality education and research.
Research and service wise, the college has a very active team of faculty members and associates who work hard to reach out to the community, government and industrial sectors to provide help in key areas. These include: public health, nutrition, psychology, water management, water security, sustainable water production, environmental air and noise quality and assessment, waste management, energy from waste, energy options, energy policy, climate change, ecosystems, marine pollution, natural resource management and environmental innovation amongst others. Zayed University has been with the Sustainable Campus Initiative (SCI) since its inception in 2014. They have undertaken Green Campus Audit (GCA) and the Sustainability Action Projects (SAPs) which reached out to the community.
One of their awareness projects aimed at reducing packaged water consumption.

Project Overview:

• The project was designed to assess the behaviour of Zayed University students in terms of packaged water consumption. In an attempt to fill the gap in research about sustainable practices on college campuses in the UAE, this study was conducted to assess water bottle consumption at Zayed University.
• Examine the rate of packaged water consumption usage versus tap water consumption among the male and female college students.
• Encourage students to reduce use of packaged water.
• Spread awareness in the Zayed University community about plastic bottles and their adverse effects on human health and environment.

Method

• A sample survey was conducted for students over 17 years of age.
• The sample size was 500. The sample was heavily skewed in favour of females (473) with respect to male students (27). This was due to the fact that male and female campuses in the college are separate.
• Statistically, even though the males surveyed were fewer in number, it was possible to draw gender based
• conclusions.
• Students were chosen from the faculties of Environmental Sciences and Sustainability, Psychology, Public Health and Nutrition, Business, Arts, and Computer Sciences.
• In addition to a basic statistical analysis of frequencies, an analysis of the difference in attitudes towards alternative water consumption on college campuses by gender and water consumption behaviour was made.

Key Outcomes and Learnings

• This study examines the young adult population in the emirate, which influences the future course of the UAE and sustainability and their commitments to reducing Climate Change.
• The results of this study will help to fill the gap in literature on UAE consumer behaviour, a driving force for Environmental Policy.
• There is a significant association between water bottle consumption by gender and knowledge of sustainable campus initiatives (p=0.039).
• There is a significant difference between the behaviours of environmental and non-environmental majors whose households used disposable or reusable water bottles (p=0.043).