De-constructing the sustainability challenge for engineering education: an industrial ecology approach

Abstract

Engineering for sustainable development (ESD) involves engineering decision making that provides for todays production and consumption without endangering the natural resource base on which all of life ultimately depends. Curtin University's Faculty of Engineering in Perth, Western Australia, has long held the belief that engineering education holds one of the main keys to improving sustainable development outcomes across the modern world and to this end has invested in the development of outreach programmes, undergraduate and post-graduate education and the promotion of education leadership in engineering education for sustainable development. These programmes have been both facilitated and developed by the Sustainable Engineering Group in the School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering at Curtin University. De-constructing the sustainable engineering education challenge has involved programmes that start from the first interface with potential young engineers in secondary high schools and continues through to post-graduate education for practicing engineers.