Is the current practice in engineering education a sustainable model for creating sustainability-trained engineers

Is the current practice in engineering education a sustainable model for creating sustainability-trained engineers

Engineering education for engineers in the past has often been confined to traditional engineering programs offered by engineering faculties, often in the form of a Bachelor of
Engineering or even a Master of Engineering at a post-graduate level. In recent years, there is also a proliferation of short-term courses and intensive workshops from nontraditional education providers and in-house training operations, particularly for tackling sustainability and environmental compliance issues. This change in delivery and curricula preference is mainly as a result of the changing dynamics and needs of clients and
government policies within the engineering context. However, one must pose the question in preparation for the next significant environmental shift in engineering
education, “What is the next paradigm in education and professional development in terms of delivery and curricula for the sustainability-trained engineers?” This paper
presents a proposition for delivering engineering education for engineers at all levels of management. The proposal is based on environmental scans of the predicted future
professional development needs of engineers at all levels. The motivation for developing such a model is to allow professional development and education providers to
consolidate and efficiently deliver accredited programs that fulfil the needs of engineers dealing with the sustainability sector eg. Green Building design and certification and renewable energy solutions. The proposition is centered on the opportunity to reform
engineering education of the 20th century to train 21st century engineers, and also to create an ideal environment to embed 21st century principles and practices within
engineering undergraduate and postgraduate studies at universities.

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