Education occupies an important place among the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. It plays a role in the process of spreading awareness of the concept—its directions, meaning, and goals. According to the idea of the SDG, it is to be universally available to the world’s communities, with the aim of bridging social inequalities, as well as increasing the capacity for responsible functioning and development. The authors of this study believe that knowledge about sustainable development is crucial for shaping social attitudes that determine the uninterrupted development of the world’s economies towards sustainability. In their opinion, it is essential to pay particular attention to ensuring sustainable competences in the education process, which is aimed at preparing staff to perform professional roles in the socio-economic sphere and to be competent in the field of sustainable development. Hence, the aim of this study is to examine the level of awareness of students from selected higher education schools in Poland in this area. The study was conducted on the basis of a diagnostic survey, and the analysis of the results was carried out using qualitative methods, as well as quantitative methods in an in-depth study (logistic regression, supported by PQStat software version 1.8.4.164. The research results indicated that the surveyed students’ knowledge of sustainable development is good, as confirmed by 91% of responses. A key factor in strengthening this knowledge is the educational process implemented as part of their studies (64% of responses). Events supporting the teaching process, such as conferences or meetings with experts, are particularly important for shaping this knowledge. This indicates a high level of student motivation to explore this knowledge and apply it to a model of social behavior, which is rated as responsible by 94% of respondents. In-depth research confirms the above. The odds ratio of 12.994 with a confidence interval of −95% CI: 1.894–+95% CI: 3.238 for the factor of scientific events in the process of supporting green education demonstrates the significance of the findings. Strengthening green education with thematic scientific events is, therefore, an attractive and anticipated form of gaining knowledge on the SDGs by students, and undertaking these events is a recommendation resulting from the presented research. These results are important for modeling sustainable education in terms of the development potential of human resources.
Chomać-Pierzecka et al. (2026) studied this question.