Systematic Review of How Engineering Schools around the World Are Deploying the 2030 Agenda

Abstract

At the UN Summit in New York 2015 it was agreed that a sustainable development of the planet is essential to strengthen universal peace in a broader capacity. On that basis, a call was made to all nations to achieve this through the 2030 Agenda. The issue is a complex one, as is evident from its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their interwoven interaction. Engineering plays a leading role in achieving the great majority of the SDGs. For this reason, engineering education should focus its efforts on training engineers to be active agents of sustainability in the world. Our research question is, in fact, how the engineering higher education institutions around the world are deploying the 2030 Agenda. To answer it, we carried out a systematic review of the literature regarding SDGs and engineering schools in the Scopus and Web of Science (WOS) databases. We applied PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses) methodology and, as a result, 22 papers were thoroughly studied. The results showed a consensus on the need for collaboration among the different stakeholders to achieve the desired degree profile of responsible engineers. Proposals to ensure this are diverse. They range from changes in curricula and competencies to a variety of teaching–learning strategies. Finally, future lines of research are identified from this study.