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Article
Publication date: 4 January 2013

320

Abstract

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International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, vol. 14 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1467-6370

Available. Content available
Article
Publication date: 1 September 2005

Didac Ferrer-Balas and Karel Mulder

949

Abstract

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International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, vol. 6 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1467-6370

Available. Content available
Article
Publication date: 1 September 2004

Karel Mulder

610

Abstract

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International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, vol. 5 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1467-6370

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Article
Publication date: 1 September 2005

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.

2310

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.

Details

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, vol. 6 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1467-6370

Keywords

Abstract

Details

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, vol. 9 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1467-6370

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Article
Publication date: 6 July 2012

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…

1944

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.

Details

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, vol. 13 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1467-6370

Keywords

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Article
Publication date: 5 May 2015

Karel F. Mulder, Didac Ferrer, Jordi Segalas Coral, Olga Kordas, Eugene Nikiforovich and Kateryna Pereverza

This paper aims at identifying factors that could contribute to the motivation of students in sustainable development (SD) education. The underlying idea of the paper is that SD…

2143

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims at identifying factors that could contribute to the motivation of students in sustainable development (SD) education. The underlying idea of the paper is that SD education is not always as attractive among students and lecturers as many would like it to be.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper briefly reviews literature regarding behavioral change for long-term benefits. It identifies four motivators that could be effective to make people pursue longer-term objectives. It identifies if these motivators were present in five cases of successful SD education.

Findings

The four motivators for students that were identified in the literature review (a sense of autonomy, a challenge of reflection on the future role, connection with others, self-fulfillment, focus on the individual learning need) could be observed in the cases of successful SD education, although to various degrees. Individual autonomy in learning was not observed, but group autonomy was present in all cases.

Research limitations/implications

The case studies were all electives. It is unclear how the motivators could work out in mandatory courses. Moreover, the curriculum as a whole will affect the success of single courses. Successful courses being “the exception” of the curriculum might be judged differently if they would be part of the curriculum in which such courses would be the main stream. Further research is required to check if the motivators are effective in mandatory and not specifically SD-targeted courses. It is also not clear how various motivators could be applied most effectively in a curriculum.

Practical implications

The paper gives guidance to lecturers and educational managers to design attractive and effective SD education.

Originality/value

The paper treats SD education from a novel perspective: how to convey a credible behavioral message, and how to motivate students for education for SD.

Details

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, vol. 16 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1467-6370

Keywords

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Article
Publication date: 1 September 2005

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…

4001

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.

Details

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, vol. 6 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1467-6370

Keywords

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Article
Publication date: 6 July 2012

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…

1148

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.

Details

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, vol. 13 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1467-6370

Keywords

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Article
Publication date: 1 September 2005

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…

1682

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.

Details

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, vol. 6 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1467-6370

Keywords

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