Flinders University
EN-4: Sustainability Culture Assessment

Flinders University staff and students have conducted various sustainability-related surveys within the last three years to allow for a broader understanding of the University's sustrainability culture. 

Commuter survey
In 2022, the University published a commuter survey to all staff and students to gather data on their commuting behaviour and experience to and from campus. The survey comprised of 19 questions including the primary mode of transport used to get to campus, reasons for not using alternative transports to driving and transport options they would consider in the future to get to campus if it was safe, feasible, and convenient. 

Sustainability Strategy survey
For the development of the 2030 Sustainability Strategy, students and staff were asked to provide feedback on sustainability initiatives that should be incorporated in the strategy. This covered areas such as research, graduate skills, emissions offsetting, sustainable transport, resource recovery, land and water management, sustainability engaement initiatives, responsible investment, lower carbon and efficient campuses. Importantly, it asked students about factors which influenced their decision to study at Flinders University.

Waste Management survey
A group of third year undergraduate students who took the STEM3001 Science Connect topic conducted a waste management survey in 2023. The aim of this survey was to gain an understanding on students' attitude, behaviour and knowledge on waste, and to gather feedback on strategies to increase resource recovery on campus. 

The 2022 Commuter Survey recieved 2629 responses (798 from staff and 1494 from students). 66% indicated they travel by car, 5% took public transport, 4% cycle, 4% walk, and 1% travelled by EV to and from campus. 66% said they would consider switching transport if there were better (available and practical) options. The top 3 reasons for not using alternative transport are: driving provides more flexibility (convenience), walking, biking or public transport requires more effort (time), there is no direct public transport route (lack of options).

The 2030 Sustainability Strategy survey had 1044 responses (635 students and 409 staff). A key finding is that when asked about factors in deciding where to study, students ranked the University's sustainability commitments more important than cost the of tuition and rankings.

The waste management survey recieved 120 responses from a range of demographics across the Bedford and Tonsley campuses. When students were asked what statement best described their attitude towards sorting their waste at Flinders, 71.7% of students answered that they wanted to recycle even if it required additional effort; 11.7% students admitted that they wanted to recycle if it did not require additional effort; and 16.7% of  students wanted to recycle but got confused. No students answered that they did not recycle. Furthermore, eight terms were posed to students to which they had to choose which ones they confidently knew the definition of. The top term that students were familiar with was compostable (93%) and the lowest two were hierarchy of waste and wish-cycling (7% and 5% respectively).

The Commuter survey is conducted every two to three years and numerical change comparisons are provided in results of subsequent rounds. This survey supports the planning department. 
The waste survey is run on an ad hoc basis when there is a specific interest, for example after a change of policy, marketing campaign or new signage. This is usually run by students as part of the STEM3001 (Science Connect) topic.

The Sustainability Strategy survey was a one-off survey, as part of establishing the new Strategy. However, one of the inistiatives in the Strategy is to "Assess campus sustainability culture with focus on sustainability values, behaviours and beliefs' (managed by Properties, Faclities and Development, on page 16, as part of Pillar 3 Parnerships and Engagement). 

To estimate the number of students assessed for sustainability culture, the highest number of student responses was taken from one of the three surveys conducted within the last three years (EN4.1). This figure was then divided by the total number of students in that year. Thus, the percentage is 5% based on the commuter survey which recieved 1494 student responses out of 25,692 total students (on campus, mixed and fully online) in 2022.

To estimate the number of employees assessed for sustainability culture, the highest number of employee responses was taken from one of the three surveys conducted within the last three years. This figure was then divided by the total number of employees in that year. Thus, the percentage is 20.7% based on the commuter survey completion number of 798 and from a total population of 3854 employees (including parttime and casual staff, in 2022).