A sociological survey was conducted to examine the accessibility and quality of campus food services in the context of implementing Sustainable Development Goal 2 (“Zero Hunger”)

The Department of Sociology and Social Work, together with the Center for Sociological Research and Social Engineering, conducted a survey on the accessibility and quality of campus food services in the context of Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG 2)

The Center for Sociological Research and Social Engineering conducted a study of the university’s campus food system aimed at assessing the accessibility, quality, and sustainability of the existing infrastructure in the context of achieving SDGs 2.

The findings show a growing student interest in healthier, more balanced, and more affordable food options, alongside the continued high popularity of the current campus food-service infrastructure. The University supports socially vulnerable groups by providing limited targeted assistance in the form of meal vouchers, which reduces the risks of inadequate and irregular nutrition. Expanding such programs, as well as introducing subsidized lunches and affordable healthy menus, is critically important for building a fair, inclusive, and sustainable campus food system focused on supporting students from low-income families. 

Key findings:

1. High use of campus catering alongside increasingly critical assessments. 80.5% of students regularly use university canteens, confirming their key role in ensuring students’ food security. Most respondents noted that pricing is high, and one third reported insufficient menu variety. These data indicate a structural demand for updating the campus food-service model.

2. Diet balance and the dominance of high-calorie foods. The most preferred categories remain baked goods/pastries (24%) and fast food (15%). At the same time, the number of students choosing diet/health-oriented dishes has increased, and demand for specialized options (vegetarian and gluten-free menus) is higher than last year, reaching 19.7%. This suggests an insufficient availability of healthy, functional, and specialized dishes, which may negatively affect health indicators and academic performance.

3. Affordability as a factor of social equity. For some students, meal costs become a barrier to regular and adequate food intake. Providing a small number of meal vouchers to socially vulnerable students helps mitigate these risks, but not to a significant extent, and requires institutional strengthening and expansion.

4. Infrastructure constraints. The survey revealed demand for canteen modernization—expanding seating capacity, improving facility conditions, and increasing the number of food outlets. These factors directly affect satisfaction, service speed, and the ability of the infrastructure to keep pace with growth in the student population.

5. Support for low-income families. University social support measures play an important role: meal vouchers help offset part of students’ expenses and contribute to reducing the risks of food vulnerability.

Recommendations:

▪ Prioritize expanding healthy food offerings. Increase the range of hot balanced meals; raise the share of vegetables, proteins, and whole foods; introduce vegetarian, functional, and special dietary menus.

▪ Make healthy food affordable for all student groups. Differentiate pricing; introduce subsidized lunches; institutionalize and expand the meal voucher program; develop budget-friendly healthy set meals.

▪ Modernize infrastructure toward “healthy eating spaces.” Create additional quick and healthy food points; improve service conditions; optimize customer flows.

▪ Run communication campaigns to foster a healthy eating culture. Information campaigns, loyalty programs, and digital services for selecting and pre-ordering healthy meals.

▪ Ensure continuous monitoring and evaluation of initiatives. Comparative studies, regular feedback, and analysis of how nutrition affects academic achievement and well-being.