Environmental awareness of University Students in Ankara, Turkey

This study aims to present environmental sensitivity and awareness of university students. The first and fourth year students of landscape architecture, town and regional planning and environmental engineering undergraduate programs at universities throughout Ankara, Turkey were selected as participants since these programs’ curricula focus on environment. A questionnaire survey was applied to 212 students face to face. Research findings show that even though students take many courses on the environmental issues, their environmental awareness and environmentally responsible behaviors are lower than the expected and students’ grades show no significance on the results. It is concluded that environmental knowledge do not always influence awareness and behavioral intentions,  a national strategy is needed for environmental education in higher education, and current curricula should be reconsidered in terms of effectiveness.   Key words:  Environmental awareness, environmental sensitivity, environmental education, higher education.