Resumen de Factors affecting the engagement of academics of engineering studies towards sustainable development
Boris Lazzarini
Higher education institutions (HEIs) play a critical role in societies’ transition towards sustainable development (SD), as they educate future professionals and decision makers. Engineering is widely recognised as a critical discipline for addressing global challenges and contributing towards a sustainable future. In the last few decades, numerous technical universities have devoted major efforts to integrating SD into engineering curricula. However, there is still an increasing need to further transform learning and training environments, and to build capacity of educators and trainers, on SD issues. Advances being made in curriculum and educators’ practices, at all levels of education, are slow and incremental, and more effort is needed to properly institutionalise education for SD in technical universities. Implementation of SD in the different university functions appears to face various challenges. On the one side, learning processes enabling changes depend to a large extent on the academic professionals and their capability and willingness to support transformative processes. On the other side, scientific literature highlights a number of barriers to change that persist and prevent lasting faculty engagement, including: i) limited institutional commitment, and lack of appropriate policies and incentives to promote sustainability at different university levels; ii) conservative disciplinary structures and resistance to change; iii) lack of awareness or proper professional development of professors; and iv) high work pressure, lack of time, and overcrowded curricula.
This thesis analyses the factors affecting the engagement of academics of engineering studies in SD, addressing the shortcomings cited above. Chapter 1 assesses the role of online training courses in promoting SD in engineering degrees, within continuing professional development (CPD) strategies. In it, two sets of quantitative and qualitative indicators are combined to assess the perceived relevance of training proposals developed in the framework of the present thesis, and the learning acquisition of participants. Chapter 2 analyses the research profile of engineering academics promoting education in SD, by employing a bibliometric research approach to compare and characterise academics with different degrees of expertise and involvement in SD. Chapter 3 complements the previous chapter by providing a characterization of a group of professors participating in a training program, integrating a qualitative approach. Finally, Chapter 4 focusses on the effects of integrating SD into real-world teaching modules in a subject of basic engineering science, employing a research approach that is eminently qualitative.
Overall, the results provide evidence that online learning can be an effective approach for continuing professional development of academics. The findings also suggest that the engagement of specifics academic profiles can facilitate a cultural change in engineering education, as well as more holistic transformations of universities towards SD. We suggest that two specific research fields be explored in the near future: i) engagement of accreditation agencies and professional engineering institutions; and ii) solid commitment of HEIs towards the integration of Sustainable Development Goals from the United Nations in their academic functions.
