Social challenges in education for sustainable engineering future: Transformative guideline

Abstract

Engineers are educated and trained to take the lead in sustainable development, tackling worldwide difficulties like depletion of natural resources, contamination, fast-growing populations, and ecological degradation. The relevance of government entities dealing with sustainable development is linked to the societal problem of future education. While all social-economical and/or technical variables play a role in determining the outlook in which each competence originates, novel-adaptive thinking, social intelligence, design mentality, and sense-making, social imagination (cross-sectoral fertilization), cognitive load management, virtual collaboration and networking, and novel media literacy suggest representing crucial drivers for the development of each ability. An extensive selection of continuing education programs enables graduates to improve subject-specific skills and extend their professional networks, with the objective of preparing motivated and highly-trained professionals for the job market. It is feasible to achieve the aim of a sustainable engineering future by recognizing the relevance of these criteria, comprehending, and adequately fulfilling them.