Incorporating global skills within UK higher education of engineers

project skills. All stakeholders recognise the value of practical
experience and relating taught theory to real life problems.
Education centres provide opportunities for role plays and
simulations, team working and action learning (see innova-
tive pedagogies). However, providing such practical
experience is expensive. National and regional education
centres allow cost sharing and pooling of knowledge
amongst HEIs. Examples of education centres relevant to the
global dimension of engineering and the built environment
include:

■ The Centre for Alternative Technology

■ The Eden Project and the joint summer schools run with
Architects sans Frontiers

■ The constructionarium

■ Practical short course training run by NGOs such as RedR,
Architects sans Frontiers and EWB-UK

National and international collaboration,
debate and policy initiatives

An assessment of the Make Poverty History Campaign
showed that whilst it raised public awareness and support in
the short term, there is little evidence the campaign led to a
greater depth of understanding and there is a risk wider
public support could quickly dissipate. DFID believe that
education in general and HE institutions in particular are
increasingly important to building support for development.
At the national level, there was a perceived need for greater
coherence in government policy on global skills education
and DFID increasingly works with other government depart-
ments and agencies such as DIUS, the FCO, the British
Council, HEFCE and the Research Councils. One example of
this is the DELPHE (Development Partnerships in Higher
Education) programme.⁹⁵

The debate around the future of engineering education and
the need for a greater global and poverty reduction
dimension takes place during a period of rapid change and
expansion in UK Higher Education and within a wider debate
on global education and education for sustainable develop-
ment and education for global citizenship. Stakeholders
within engineering education would benefit from informing
and participating in these wider debates both nationally and
internationally and forging stronger links with other sectors
and key policy formers. As a case in point, engineering and
the physical and natural sciences could learn from work on
global perspectives within the social sciences such as the
DFID funded study by the Royal Geographical Society.⁹⁶

As already noted, whilst there is wide support for the ‘global
skills’ agenda examined by the Leitch Review, there are
different interpretations of what the implications are for
engineering education. What is the balance between (1)
‘core engineering’ ‘hard skills’ and broader professional ‘soft
skills’, between (2) advanced science and engineering and
‘intermediate’ technologies often more suited to the
developing countries and between (3) meeting the current
industry needs and anticipating how these needs may

Case study

International Collaboration Case study:
CDIO Project⁹⁸

CDIO stands for Conceive - Design - Implement -
Operate. CDIO aims to conceive and develop a new
vision of engineering Education and is a collaboration of
leading engineering schools in the U.S., Europe, Canada,
U.K., Asia and New Zealand to ensure engineering
education reflects changing real-world demands on
engineers. The CDIO website presents a wealth of
experience from around the world with particular focus
on how practical design projects present students with
active and experiential learning opportunities to develop
the personal, professional and creative skills referred
throughout this publication.

National and international policy frameworks relevant to the global dimension of engineering education

■ Putting the World into World-Class Education: DFES,
now DIUS

■ Education for Sustainable Development and Global
Citizenship, ACACC, now the Welsh Assembly's Dept.
for Education Lifelong Learning and Skills (DELLS).

■ Science in society strategy UK Research council

■ Engineering a better world, Engineering and

Physical Sciences Research Council

■ Sustainable development strategy, Institution of Civil
Engineers et al, 2007

■ Engineering Subject Centre: Sustainability portal

■ Global Sustainability Forum - Imperial College 2007

■ Royal Academy of Engineering International Strategy

■ Engineers of the 21st century, Forum for the Future

■ The environmental association of universities and
colleges (EUAC)

■ EU Leonardo Project

■ Bologna Declaration

■ The Observatory: Status of engineering education for
sustainable development in European higher
education, 2006, Alliance for Global Sustainability

■ International Federation of Engineering
Education Societies (IFEES) 2008-2012 Strategic Plan

■ AllianceforInternational Education

■ Protocol for Engineering a Sustainable Future for the
Planet: ICE, ASCE and CSCE memorandum

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