Changing the world one engineer at a time – unmaking the traditional engineering education when introducing sustainability subjects

Computing education is still motivated and underpinned by notions that the most vital abilities are to learn how to build new, advanced applications using powerful techniques such as machine learning (Pollock et al.,2019). The adoption of a mature and self-critical attitude towards the role of technology in society is not seen as an equally central competence in graduate profiles (ibid). The question is, rather, how engineering education may balance the desire from students and employers for specific, in-depth, computing competencies, while opening new vistas for our students so that they become willing and able to practice engineering in a much wider and more complex setting.

Pollock et al. (2019) also describe how the integration of sustainability is often done “in the abstract”, without specific learning activities, outcomes or assessments within courses. The definitions of what amounts to equitable and sustainable computing are often mismatched to societal definitions, and value conflicts tend to be ignored in research on issues of “Green IT” (Knowles, 2014).

The divide between “soft” subjects and those which are often called “real” engineering (or core) subjects is not neutral. Soft subjects, even though their name suggests them as harmless, are threatening the core subjects. Some of the teachers were ambivalent to the changes pertaining to gender issues and ethics, and still saw themselves primarily as representatives of their more technical disciplines, trying to promote that which they felt best able to: “I fight for my view of what’s best, which is to provide engineers with tools to solve problems”.

The survey furthermore shows that the teachers argued that change is a difficult process, or at least time consuming, within an existing educational programme.

The change in courses might not have had a large impact on the bachelor thesis, but in some respects that might not be a problem, or even preferable. Some subjects introduced in the curriculum are, rather, meant to affect their professional lives after their formal education is finished. Measuring understandings of and insights into different social issues and others’ perspectives can be hard to fit into the traditional matrix of examination.

The traditional engineering education cannot be combined with the sustainable development agenda, as it takes up space and time from other, often more traditional engineering, subjects. The unmaking of the traditional engineering education therefore introduces conflicts as subjects that previously were seen as central to becoming an engineer now are enacted as obsolete, which leads to some teachers feeling the need to “fight for their subjects” in relation to the so-called soft skills.

Instead of accepting the divide between “soft” and “core” subjects, we aim to open for new ways to discuss the future of the engineering education by internalizing a broader approach to problem-solving which includes sustainability.

We furthermore argue that students need to be better at dealing with complex and interdisciplinary problems in relation to sustainability which demands new ways of incorporating a larger variety of disciplines. The work needed to fully integrate sustainability in higher education also comes with new opportunities to develop far-reaching interdisciplinary collaborations and learning opportunities within both education and research.