Engineering for Sustainable Development: Guiding Principles

Picture courtesy of University of Glasgow
5 Developing approaches in
teaching, training and CPD
The original aim of the Visiting Professors Scheme was to embed the topic of Engineering
for Sustainable Development into engineering courses, and not to create a
separate subject. The range of options for teaching the subject is therefore very wide,
and there is no prescribed approach. The experience of introducing the topic into the
Engineering Department at Cambridge University has been published and contains
useful lessons (Fenner, 2004).
Sustainable Development is a still-new subject being introduced into engineering
curricula at a time when new approaches to teaching are being debated. Increasing the
importance of the ‘know-how’ approach in addition to the established ‘know-what’
approach has been argued strongly (Hills, 2005). This is one reason why the Academy
asked its Sustainable Development Visiting Professors to concentrate on case studies, so
that students could benefit from the real experiences of practitioners in this area.
The Engineering Institutions have recognised the importance of an awareness of the
subject. The Engineering Council has introduced the following requirement in its UK
Standard for Professional Engineering Competence (EC UK, 2004) accreditation criteria:
“Undertake engineering activities in a way that contributes to sustainable development.
This could include an ability to:
• operate and act responsibly, taking account of the need to progress environmental,
social and economic outcomes simultaneously
• use imagination, creativity and innovation to provide products and services which
maintain and enhance the quality of the environment and community, and meet
financial objectives
• understand and encourage stakeholder involvement”
In addition, other bodies are taking action, for example the Joint Board of Moderators
for degrees in civil and structural engineering, which has issued Sustainability
Guidelines for inclusion of the subject in BEng and MEng courses. They indicate that:
“The key capabilities for an engineer graduating from an accredited engineering
course are:
• the capability to frame a product, or process, in a sustainable development context;
• understanding the long-term implications of continuing to exploit the product or
system for ever; and
• to be able to identify and know how to implement any design changes to
counteract the negative impacts.”
The following four steps are suggested as one way of generating the required capability.
First is demonstration that the student is aware of and understands the concept of
sustainable development – for example through an essay:‘Explain the likely
consequences of the carbon tax on the building industry’ or ‘Explain how sustainability
principles ought to be applied to the design of infrastructure or of a product’. This
might make a very suitable task in a first-year communications module.
44 The Royal Academy of Engineering