sustainability Article Environmental Literacy Level Comparison of Undergraduates in the Conventional and ODLs Universities in Sri Lanka Janaka Kuruppuarachchi 1,*, Vineetha Sayakkarage 2 and Buddhika Madurapperuma 3 1 Department of Botany, The Open University of Sri Lanka, Nawala 10250, Sri Lanka 2 Kandy Regional Center, The Open University of Sri Lanka, Kandy 20000, Sri Lanka;
[email protected] 3 Department of Environmental Science & Management, Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA 95521, USA;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +94-071-801-1982 Abstract: Developing positive attitudes by upgrading the environmental literacy level is very im- portant to protect nature from anthropogenic pressures. This study evaluates existing knowledge, awareness, attitude and behavior, perceived issues, and solutions of undergraduates on major envi- ronmental issues of two national universities with different teaching methods of the Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL: open distance learning) and the University of Peradeniya (UP: conventional). A questionnaire survey (29 structured and 04 open-ended items) was adapted with 800 undergradu- ates of engineering, science, management, law, and arts/ social sciences disciplines. We computerized descriptive statistics, such as frequency and cross-tabulation, and mean comparison using the SPSS software. The results showed that there was no significant difference (p > 0.05) of existing environ- mental knowledge in undergraduates of two universities. However, there was a significant difference in undergraduates’ family income (F = 5.387, p < 0.001) and family educational background (p < 0.05) with environmental knowledge. School education played a main role in building environmental Citation: Kuruppuarachchi, J.; Sayakkarage, V.; Madurapperuma, B. concepts for undergraduates. The environmental attitude and behavior of both student groups Environmental Literacy Level showed a fairly favorable status.