Abstract
Without a doubt, we are living in interesting times, characterized by both continuous economic development and improved standard of living, but also uncertainty, increased pollution, and environmental degradation, which means that, now, more than ever, global and consistent action is needed in order to create a more sustainable future. In this context, education in general and higher education in particular, face both, a significant challenge and a substantial role due to their formative function both in terms of mindset and practical tools. The main objective of our research was to explore the way technical universities in Romania have integrated into their curricula courses that aim at shaping sustainability competencies in engineering students. The study was carried out based on an exploratory empirical content analysis of the technical universities’ curricula, in order to identify the courses, including sustainable development (SD)-related topics. The analysis covered 255 bachelor programs and 394 master programs with a total of 25,920 courses, both mandatory and optional. The results revealed that there are differences in approaching sustainability education between the universities and also faculties within the universities included in the sample, revealing a rather siloed approach.
Highlights
We are living in a period of globalization marked by constant change, aggravating environmental problems [1], diminishing resources, and increasing economic inequalities between humans
The research was conducted at five Romanian technical universities according to the Romanian Ministry of Education List of Public Higher Education Institutions included in the Government Decision (GD) no. 692/5 September 2018: 1. Polytechnic University of Bucharest (UPB) 2
There are three reasons we focused our research on Romanian technical universities: (1) There is an important connection between a country’s engineering capacity and its economic development [39], (2) the importance of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) for engineers is highlighted in the literature [23,44,45,56,57,58], and (3) the average number of engineering students enrolled in bachelor programs between 2014 and 2018 was 86,349, representing 21% of Romania’s entire student population [59]
Summary
We are living in a period of globalization marked by constant change, aggravating environmental problems [1], diminishing resources, and increasing economic inequalities between humans. Sustainable development has become a globally accepted concept to guide interactions between nature and society [2], the literature provides various and sometimes divergent perspectives regarding the definition and components of SD, and the practical applications follow the same trend. In 2006, the European Union (EU) included the idea of sustainable development and sustainability into the “Strategy for an Extended Europe”, which had the objective of creating sustainable communities and improving the living standards for present and future generations [4]. The degree to which a country achieves a higher standard of sustainable development varies due to factors like culture and education [14]. Universities play a tremendous role in shaping the communities around them, especially since education is seen as a catalyst for helping society shift towards a more sustainable future.
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