Integrating waste management and pollution control in tertiary vocation education programmes : case studies

Abstract

Strategies to minimise pollution and environmental damage must start with the training of students ready to take their places in industry.

These case studies show that by immersing students in the practicalities of waste management, they acquire a deeper understanding of the wider principles of pollution control. Degree students had to climb into waste bins, analyse the contents and research recycling opportunities. To investigate the extent to which this process had made an impact on them, they completed a questionnaire which explored their attitudes in relation to waste management and to the way in which they had been introduced to the topic.

A second case study examined the views of International students about sustainability. Both studies showed that they considered the subject valuable and would apply wider principles of sustainability once they were employed in their chosen profession and in their own countries.