Abstract
This article is the result of a survey conducted on first year students of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture in Zagreb. Heavy particles in the focus of this article are intrinsic and extrinsic motivation of students and their ecological awareness and practice. Accordingly, we wanted to examine which form of motivation was prevalent in students when choosing a career in engineering and the degree of environmental awareness and practice of those students. The results show that extrinsic elements of motivation were more important to students in terms of their future career. When it comes to environmental awareness and practices, results show a higher level of environmental awareness and practices among students. Conclusively, it can be noted that the dominance of extrinsic motivation for a career does not compromise the interest in environmental issues or environmental practices.
Highlights
The study of mechanical engineering in Croatia, as part of a broader field of technical sciences, has gone through changes over the last twenty years, despite the specific circumstances of transition in Croatian society that similar studies all over the world have gone through or are currently experiencing
The process of professional socialization is subject to subsequent rationalization, it is not expected that the level of intrinsic motivation should decrease if the preconceptions not match the practice
Quick career advancement definitely points to careerism and the need to prove oneself in a professional environment, since the examinees prescribed least significance to decision making and influencing society
Summary
The study of mechanical engineering in Croatia, as part of a broader field of technical sciences, has gone through changes over the last twenty years, despite the specific circumstances of transition in Croatian society that similar studies all over the world have gone through or are currently experiencing. There are far too many similarities to be ignored: the decrease in interest for studying mechanical engineering in the 90s and the deindustrialization, both indicators of the state of the national economic development, the inefficiency of study and sometimes labored adoption of the Bologna model of higher education, the critical reevaluation of, the traditional academic engineering program which implied opening brand new areas of education and research (e.g., sustainable growth), but the professional identity and role in society of the engineer It is not surprising that when addressing the need for change in the context of Croatia in the late 90s Čatić [1] uses almost the identical phrase as Beder [2] does for the context of Australia (and wider), claiming that engineering is at “a turning point”. The latter, how Croatian engineering students, freshmen that have only begun their careers in the academic world, view the study and profession of mechanical engineering, was the incentive for the research whose results are presented in this article
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
