Didac Ferrer‐Balas, Jordi Bruno, Mireia de Mingo and Ramon Sans
This paper presents methodological and strategic results of the first two years of the implementation of the second environmental plan (2002‐2005) at the Technical University of…
Abstract
This paper presents methodological and strategic results of the first two years of the implementation of the second environmental plan (2002‐2005) at the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC) and discusses the benefits and difficulties of new strategies adopted. Particularly, the focus is pointed to the introduction of environmental aspects into technical education, in the framework of an integral university approach that combines simultaneous actions in the areas of education, research, university life and communication in order to develop a consistent and synergetic model. The paper describes and discusses the strategies that have been adopted for accelerating the transformation of the university towards a sustainable university, which include: to create useful tools for decision making, particularly strategic planning indicators; to introduce environmental indicators into university mainstream processes; to assess the transformation potential through an environmental research map; and to work synergistically through “linking initiatives”.
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Jordi Segalàs, Karel F. Mulder and Didac Ferrer‐Balas
The purpose of this paper is to study how experts on teaching sustainability in engineering education contextualize sustainability; also to evaluate the understanding of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study how experts on teaching sustainability in engineering education contextualize sustainability; also to evaluate the understanding of sustainability by engineering students. The final aim is to evaluate what pedagogy experts believe provides better opportunities for learning about sustainability in engineering education.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used conceptual maps (cmaps) analysis with two taxonomies of four and ten categories. The first taxonomy clusters the significance of sustainability in environmental, technological, social and institutional aspects and shows the main trends; the second (of ten categories) divides the previous categories into greater detail. To evaluate the experts' cmaps two indices were defined that provide information about what experts think sustainability is most related to and evaluate how complex they see the sustainability concept. In total, 500 students from five European engineering universities were then surveyed and the results compared with those of the experts. Finally, interviews were held with experts to try to determine the best pedagogy to apply to achieve learning around sustainability.
Findings
The results show that Engineering Education for Sustainable Development (EESD) experts consider that institutional and social aspects are more relevant to sustainability than environmental and technological ones. The results were compared with the understanding of sustainability by a sample of more than 500 engineering students who had taken courses on sustainability at five technical universities in Europe. This comparison shows a mismatch among the EESD “experts'” and the students' understanding of sustainability, which suggest that sustainability courses in engineering degrees should emphasise the social and institutional aspects versus environmental and technological ones. Moreover, courses should emphasize more the complexity of sustainability.
Originality/value
The paper emphasizes the lack of priority that social and institutional aspects are given in sustainability courses and promotes a discussion about how these two elements and complex thinking can increase their importance in the engineering curriculum.
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Karel F. Mulder, Jordi Segalàs and Didac Ferrer‐Balas
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the process of changing engineering universities towards sustainable development (SD). It outlines the types of changes needed, both in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the process of changing engineering universities towards sustainable development (SD). It outlines the types of changes needed, both in respect of approaches, visions, philosophies and cultural change, which are crucial for engineering universities which want to implement sustainable development as part of their progammes.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper describes various experiences which show how SD education programmes can be implemented at universities, and some of the challenges faced in efforts towards achieving such a goal. It considers the various processes involved and raises some questions which can help to understand how universities, as learning organisations, can engage in the implementation of SD programmes.
Findings
The paper has established that engineers have to learn to think long term and position their activities in a pathway towards long‐term sustainable solutions. This requires insight into the social environment of engineering as a technology, and the extent to which engineers should know about the intricacies of SD problems.
Originality/value
The paper shows that engineers should understand the complexities of the societal setting in which they are developing solutions, and the complexities of making short‐term improvements that fit into a long‐term SD.
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In 1996 the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC) adopted an Environment Plan which incorporated classical technical education, promoting multidisciplinary environmental…
Abstract
In 1996 the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC) adopted an Environment Plan which incorporated classical technical education, promoting multidisciplinary environmental research, and improving the environmental performance of university life as a whole. This paper outlines the first environment plan (1996‐2001). It discusses its encouraging results and consequences, and describes how it was the main motivation for the design of a second environment plan for the period (2002‐2005). The paper pays special attention to the curriculum greening experience of UPC: six years ago the university decided to start greening its entire range of courses, over a wide range of technical and scientific areas. The paper explains the most relevant projects, and attempts to evaluate their effectiveness in improving the environmental performance of the university.
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N. Lourdel, N. Gondran, V. Laforest and C. Brodhag
Owing to its complexity, sustainable development cannot be simply integrated as a supplementary course within the engineers' curricula. The first point of this paper aims to…
Abstract
Purpose
Owing to its complexity, sustainable development cannot be simply integrated as a supplementary course within the engineers' curricula. The first point of this paper aims to focalise on how to reflect pedagogically. After dealing with these questions, a tool that can evaluate the student's understanding of sustainable development concepts will be presented.
Design/methodology/approach
The analysis of a student's sustainability comprehension, based on cognitive maps, has been developed. The students are asked to write and connect by arrows all the terms that they associate with the concept of sustainable development. The assessment of the aforementioned cognitive maps is based on an approach via semantic category.
Findings
This study shows that the students' perception of sustainable development before the training seems mainly focalised on environmental and economical aspects. After the SD course, an increase in the number of words quoted is noted for each category (social and cultural aspects; the stakeholders, the principles of sustainable development and the allusions to complexity, temporal and spatial dimensions). Their vision seems richer and wider. The training seemed useful to help the students who did not associate sustainable development with diverse dimension to improve this perception.
Research limitations/implications
To reduce the length of the elaboration of the maps, there is no preliminary training for the construction of maps. To simplify this elaboration, only one type of arrows is used to connect words. To minimise the time of analysis of the maps, the relevance of the relations made between the words is not verified. Besides, the classification of words within the semantic categories implies a certain level of subjectivity.
Practical implications
This cognitive map method can be a useful tool to improve learning in quantitative terms but also in qualitative terms. Identifying knowledge gaps and misunderstood ideas allows the improvement in the training.
Originality/value
This study presents a new method that can be used to evaluate the impact of training sessions on students. Another advantage is to analyse how the students' knowledge is interconnected. This seems particularly interesting because the study of this transdisciplinary concept also necessitates an integrated vision.
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A. Pérez‐Foguet, S. Oliete‐Josa and A. Saz‐Carranza
To show the key points of a development education program for engineering studies fitted within the framework of the human development paradigm.
Abstract
Purpose
To show the key points of a development education program for engineering studies fitted within the framework of the human development paradigm.
Design/methodology/approach
The bases of the concept of technology for human development are presented, and the relationship with development education analysed. Special attention is dedicated to the role of case studies in engineering courses. After that, the development education program pushed by the Civil Engineering School of Barcelona and Engineering without Borders is explained, focusing on two major contributions: two optional courses about international aid and development and nine classroom case studies about different technologies used in real co‐operation projects.
Findings
This work provides a conceptual basis for incorporating development education into engineering studies, a general overview of different activities promoted in Spanish technical universities and practical information about optional courses and classroom case studies.
Research limitations/implications
The proposal is based on the experience in Spanish engineering curricula (mostly in five‐year degrees). Some of the topics covered by the courses and the case studies can be better adapted at postgraduate level in three‐ or four‐year degrees.
Practical implications
It is shown that development education can be incorporated into engineering studies through different specific non‐expensive activities.
Originality/value
This work presents and puts in context the development education activities pushed coordinately between a non‐governmental organization and an engineering school. Thus, it can be of major interest for both teachers and workers of the international development field.
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Cheryl J.K. Paten, Nicholas Palousis, Karlson Hargroves and Michael Smith
While a number of universities in Australia have embraced concepts such as project/problem‐based learning and design of innovative learning environments for engineering education…
Abstract
Purpose
While a number of universities in Australia have embraced concepts such as project/problem‐based learning and design of innovative learning environments for engineering education, there has been a lack of national guidance on including sustainability as a “critical literacy” into all engineering streams. This paper was presented at the 2004 International Conference on Engineering Education in Sustainable Development (EESD) in Barcelona, Spain, outlining a current initiative that is seeking to address the “critical literacy” dilemma.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper presents the positive steps taken by Australia's peak engineering body, the Institution of Engineers Australia (EA), in considering accreditation requirements for university engineering courses and its responsibility to ensure the inclusion of sustainability education material. It then describes a current initiative called the “Engineering Sustainable Solutions Program – Critical Literacies for Engineers Portfolio” (ESSP‐CL), which is being developed by The Natural Edge Project (TNEP) in partnership with EA and Unesco.
Findings
Content for the module was gathered from around the world, drawing on research from the publication The Natural Advantage of Nations: Business Opportunities, Innovation, and Governance in the Twenty‐first Century. Parts of the first draft of the ESSP‐CL have been trialled at Griffith University, Queensland, Australia with first year environmental engineering students, in May 2004. Further trials are now proceeding with a number of other universities and organisations nationally and internationally.
Practical implications
It is intended that ESSP‐CL will be a valuable resource to universities, professional development activities or other education facilities nationally and internationally.
Originality/value
This paper fulfils an identified information/resources need.
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Richard A. Fenner, Charles M. Ainger, Heather J. Cruickshank and Peter M. Guthrie
The paper seeks to examine the latest stage in a process of change aimed at introducing concepts of sustainable development into the activities of the Department of Engineering at…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper seeks to examine the latest stage in a process of change aimed at introducing concepts of sustainable development into the activities of the Department of Engineering at Cambridge University, UK.
Design/methodology/approach
The rationale behind defining the skills which future engineers require is discussed and vehicles for change at both undergraduate and postgraduate level are described. Reflections on the paradigms and pedagogy of teaching sustainable development issues to engineers are offered, as well as notes on barriers to progress which have been encountered.
Findings
The paper observes that the ability to effectively initiate a change process is a vital skill which must be formally developed in those engineers wishing to seek sustainable solutions from within the organisations for which they will work. Lessons are drawn about managing a change process within a large academic department, so that concepts of sustainable development can be effectively introduced across all areas of the engineering curriculum.
Practical implications
A new pedagogy for dealing with changes from the quantitative to the qualitative is required, as the paper questions where the education balance should lie between providing access to technological knowledge which can be applied to designing hard solutions, and training engineers to rethink their fundamental attitudes towards a broader, multiple perspective approach in which problem formulation and context setting play a vital role in reaching consensual solutions.
Originality/value
The paper reviews previously recognised key themes for engineering education for sustainable development, and proposes three further essential ingredients relating to an engineer's ability to engage in problem definition, manage change in organisations, and understand the nature of technical and business innovations.
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Jacob Fokkema, Leo Jansen and Karel Mulder
To present the challenge of sustainable development, the way in which technology can address that challenge and the task of engineering education to train engineers for it.
Abstract
Purpose
To present the challenge of sustainable development, the way in which technology can address that challenge and the task of engineering education to train engineers for it.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper describes briefly the history of the environmental and sustainability discourse in The Netherlands, as a densely populated country. It argues that technology should play a major role in SD, but that technological innovation is not enough. Technological systems renewal is a transdisciplinary activity involving relevant stakeholders and disciplines. “Needs” is the basic starting‐point to innovate new systems of provision. The paper reviews relevant literature regarding future orientation of technology development. Based on it, goals for training of engineers are developed.
Findings
The engineer has to meet a threefold challenge: providing new creative approaches on the one hand, and setting up and executing R&D programs that produce results, on the other; cooperating with other disciplines and lay stakeholders, on the one hand, and guarding disciplinary quality, on the other; bridging moralism and strategic pragmatism.
Research limitations/implications
The paper is an introduction, i.e. it sketches the issues without dealing with them in detail.
Practical implications
The paper draws in broad lines a road‐map for the future of engineering education and sustainable development. The paper is a useful source for those engineering institutions that are formulating a strategy to introduce sustainable development.
Originality/value
The paper goes beyond environmental engineering, not by just adding social and economic issues, but by developing an integrated framework for academic training of engineers.