Incorporating global skills within UK higher education of engineers

ment appoints a team of tutors to be responsible and where
necessary bring in expertise to advise and train the team and
develop learning resources. The process should identify: (1)
Short term, quick wins and minor adaptations (such as using
a wider range of global case studies) which will promote
global perspectives; (2) Wider lessons from other courses
and universities and (3) Gaps in knowledge and capacity and
external support available to fill these gaps?

Post graduate and short course training

Post-graduate courses represent an invaluable source of
experience, teaching resources and lecturers, especially for
course leaders lacking the necessary experience. Within
engineering, there is a need to distinguish between the
bachelors and masters levels. At the undergraduate level,
there is a lot of pressure to cover all the “hard science”
material within the first 3 years of a bachelors degree which
leaves little room for “soft skills” modules. This has led some
to suggest that the 4th year (masters level) offers more
opportunity to integrate global issues in the curriculum. The
past 5 years has seen continued significant growth in post-
graduate centres and courses reflecting global issues such as
CSR, the environment (especially climate change) and devel-
opment / poverty reduction. This training includes masters
and diploma courses, short courses, seminars, lectures and
distance and e-learning including a few specific courses on
engineering and development and engineering and human-
itarian relief (see box). Post-graduate courses suit those
specialising in international development, although this pro-
vision does not mitigate the need for the global dimension
within undergraduate engineering courses.

Case study

University level programmes case study:
Envision 2010, Imperial College⁹¹

Envision 2010 aims to drive reforms across the engi-
neering faculty: curricula design, buildings, reward and
promotion of academic staff, recognition of excellence:
all fall within its remit. An extensive survey of students,
alumni, industry and academic staff found many gradu-
ates were falling down on non-technical skills. The
programme aims to update engineering education to
reflect the changing needs of employers. Envision seeks
to break down departmental knowledge silos by pro-
moting greater cross-department collaboration, shared
modules and supporting practical projects like Racing
Green, the El Salvador Project⁹², Developing Technologies
and EWB-UK Imperial branch.

‘Engineering and Development’ MScs

■ Bournemouth

■ Cambridge

■ Coventry

■ Cranfield

■ London Metropolitan

■ Open University

■ WEDC

■ Development studies course directory

Further examples of UK universities strongly promoting the global agenda

■ Bath University Centre for the study of Education in an International Context (CEIC)

■ Bournemouth University: Includes information on the University's Global Perspectives project

■ University of Bradford Ecoversity: a programme that aims to embed the principles and practice of sustainable devel-
opment across the entire institution and all activities.

■ University of Bristol Details of the work of the Energy and Environmental Management Unit.

■ Chester College: Global Perspective initiative

■ University of Glasgow brings together the university's sustainable development policies and initiatives.

■ University of Gloucester The first English institution-wide certification to the ISO14001 environmental management
standard.

■ London South Bank University Education for Sustainability

■ Leeds Metropolitan University: Global Perspectives Network linking staff in British universities.

■ Middlesex University Global Citizenship and Civil Society through Service Learning

■ University College London: ‘Global Citizenship’ programme

Further examples of UK universities strongly promoting the global agenda

■ University of Kingston: Centre for Sustainable Communities Achieved through Integrated Professional Education

■ University of Plymouth: Education for Sustainable Development

■ East Midlands Regional Centre of Expertise (RCE) in Education for Sustainable Development: Universities in the East
Midlands, officially recognised by the UN, one of only 35 RCEs worldwide and the first in the UK

■ Engineering Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning and Full directory of CETLs

■ Higher Education Academy Subject Centres

■ Development Education Centre: Global development perspectives in HE 2003, The Global University 2006

■ Institute of Education, Development Education Research Centre

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