Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 76.79
Liaison Mike Wilson
Submission Date Jan. 27, 2017
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

University of Victoria
EN-6: Assessing Sustainability Culture

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.50 / 1.00
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution conduct an assessment of sustainability culture (i.e. the assessment focuses on sustainability values, behaviors and beliefs, and may also address awareness of campus sustainability initiatives)?:
Yes

Which of the following best describes the cultural assessment? The assessment is administered to::
The entire campus community (students, staff and faculty), directly or by representative sample

Which of the following best describes the structure of the cultural assessment? The assessment is administered::
Without a follow-up assessment of the same cohort or representative samples of the same population

A brief description of how and when the cultural assessment(s) were developed and/or adopted:
The Sustainability Literacy Assessment was released in Jan 2015 and was created in collaboration with Prism Engineering, who provides support and consultation on energy conservation initiatives through BC Hydro. NOTE: One third of this assessment pertains to sustainability values, beliefs and behaviours. This assessment was made available to the entire campus community and participants were automatically entered in for a draw for UVic Bookstore gift certificates. The assessment is located on the homepage of uvic.ca/sustainability and was also distributed through direct emails to faculty and a paid social media advertisement to reach each campus demographic. Link to survey: http://fluidsurveys.com/s/u-vic-survey-jan-2015/

A copy or sample of the questions related to sustainability culture:
A sample of the questions related to sustainability culture or the website URL where the assessment tool is available:
See attached file for survey questions and results.

A brief description of how representative samples were reached (if applicable) and how the cultural assessment is administered:
NOTE: The survey (although titled literacy) includes at last 1/3 of questions that refer to sustainability behavours. The online survey is hosted on uvic.ca/sustainability but was distributed using several methods to ensure that a representative sample from the three main campus demographics were included (students, faculty, and staff). To reach faculty and staff, emails were distributed through lists of compiled contacts. For the greater student population, the survey was sent to student groups and posted on social media. Furthermore, a paid advertisement was placed on Facebook to increase the reach. This resulted in a representative sample of staff, students, and faculty.

A brief summary of results from the cultural assessment, including a description of any measurable changes over time:
Summary of results (Jan-Apr 2015): Participation: 176 total responses, represents the 3 major groups on campus (students, staff, faculty), there was representation from every faculty Campaign awareness: a large proportion was unaware of the listed initiatives. However, this was expected because the initiatives were highly targeted to specific groups. Behaviours: this was highly varied depending on the action. See report for more details. General knowledge: Participants were observed to have a very strong understanding of local and global sustainability information and issues

Optional Fields 

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
---

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.