Green campus awareness in cross-cultural contexts: Analyzing national and gender differences between Korean and Indian university students

This study aims to compare and analyze the perceptions of green campus initiatives among Korean and Indian university students, with a particular focus on the influence of nationality and gender in five key areas: environmental awareness, environmental behavior, perceived need, willingness to participate, and support for green campus policies. A total of 94 participants were surveyed, including Korean students majoring in Indian Studies and Indian students majoring in Korean Studies. SPSS 21.0 was used to analyze the significance of nationality and gender differences using independent t-tests and two-way ANOVAs. The results showed that female students had significantly higher levels of environmental awareness and behavior compared to male students, and Indian students consistently outperformed their Korean counterparts in all five domains, with a mean score difference of more than one point, especially for willingness to participate and policy support. While the gender-nationality interaction effect was not statistically significant in most cases, the study found strong country-specific effects. This suggests that environmental awareness and engagement are deeply influenced by the broader sociocultural and policy context. These findings highlight the importance of developing culturally tailored and gender-specific educational programs to promote sustainability in higher education.