Higher Education (HE) has a key role to play in educating ‘leaders for the future’ (Martin and Jucker, 2005), and there is an increasing expectation that HE should equip graduates with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to enable them to respond appropriately to sustainability challenges. Whilst many students are exposed to opportunities in learning for sustainability through formal university curricula, there is significant variation depending upon the course studied. Nonetheless, there are some signs that universities are seeking to integrate sustainability concerns not just into curricula, but also campus management and community relations – freeing up opportunities for informal learning across the disciplines (Sterling et al., 2013). At least in the UK, there is also some evidence of a correlation between young people’s participation in HE and subsequent commitment to environmental sustainability when other factors are held constant (Cotton and Alcock, 2012).

Energy-saving forms an important part of efforts to enhance sustainability on campus, yet little is known about the levels of energy literacy amongst Europe’s HE students. The development of students’ energy literacy has received relatively little attention in the research literature, and the European context is under-explored, with most previous research in the US. Findings here suggest that students’ understanding of energy is often patchy, with high concern but lower knowledge and skills (DeWaters and Powers, 2011). Moreover, where energy issues do appear, this is mainly in the context of campus greening or energy-reduction schemes, particularly in student residences. The focus of many of these schemes is predominantly behaviour change rather than wider energy literacy, an emphasis that may have important implications for the longer-term impact of any such changes. According to DeWaters and Powers (2011), energy literacy should empower ‘students to make informed energy-related choices as they go about their daily life’ (p.10), and should include:

• Knowledge and understanding about energy, its use and impact on environment and society (cognitive);
• Appropriate attitudes and values, for example, on existence of global issues and the significance of personal decisions and actions (affective); and
• Appropriate intentions/behaviours, for example to promote energy conservation, make thoughtful decisions, advocate change (conative).

This paper reports on research which explored these dimensions of energy literacy in the student population at three European universities (two in the UK and one in Portugal). It builds on an earlier study at Plymouth University which suggested that - even in this leading institution in terms of sustainability performance - there remained scope for further development to enhance energy literacy (Cotton et al., 2013). Findings of this study suggested that exposure to energy issues in the curriculum was patchy, only a minority of students were involved through extra-curricular activities, and gaps in knowledge meant behavioural choices were not always the most effective at energy saving. In addition, energy-saving initiatives on campus were often unseen by students, and there are indications of ‘mixed messages’ being received which could undermine efficacy. Bournemouth and Beira Interior also carried out a previous comparative study about general environmental values, attitudes and behaviours (Shiel and Paço, 2012). The study of specific environmental issues as in the case of energy literacy is now the aim.

The current study involves repeating the Plymouth survey (in early 2014), in collaboration with Bournemouth, UK and University of Beira Interior, Portugal. This allows some longitudinal comparability, as well as comparison with other UK and European HEIs. It is envisaged that in future years the survey could be rolled out more widely, thus providing a useful temporal/spatial dataset for researchers in the area of energy literacy and sustainable development within European HE, an area where little literature currently exists.

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