with core business functions. The contribution of business to
pro-poor growth and poverty reduction is recognised as
increasingly important, especially in global industries such
as engineering and extractive industries. The more global
issues such as sustainability and poverty reduction are seen
to be pivotal to business strategy, public policy and market
regulation, the easier it is to make a clear case both to
universities and business to invest in global skills. The
WBCSD model taken from its publication, ‘From Challenge
to Opportunity: The role of business in tomorrow's society’
(2006)11, shows the importance of understanding societal
signals, integrating these drivers into business strategy and
translating them into opportunites. This is reflected in the
growing interest in enterprise solutions to poverty12 and
‘base of the pyramid’ models.
A critical perspective
‘Business as usual’ is not sustainable. Poverty and climate
change are symptomatic of long term market and regulatory
failures. A key issue is to debate why these market failures
have occurred and how global markets and regulations
could be reformed to incentivise engineering businesses to
take a more long term view that addresses the challenges of
poverty and climate change. Indeed it is only through a deep
rethinking of what a sustainable, people-centred global
economy and society would look like that a new model of
engineering practice can emerge. Critical analysis which
allows learners to challenge their assumptions and the
assumptions of others, to analyse a problem from a range of
perspectives and to hear voices they would otherwise not be
exposed to, is essential to understanding and exploring these
complex issues. Research shows that a common explanation
of why engineering projects are unsustainable or have
unintended negative impacts is a failure to adequately
understand the local context and the needs and constraints
of local stakeholders.13 Engineers with critical thinking skills
are more liable to question design assumptions and under-
stand and value local knowledge. Critical thinking can be
promoted by providing space for dialogue and exchange
within the learning environment (through seminars, multi-
disciplinary projects and active learning pedagogies, for
example) to explore contentious and controversial aspects
of engineering. This is a particular challenge for engineering
education with its grounding in western, empirical, scientific
methods and where learners are often uncomfortable with
ambiguity and the subjective analysis of the social sciences.
This is something which, in large part, explains the
disconnect between the physical and social sciences.
A systems perspective
The nature of engineering is changing. Engineering consul-
tancies are becoming multi-disciplinary and global in their
reach. Traditional boundaries between disciplines in science
(chemistry, biology and physics) and disciplines within engi-
neering (civil, mechanical, electrical, etc.) are breaking down.
Systems engineering and whole life analysis is increasingly
common especially in complex systems. Holistic thinking not
only requires understanding complexities within engineering
systems but also the relationship between engineering
SYSTEMS THINKING IN OTHER DISCIPLINES
In international development
Schumacher College short course programme and MSc
in Holistic Sciences; CDRA’s writings on NGOs as
learning organisations and capacity building - shifting
the paradigms of practice; Gaian Democracies:
Redefining globalisation and people power, Roy Madron
and John Joplin
In spirituality and new sciences
Conscious evolution; Brian Godwin, From Control to
Participation; Contributors to the ‘What the Bleep’ film
and Bethechange conferences
In the natural sciences
Big picture clips on Interconnectedness, Elisabet Sah-
touris, (2), Satish Kumar and of the lecturers at
Schumacher College
In agriculture and energy
ISIS Dream Farm model, Permaculture models
In business and organisational learning
Frank Dixon on Total corporate responsibility and global
system change, (2); Peter Senge on Learning Organisa-
tions
systems and their context. Prof. Paul Jowitt (chair of the Insti-
tution of Civil Engineers’ Joint Board of Moderators Task
Group to embed sustainable development into engineering
curricula and professional development) states “a more
holistic/systems view of the world is now required - one in
which engineers need to be more fully aware of the
economic, social and environmental dimensions of their
activities and more skilled in meeting their objectives.”14
Systems thinking is, in essence, the ability to see a problem
or situation holistically, from a multitude of perspectives and
understand the relationships, interconnections and com-
plexity between the different parts that make up the whole.
This approach was originally popularised as chaos or Gaian
theory and has been applied across all disciplines including
the physical and social sciences (box opposite). Seeing how
human systems such as engineering mimic the complexity of
natural systems has led several influential writers to draw
comparisons with how nature can provide lessons for human
systems: a field known as biomimicry.15
What are the key drivers for increasing
the global dimension across higher
education?
Having explored why the global dimension is so crucial to the
future of engineering education, it is also helpful to identify
the drivers for increasing the global dimension across higher
education in general. These can be summarised in terms of
the following:
■ Strategies and initiatives on sustainable development
including HEFCE’s Strategy on Sustainable Development,
the work of the Higher Education Academy including
Page 8 The Global Engineer