Purpose: The aim of this paper is to respond to calls for higher education institutions to address sustainability within the curriculum. Institutions that aim to graduate citizens with prescribed attributes relevant to sustainability may need to develop teaching and learning support-programmes appropriate to the varied nature of students' worldviews. Design/methodology/approach: The research described here used the NEP (Revised New Ecological Paradigm) and statistical cluster-analysis to explore if individuals within cohorts of students could reasonably be clustered into subgroups with identified sustainability attributes relevant to the design of learner-support programmes. Findings: All seven programme cohorts in one institution's annual intake clustered into three subgroups with identifiable attributes. Practical implications: The results are discussed in relation to how post-compulsory education institutions can define the sustainability characteristics of their students and to the pedagogic literature that addresses diversity in student groups. Originality/value: The approach may help higher education institutions better understand the needs of individual students within large groups and to develop appropriate support programmes for students with similar attributes and needs. (Contains 3 tables and 2 figures.)