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Karlson ‘Charlie’ HargrovesExecutive Director of ‘The Natural Edge Project’Co-editor of ‘The Natural Advantage of Nations’
‘A STRATEGIC APPROACH TO EMBEDDING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT INTO
ENGINEERING EDUCATION TO SUPPORT THE WATER INDUSTRY
Population, sustainability, climate change and water
Cheryl Desha – TNEP Education Director/Griffith University Associate Lecturer
Shanghai has built more skyscrapers in the last 10 years then there are in the whole of
New York! (Urban Eco-System)
Source: The Barton Group Australian Water Industry Roadmap
Product Development Curve for the Australian Water Industry
Credit: Rob Ward and Chris Train (UK Environment Agency)
Credit: Jocke Berglund, Fotoflyget, Skandinavien
If you are thinking 1 year ahead, sow a seed.
If you are thinking 10 years ahead, plant a tree.
If you are thinking 100 years ahead, educate the people.
Chinese Tao patriarch Kuan Tzu, 500 BC
‘The urgent challenge for higher education now is to include ecological literacy as a core
competency for all graduates, whether they are in law, engineering or business’
Griffith University’s Vice Chancellor Ian O’Connor2006 Earth Dialogues Conference
Indeed there is a scarcity of documentation by higher education institutions anywhere in the
world as to how sustainability will be systematically embedded into curriculum across
the universities’ offerings
Example: Leadership in Australia
Engineers Australia Stage 1 Competency Standards
professional engineers are required to take responsibility for engineering projects and programs in the most far reaching sense…
including understanding the requirements of clients and of society as a whole; working to optimise social, environmental and economic outcomes over the lifetime of the product or
program’
• PE2.2 Understanding of social, cultural, global, and environmental responsibilities and the need to employ principles of sustainable development
• Appreciation of the interactions between technical systems and the social, cultural, environmental, economic and political context in which they operate, and the relationships between these factors
• Appreciation of the imperatives of safety and of sustainability, and approaches to developing and maintaining safe and sustainable systems
• Ability to interact with people in other disciplines and professions to broaden knowledge, achieve multidisciplinary outcomes, and ensure that the engineering contribution is properly integrated into the total project
• Appreciation of the nature of risk, both of a technical kind and in relation to clients, users, the community and the environment
Example: Leadership in Australia
Engineers Australia Stage 1 Competency Standards
PE2.3 Ability to utilise a systems approach to complex problems and to design and operational performance
- Ability to engage with ill-defined situations and problems involving uncertainty, imprecise information, and wide-ranging and conflicting technical and non-technical factors
- Understanding of the need to plan and quantify performance over the life-cycle of a project or program, integrating technical performance with social, environmental and economic outcomes
- Ability to utilise a systems-engineering or equivalent disciplined, holistic approach to incorporate all considerations
- Ability to conceptualise and define possible alternative engineering approaches and evaluate their advantages and disadvantages in terms of functionality, cost, sustainability and all other factors.
20
07
+5 +10 +15 +20 +25
1. Lock-Step Model: Planned, Strategic Roll-Out Approach
Transition Scenarios for ‘Education for Sustainable Development’ - Minimum Graduation Timeframes
2. Business as Usual Model: Ad Hoc Approach
3. Laggards Model: Delayed Transition Approach
Key Predictions in Problem Escalation:- Drought and Water Shortage - Depletion of Ground water- Sea Level Rise over Time- Temperature Rise over Time
Undergraduate (U/G)
Postgraduate (P/G)
Graduation Windows for:
The Time-Lag Dilemma
Proposed Rapid Curriculum Renewal Elements
• Awareness Raising Activities
• Scoping Workshops with Key Staff
• Sustainability Desktop Audit
• Curriculum – Existing Course Renewal (Integrated Approach)
• Curriculum - New Course Development/ Replacement (Flagship Approach)
• Outreach and Bridging (Recruitment/Professional Development)
• Integration with Campus Operations
Sustainability Desktop Audit:
• An initial meeting with the audit team and senior management.
• An introductory session with Course Convenors to clarify the purpose and method of the audit.
• Semi-formal interviews with Course Convenors, to assess and classify all courses in the program of focus (using a Category Rating of 1-5).
• A collaborative mapping process with the Course Convenors, to identify opportunities and constraints for each course.
• A scoping of resource and timing requirements for existing course renewal and new course development/ replacement.
• The production of an audit report which contains a map of the current curriculum and recommendations and suggested content for curriculum renewal in each course.
Collaborative, Non-Confrontational, Pro-Active Approach to Curriculum Renewal, Addressing Accreditation Requirements
Table: Sample Assessment Summary – First Year Engineering
Unit (Subject)
Unit NameFundamental Principles/
Base TheoryKnowledge
Application/ Practice
Category Rating
ENG1XXXMomentum, Mass & Heat Transfer
√clearly explained
√Appears suitable
~Room for improvement
2
ENG1XXX Engineering Structures √clearly explained
√Appears suitable
~Room for improvement
2
ENG1XXX Electrical Systems √clearly explained
√Appears suitable
√Appears suitable
1
ENG1XXX Engineering Dynamics √clearly explained
√Appears suitable
~Room for improvement
2
ENG1XXX Engineering Materials √clearly explained
~Room for
improvement
~Room for improvement
3
ENG1XXX Computing for Engineers √clearly explained
√Appears suitable
~Room for improvement
2
Shanghai Century Publishing
