Objective  Heavy metal pollution of surface dust in the university campus is an important issue for the safety of teachers and students. The environmental concentration and risk of heavy metals in the surface dust from the university campus were investigated in order to provide a reference for the health of teachers and students and campus management.

  Method  Surface dust samples were collected from the university campus in Kaifeng city. The concentrations of Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn were measured by standard methods. The pollution degree of heavy metals pollution was calculated by the geo-accumulation index method and the ecological risk of heavy metals was assessed by the potential ecological risk index method.

  Result  The results showed that the average concentrations of Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn were 1.05, 88.36, 47.04, 29.76, 68.72 and 328.87 mg kg⁻¹, respectively, of which the contents of Cd and Zn were 3.49 and 4.26 times of the background value of dust in Kaifeng, respectively. Geo-accumulated index analysis showed that the order of pollution index of heavy metals from the high to low was Zn, Cd, Pb, Cu, Cr, Ni, and Zn and Cd had been shown the moderate pollution, Pb, Cu and Cr were the light pollution, while Ni was no enrichment. The results of the potential ecological risk assessment indicated that the order of the average ecological risk of heavy metals in surface dust from the high to low was Cd, Pb, Cu, Ni, Zn, and Cr. The average comprehensive potential ecological risk index (RI) value was 144.53, which belongs to a slight level. Moreover, the main factor of potential ecological risks was attributed to cadmium in surface dust. The results of positive definite matrix factor analysis (PMF) showed that, Cr and Ni mainly came from natural parent materials, Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn mainly were derived from the source of vehicle emissions, industrial pollution and atmospheric deposition sources.

  Conclusion  The accumulation degree of heavy metals in the surface dust of the university campus is in the range of mild to moderate pollution level, and the Cd element is the most important pollution factor. Our results can provide some insights into the heavy metal pollution control in the university campus management and environmental planning.