A knowledge-based perception analysis about Biotechnology among university students in Bangladesh

Abstract

Biotechnology is a rapidly evolving field of science. However, the success of this field depends on the acceptance of the research product by the user or consumers. This again depends on the perception of this technology. So, this research explored how tertiary-level students at various educational institutions view biotechnology. Its goal was to assess the perception of this rapidly developing sector. In this regard, the students’ perception of its uses in industry, healthcare, agriculture, and food needed to be addressed. For the study, both private and public universities were selected. With due permission and following the standard procedures, the survey was carried out face-to-face in the institutions through a pretested questionnaire. The study highlighted that the educational majors had a great influence on the participants while responding to the questions. The majority of the participants were familiar with the word biotechnology, and had familiarity with genetic engineering (GE)/ genetically modified organisms (GMOs). But almost an equal number of participants responded to the question of believing hybrid and GM crops with Yes, and No, while some of the participants were not sure. The study showed that a maximum of the participants had good familiarity and knowledge about the biotech products used in the health sectors, whereas a large proportion of the participants from non-biological subjects had either slight familiarity or no familiarity with biotech products of the agriculture and food industry. In cases of the applications of biotechnology in both healthcare, agriculture, and food sectors, they showed agreement, while a good number of participants were neutral about the statements. But when they were asked about the negative impacts of biotechnology on health and the environment, the majority of the respondents were in dilemma while many of them disagreed and few agreed. Overall, the responses were mostly affected by the sources of information related to biotechnology. Today’s students tend to use social media more which has become the major source for gathering information about biotechnology.