Science and technology are essential levers of transformation for sustainability. Consequently, engineering education plays a key role to educate graduates with a capacity to create solutions for sustainability crises. However, the sustainability challenges are not only technical, and it is essential that engineering graduates understand how technical and social change interact and identify their own role in the transition processes. This chapter presents a document analysis of Finnish engineering education curricula through a sustainability lens. The aim is to understand how sustainability is approached in the curricula, what sustainability-related educational goals are included in the curricula and what differences can be identified between separate engineering disciplines when engaging sustainability. Five ways of approaching sustainability were identified. The approaches varied between non-existent integration with no sustainability-related learning objectives to integration that adapted sustainability to the norms and practices of engineering disciplines and, eventually, to integration of sustainability in a holistic way, embedding both technological and non-technological aspects of sustainability challenges into the core of engineering discipline. Disciplinary differences were identified, indicating that sustainability is not yet always perceived as a topic that should be embedded across all engineering disciplines. The approaches for integrating sustainability can be used as a tool for engineering programmes to develop their own way of approaching sustainability.

错误:搜索内容不能为空,请输入英文关键词
错误:关键词超出字数限制,请精简
高级检索

Systemic Challenges and Specific Solutions: Analysis of Sustainability in Finnish Engineering Education Curricula

  • Noora Jaakkola

摘要

Science and technology are essential levers of transformation for sustainability. Consequently, engineering education plays a key role to educate graduates with a capacity to create solutions for sustainability crises. However, the sustainability challenges are not only technical, and it is essential that engineering graduates understand how technical and social change interact and identify their own role in the transition processes. This chapter presents a document analysis of Finnish engineering education curricula through a sustainability lens. The aim is to understand how sustainability is approached in the curricula, what sustainability-related educational goals are included in the curricula and what differences can be identified between separate engineering disciplines when engaging sustainability. Five ways of approaching sustainability were identified. The approaches varied between non-existent integration with no sustainability-related learning objectives to integration that adapted sustainability to the norms and practices of engineering disciplines and, eventually, to integration of sustainability in a holistic way, embedding both technological and non-technological aspects of sustainability challenges into the core of engineering discipline. Disciplinary differences were identified, indicating that sustainability is not yet always perceived as a topic that should be embedded across all engineering disciplines. The approaches for integrating sustainability can be used as a tool for engineering programmes to develop their own way of approaching sustainability.