Urban University Students’ Knowledge, Attitudes, and Learning Feedback on Sustainable Development Goals: Evidence from a Multi-Region Survey in China

This study aims to systematically assess urban Chinese college students’ awareness and depth of understanding of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), examine how digital media exposure and academic discipline shape SDG-related cognitive development, and provide empirical evidence to inform the design of sustainable development education in higher education institutions. A questionnaire survey was administered in China. Descriptive statistics, multinomial logistic regression, path analysis, and correlation analysis were employed to examine the relationships among digital media use, urban context, disciplinary background, and SDG cognition. The results are as follows. Digital media exposure and city tier were both associated with variations in SDG cognition, and a significant nonlinear threshold was observed at approximately two hours of daily media use. A clear threshold effect emerges, with students using digital media for more than two hours per day demonstrating markedly higher cognitive levels. Although overall awareness is relatively high, knowledge remains broad but superficial, with weaker understanding of ecological and collaborative goals. Disciplinary differences are evident—medical and agricultural students show stronger comprehension, while arts and humanities students lag behind—yet support for interdisciplinary collaboration is substantial. Participation in SDG-related learning activities significantly enhances attitudinal and behavioral change. This study advances the literature by integrating digital media exposure, urban hierarchy, and academic discipline into a unified analytical framework to explain variations in SDG cognition among Chinese urban college students. It identifies a significant media use threshold effect (over two hours per day) that enhances cognitive accumulation, revealing a nonlinear mechanism rarely examined in prior research. By uncovering disciplinary heterogeneity and the relative weakness in ecological and collaborative goal awareness, the study moves beyond descriptive assessments to provide targeted, evidence-based implications for curriculum design and interdisciplinary sustainable development education in higher education institutions.