The Preparedness of Nigerian Built Environment Students Towards Delivering Sustainable Construction

Construction education is the rudimentary requirement for a career path in civil and construction engineering. Since sustainable development was introduced to checkmate environmental degradation, it is imperative to assess the level at which construction students are sustainable literate. This study investigates the level at which built environment students in Nigeria are prepared to produce environmentally sustainable buildings. Primary data for this study was sourced from built environment students from a Nigerian university using a structured questionnaire survey and analysis of data was done descriptively. Also, the data was subjected to a non-parametric test to ascertain if there are any significant differences among the data collected from students of various departments used for this study. The study revealed that built environment students in the study area are only conversant with the basic concepts needed to achieve sustainable development but their understanding ofthe major ingredients and their familiarity with them is insufficient. This is evident in their knowledge deficiency in nanotechnology, smart grid, carbon emissions, sustainable rating systems as well as the practical application of the concept of sustainability. Therefore, efforts must be channeled into making the university curriculums in the built environment more sustainable based through the introduction of independent sustainable construction modules and making efforts to put all issues learned into practice especially in the construction industry as it will facilitate the smooth transition of students into environmentally responsible professionals thus ensuring a balanced built environment in the long run.