ASSESSING COMPETENCIES FOR SUSTAINABILITY IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION – A CASE STUDY
Year: 2023
Editor: Buck, Lyndon; Grierson, Hilary; Bohemia, Erik
Author: Zorn, Stefan; Malz, Sinah
Series: E&PDE
Institution: University of Rostock, Germany
Section: Responsible innovation in design and engineering education
DOI number: 10.35199/EPDE.2023.73
ISBN: 978-1-912254-19-4
Abstract
Achieving a sustainable and climate-neutral world is a social and complex technological task. Engineering designers therefore play a vital role as their technological developments may require the use of resources on a large scale. However, these developments are also driving factors for the transformation towards a more sustainable future. This transformation requires capable, specifically trained engineers who are able to take sustainable aspects during the product development process into account. This in turn requires basic knowledge in the field of sustainability, which should students should be introduced to in engineering education. But what are the core competencies in engineering education related to sustainability that should definitely not be missing? In this paper we examine which competence models of sustainability are described in the literature and which can be directly adapted for engineering education. Using the example of the course ‘Sustainable material selection and product development’ at the University of Rostock, we present a way to assess whether our teaching of these competencies has been successful
Keywords: Engineering education, product design, sustainability, core competencies, competence models