Campus community's perception of sustainability initiatives and practices in Universiti Sains Malaysia

Sustainable development is an important foundation in ensuring the well-being of a holistic society and this situation should not only be implemented in a city, but it should also be practiced on a university campus. In this context, the university campus is also considered as a "small town" which forms a community to carry out daily activities. The purpose of this research is to understand the perception of the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) community on the sustainability initiatives and practices in USM. No previous studies have been done to see the extent of involvement and appreciation of sustainable practices in USM campus. This qualitative study employed interviews with 20 respondents who were chosen using purposive sampling. The data were analysed thematically, and findings show that the USM community perceived sustainability as very important and in general they care about sustainability and were involved in the sustainable initiatives and practices in campus. This study concludes that it is pertinent to understand the perception and practice of campus sustainability especially for those responsible on sustainability issues in USM.