Changes in University Students’ Understanding of Plastic Challenges and Sustainability Competencies Following Internships

This study explores changes in university students’ understanding of plastic-related environmental challenges and sustainability competencies following internships. Using a qualitative pre-post design, we analysed questionnaire responses from 16 students who completed six-week internships in Norwegian companies working with plastic challenges. Thematic analysis showed changes in knowledge related to environmental, societal, and economic impacts of marine plastics, and potential solutions and challenges. We identified changes in expressed knowledge related to disciplinary, critical and normative, creative and strategic, systems, and interpersonal and communication competencies. Students primarily demonstrated practice-oriented knowledge, such as familiarity with technologies, sustainability principles and stakeholder engagement, while reflective, ethical, and global dimensions remained less evident in students’ responses. These findings suggest that real-world learning may support the development of applied knowledge and professional skills, while underscoring the need for integrating internships with academic reflection to support competence-related knowledge concerning systemic sustainability challenges. Engagement with authentic sustainability challenges was associated with increased expression of scientific knowledge aligned with scientific literacy, suggesting that internships may serve as learning experiences associated with sustainability competencies. We argue that higher education institutions should strengthen experiential learning and industry collaboration to link theory and practice and prepare students to contribute to sustainability work in practice.