theme of ‘Students as Global Citizens’. People and Planet
(2006) suggest that:
‘Awareness of the world has heightened the curiosity of stu-
dents about their role in global society. They travel across
the world, absorb news from across the world and commu-
nicate with people from across the world. Unless students
find themselves roles to play, there is a risk of disenfranchise-
ment or of disillusionment: that they are aware of global
issues but do nothing about them’.
Research at Bournemouth University (BU) highlights that BU
students welcome the opportunity to engage in debate
about global and international issues and that 80% of those
surveyed (sample size of 268) saw global perspectives as
relevant to their lives and would like more opportunity to
develop ‘broader global perspectives’ while studying at uni-
versity28 (Shiel 2007). Research by StudentForce for
Sustainability for Higher Education Academy found students
were concerned about the preparation for their employment
provided by universities and believed that sustainable
development and CSR should be taught more at universities.
University careers staff confirmed a growing trend for
students and employers to consider the employer’s social
and environmental responsibility.29
Partly in response to this student demand, some universities
such as Bournemouth, University College London (UCL),
Leicester and Leeds Metropolitan, make reference to
equipping their graduates to be global citizens, market
themselves as institutions for global citizenship. UCL for
example states that ‘going global’ as an institution with a
‘strong liberal tradition’ means ‘promoting a sense of global
citizenship, social justice and environmental responsibility’.
Engineers Without Borders-UK is a student led charity that
focuses on removing barriers to development using
engineering with groups in over 14 universities. Its rapid
growth is testament to the interest in development amongst
engineering students. The charity works in 6 areas:
placements, bursaries, research, training, outreach and
education. Its education programme works with teaching
staff to identify opportunities for the wider inclusion of
international development in the engineering curriculum.
The benefits to universities of globally orientated courses
Supports widening access and attracting students from
non-traditional and under-represented groups
Supports student retention and motivation
Supports student employability
Supports marketing of UK courses internationally and ensuring
international relevance of course content
Employers as drivers
Universities are always conscious of the importance of the
employability of their graduates. There is evidence to suggest
that employers are looking for graduates who have an
understanding of sustainability.30 In addition from research
on global skills, a wide range of employers are looking for
people who are ‘well-rounded, ‘can take on complex global
challenges, be socially aware, have excellent communication
and intercultural skills and be compassionate.
“In the past it was simple! You selected your suppliers from
your area, and they used the materials that were to hand.
This delivered your project in such a way that the projects'
impact on the environment was automatically as low as it
could realistically be. This is no longer the case. Nowadays,
the complexity of materials and components, from an ever
increasing global supply chain, means that your manage-
ment must have a thorough knowledge of the entire supply
chain and exactly how it all fits together, in order to make
the right decision. The real stars of the future will be the
managers who take onboard all this information to deliver
projects and can also demonstrate how they use it to reduce
their impact on the environment."31
Research by Bourn and Sharma (2008) on engineering com-
panies’ perceptions of the value of global and sustainability
skills has reinforced these views. Senior staff from a well-
known Japanese automobile manufacturer, for example,
emphasised the importance of recruiting engineers who
have all-round interpersonal skills, fit into their culture, have
an objective focus and an ability to identify and resolve prob-
lems quickly. Inter-cultural sensitivity was a key skill for them:
“That is key for us because the perception that some people
may have is that engineering is not very global. However,
sensitivity to different perspectives, nationalities and cul-
tures, languages, locations, time zones and different styles of
working in different countries is crucial. This is often lacking
in people from the UK. Because we are a Japanese company,
this becomes very important for us.32
There is further evidence of the value of developing global
perspectives as a contribution to employability from a
recruitment consultant. Archer suggests that, ‘to understand
the world we live in we must experience it in the widest
sense’ and the skills employers are looking for to demon-
strate this can often be found in those graduates who have
studies internationally.33
These trends have been brought together by Shiel, Williams
and Mann (2005) within a framework for students who are
self reliant, connected, well rounded, critical reflectors and
have a specialist knowledge. Key to their framework is the
importance of students not only being globally aware, but
having the ability and skills to engage in society to promote
positive global change. They further suggest an important
component of a global perspective is the ability to question
and challenge and to adopt a critical perspective. Finally, and
this is particularly important in the context of engineering, is
the linkage between specialist knowledge and a global
outlook. It gives the graduate an added advantage within
the employment context.34
As Bourn and Sharma (2008) identified more and more engi-
neering employers are recognizing the importance of these
more generic skills including working in environments with
people from range of cultural backgrounds and be able to
understand different perspectives and approaches. Gradu-
ates also need to understand the ‘world in its global context’
and to see ‘the global in the local.’
Page 10 The Global Engineer