ability or poverty reduction be discrete modules? If so should
they be core or elective modules? How is it best to impart
problem solving or team skills, cultural awareness or critical
thinking? Can these skills be taught or is the role of the ‘lec-
turer’ to provide opportunities for students to acquire them?
What is the balance between addressing the global dimen-
sion within undergraduate courses and more specialist
post-graduate courses? Does engineering in the interna-
tional development or humanitarian relief sectors require
such a distinct skill and knowledge set that they should be
taught separately from traditional civil engineering degrees?
Visiting lectureships
Since 1998 The Royal Academy of Engineering has run a
visiting professorships programme in engineering design for
sustainable development.54 This programme gives selected
universities access to specialist expertise from academia and
business and supports sharing of teaching resources. This is
valued by universities but is insufficient to meet the scale of
the demand and many lecturers supported the creation of a
register of suitable guest lecturers which all universities could
tap into. Beyond national programmes, universities should
look to expand guest lectureships, drawing on expertise
from within the university, from other universities and from
NGOs and business. ‘Guest lectureships’ are a common
feature of masters and CPD courses. Greater use of outside
lecturers who can provide a range of perspectives and
practical experience should be actively promoted by faculties
embracing the global agenda, although care is required to
ensure the content of guest lectures fits within the overall
course structure and is ‘owned’ by the course leader. Guest
lectures require careful introduction to avoid the impression
amongst students that such lectures are optional additions
to the core course lectures.
Feasibility, design and research projects
The Engineering Council UK SPEC requires courses to “inves-
tigate and define a problem and identify constraints
including environmental and sustainability limitations, health
and safety and risk assessment issues” and give students
“[an] ability to apply a systems approach to engineering
problems ...." and to “understand customer and user
needs”55 Feasibility and design projects are common to all
engineering courses and represent a principle way to deliver
the learning outcomes set out in the UK SPEC and one of the
main opportunities to address the global dimension.
Design modules are an excellent way to bring sustainable
development into the curriculum especially when combined
with international partnerships with universities and NGOs in
the developing countries or undertaken as multi-disciplinary
projects. One constraint is the need for design courses to
maintain a strong engineering rather than ‘social science’
focus. Even subtle changes, such as using examples from
around the world or conducting tests on materials other
than concrete and steel, send important signals.
Many courses include research projects and dissertations and
these also provide opportunities to learn about the global
dimension. One example is the Appropriate Technology
Case study
The Centre for Sustainable Development
(CSD) at Cambridge University Engineering
Department53
Established in 1998, the Centre aims to be the dedi-
cated centre for sustainable development within
Cambridge’s engineering department. The centre sup-
ports the wider faculty helping to deliver classes: for
example a 4th Year (MEng) option module: Engineering
Design for Sustainable Development, 3rd year modules
on Technology, Work and Environment and Environ-
mental Engineering and a compulsory 1st year class:
Engineers in Society, as well as providing case studies
and supporting relevant MEng projects. These modules
are well received and attract positive feedback from
students.
The Centre also runs an MPhil programme for engineers
wanting to focus on engineering for sustainable
development. With the exception of Centre for Sustain-
able Development (CSD), engineering courses at
Cambridge have a strong mathematical and technical
focus especially in years 1-3. Only in the 4th year does
the curriculum widen and include topics on sustain-
ability, globalisation, watsan, energy and environment
and responses to climate change. Traditionalists within
the faculty view the CSD with some suspicion wary of
the lack of ‘second order differential equations’.
The CSD curriculum focuses a lot on context setting
such as energy security and developing country dimen-
sions. The Centre uses a lot of active learning
pedagogies such as role plays, facilitated discussions,
distinguished lecture series and staged ‘select
committee’ inquiries into sustainable development
issues The distinguished lecture series is open to the
public and is one of the most effective ways of raising
awareness of SD issues in the wider academic commu-
nity. Initially some students, more familiar with ‘chalk
and talk’ teaching methods, struggle with the centre’s
approach. However the course continues to be popular,
growing year on year and attracting a high proportion
of women, foreign and mature students relative to
undergraduate courses, many with work experience
with international NGOs and business: A resource that
undergraduate course leaders could potentially tap.
Research Programme at Nottingham University, which has
won awards for embedding sustainability within the cur-
riculum. The projects were sourced from around the world
through NGOs (Tearfund, EWB-UK and Practical Action) and
by direct advertising and allow 3rd and 4th year students to
learn about engineering problem solving in a development
context and become involved in global design problems.
They are popular with students and have raised the profile of
appropriate technology within the department and beyond.56
Another example is Developing Technologies: a programme
of staff led research projects at Imperial College which
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