How Do Students and Companies Perceive "Sustainability and Career"?
Brain Center and Chiba University released a survey revealing that 90% of students are interested in sustainability, but highlights a lack of practical connection to corporate careers.
📋 Article Processing Timeline
- 📰 Published: April 14, 2026 at 23:15
- 🔍 Collected: April 14, 2026 at 15:01
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: April 19, 2026 at 16:03 (121h 2m after Collected)
Brain Center Inc. (President: Takao Hiraishi) has analyzed and summarized a portion of the results from a questionnaire survey targeting university students and companies regarding their awareness of sustainability, career formation, and human resource evaluation perspectives within companies. This survey was conducted as part of the "Sustena x Career Co-Education Project"* launched in July 2025 by our company and Sakiko Okayama, a lecturer at the Institute for Excellence in Educational Innovation, Chiba University.
The survey targeting university students was conducted to understand their awareness of sustainability and social issues, their criteria for selecting companies during job hunting, and their recognition of integrated reports, gathering responses from 545 individuals. The survey targeting companies was conducted to understand the actual situation of evaluating and developing human resources related to sustainability and its internal penetration within companies, collecting responses from 67 people, mainly those in charge of HR, sustainability, and IR.
* A project aiming to develop next-generation sustainability talent who tackle environmental and social issues to realize a sustainable society by creating and strengthening touchpoints between students and companies (society).
Approximately 90% of students are interested in sustainability
The results of this survey revealed that the level of interest in sustainability and social issues is extremely high among students. Combining "Very interested" (38.2%) and "Somewhat interested" (51.4%), it was found that about 90% (89.5%) have an interest (Table 1).
In particular, the fact that about 40% of the students answered "Very interested" indicates that there is a certain segment with active interest, going beyond mere awareness. On the other hand, "Not interested at all" remained at 1.3%, suggesting that sustainability has become a familiar theme for many students.
Table 1: Degree of interest in sustainability and social issues (n=545)
Item | Number | Percentage
Very interested | 208 | 38.2%
Somewhat interested | 280 | 51.4%
Not very interested | 50 | 9.2%
Not interested at all | 7 | 1.3%
The starting point for interest in sustainability is "Education"
When 488 students who answered "Very interested" or "Somewhat interested" in sustainability and social issues were asked about what triggered their interest (Table 2), "University lectures/seminars" (61.7%) and "Junior high/high school classes" (54.5%) both accounted for more than half, revealing that educational settings play a major role in forming interest. It can be seen that the recent spread of SDGs education is steadily reaching the younger generation.
In addition, "SNS/Books/Media" (29.1%) also has a certain influence at about 30%, which is characterized by the expansion of interest through daily information contact. On the other hand, "Practical activities/extracurricular activities at university" is 19.5%, which is slightly lower than lectures, suggesting that there is still room for expansion in opportunities to deepen interest through actual experiences.
Furthermore, items such as "Influence of friends/family" (6.8%), "Information dissemination by companies/local governments" (6.4%), and "Through job hunting" (3.3%) all remained at low levels. The fact that touchpoints with companies and society are not sufficiently contributing to the formation of interest suggests that there are issues with the way industry-academia collaboration and information dissemination are handled.
From these results, while interest in sustainability is mainly formed starting from education, the lack of practical opportunities and the weakness of connection with society and careers have emerged as issues.
Table 2: Reasons/triggers for interest in sustainability and social issues (multiple answers allowed) n=488
Item | Number | Percentage
University lectures/seminars | 301 | 61.7%
Junior high/high school classes | 266 | 54.5%
SNS/Books/Media | 142 | 29.1%
Practical activities/extracurricular activities at university | 95 | 19.5%
Influence of friends/family/acquaintances | 33 | 6.8%
The survey targeting university students was conducted to understand their awareness of sustainability and social issues, their criteria for selecting companies during job hunting, and their recognition of integrated reports, gathering responses from 545 individuals. The survey targeting companies was conducted to understand the actual situation of evaluating and developing human resources related to sustainability and its internal penetration within companies, collecting responses from 67 people, mainly those in charge of HR, sustainability, and IR.
* A project aiming to develop next-generation sustainability talent who tackle environmental and social issues to realize a sustainable society by creating and strengthening touchpoints between students and companies (society).
Approximately 90% of students are interested in sustainability
The results of this survey revealed that the level of interest in sustainability and social issues is extremely high among students. Combining "Very interested" (38.2%) and "Somewhat interested" (51.4%), it was found that about 90% (89.5%) have an interest (Table 1).
In particular, the fact that about 40% of the students answered "Very interested" indicates that there is a certain segment with active interest, going beyond mere awareness. On the other hand, "Not interested at all" remained at 1.3%, suggesting that sustainability has become a familiar theme for many students.
Table 1: Degree of interest in sustainability and social issues (n=545)
Item | Number | Percentage
Very interested | 208 | 38.2%
Somewhat interested | 280 | 51.4%
Not very interested | 50 | 9.2%
Not interested at all | 7 | 1.3%
The starting point for interest in sustainability is "Education"
When 488 students who answered "Very interested" or "Somewhat interested" in sustainability and social issues were asked about what triggered their interest (Table 2), "University lectures/seminars" (61.7%) and "Junior high/high school classes" (54.5%) both accounted for more than half, revealing that educational settings play a major role in forming interest. It can be seen that the recent spread of SDGs education is steadily reaching the younger generation.
In addition, "SNS/Books/Media" (29.1%) also has a certain influence at about 30%, which is characterized by the expansion of interest through daily information contact. On the other hand, "Practical activities/extracurricular activities at university" is 19.5%, which is slightly lower than lectures, suggesting that there is still room for expansion in opportunities to deepen interest through actual experiences.
Furthermore, items such as "Influence of friends/family" (6.8%), "Information dissemination by companies/local governments" (6.4%), and "Through job hunting" (3.3%) all remained at low levels. The fact that touchpoints with companies and society are not sufficiently contributing to the formation of interest suggests that there are issues with the way industry-academia collaboration and information dissemination are handled.
From these results, while interest in sustainability is mainly formed starting from education, the lack of practical opportunities and the weakness of connection with society and careers have emerged as issues.
Table 2: Reasons/triggers for interest in sustainability and social issues (multiple answers allowed) n=488
Item | Number | Percentage
University lectures/seminars | 301 | 61.7%
Junior high/high school classes | 266 | 54.5%
SNS/Books/Media | 142 | 29.1%
Practical activities/extracurricular activities at university | 95 | 19.5%
Influence of friends/family/acquaintances | 33 | 6.8%