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‘ A STRATEGIC APPROACH TO EMBEDDING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT INTO ENGINEERING EDUCATION TO SUPPORT THE WATER INDUSTRY. Karlson ‘Charlie’ Hargroves Executive Director of ‘ The Natural Edge Project ’ Co-editor of ‘ The Natural Advantage of Nations’ charlie@naturaledgeproject.net.
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‘A STRATEGIC APPROACH TO EMBEDDING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT INTO ENGINEERING EDUCATION TO SUPPORT THE WATER INDUSTRY Karlson ‘Charlie’ Hargroves Executive Director of ‘The Natural Edge Project’ Co-editor of ‘The Natural Advantage of Nations’ charlie@naturaledgeproject.net
Population, sustainability, climate change and water Cheryl Desha – TNEP Education Director/Griffith University Associate Lecturer
Shanghai has built more skyscrapers in the last 10 years then there are in the whole of New York! (Urban Eco-System)
Product Development Curve for the Australian Water Industry Source: The Barton Group Australian Water Industry Roadmap
If you are thinking 1 year ahead, sow a seed. If you are thinking 10 years ahead, plant a tree. If you are thinking 100 years ahead, educate the people. Chinese Tao patriarch Kuan Tzu, 500 BC
‘The urgent challenge for higher education now is to include ecological literacy as a core competency for all graduates, whether they are in law, engineering or business’ Griffith University’s Vice Chancellor Ian O’Connor2006 Earth Dialogues Conference Indeed there is a scarcity of documentation by higher education institutions anywhere in the world as to how sustainability will be systematically embedded into curriculum across the universities’ offerings
PE2.2 Understanding of social, cultural, global, and environmental responsibilities and the need to employ principles of sustainable development Appreciation of the interactions between technical systems and the social, cultural, environmental, economic and political context in which they operate, and the relationships between these factors Appreciation of the imperatives of safety and of sustainability, and approaches to developing and maintaining safe and sustainable systems Ability to interact with people in other disciplines and professions to broaden knowledge, achieve multidisciplinary outcomes, and ensure that the engineering contribution is properly integrated into the total project Appreciation of the nature of risk, both of a technical kind and in relation to clients, users, the community and the environment Example: Leadership in Australia Engineers Australia Stage 1 Competency Standards professional engineers are required to take responsibility for engineering projects and programs in the most far reaching sense… including understanding the requirements of clients and of society as a whole; working to optimise social, environmental and economic outcomes over the lifetime of the product or program’
PE2.3 Ability to utilise a systems approach to complex problems and to design and operational performance - Ability to engage with ill-defined situations and problems involving uncertainty, imprecise information, and wide-ranging and conflicting technical and non-technical factors - Understanding of the need to plan and quantify performance over the life-cycle of a project or program, integrating technical performance with social, environmental and economic outcomes - Ability to utilise a systems-engineering or equivalent disciplined, holistic approach to incorporate all considerations - Ability to conceptualise and define possible alternative engineering approaches and evaluate their advantages and disadvantages in terms of functionality, cost, sustainability and all other factors. Example: Leadership in Australia Engineers Australia Stage 1 Competency Standards
Graduation Windows for: Undergraduate (U/G) Postgraduate (P/G) The Time-Lag Dilemma • Key Predictions in Problem Escalation: • - Drought and Water Shortage • Depletion of Ground water • Sea Level Rise over Time • - Temperature Rise over Time 2007 +5 +10 +15 +20 +25 Transition Scenarios for ‘Education for Sustainable Development’ - Minimum Graduation Timeframes 1. Lock-Step Model: Planned, Strategic Roll-Out Approach 2. Business as Usual Model: Ad Hoc Approach 3. Laggards Model: Delayed Transition Approach
Proposed Rapid Curriculum Renewal Elements • Awareness Raising Activities • Scoping Workshops with Key Staff • Sustainability Desktop Audit • Curriculum – Existing Course Renewal (Integrated Approach) • Curriculum - New Course Development/ Replacement (Flagship Approach) • Outreach and Bridging (Recruitment/Professional Development) • Integration with Campus Operations
An initial meeting with the audit team and senior management. An introductory session with Course Convenors to clarify the purpose and method of the audit. Semi-formal interviews with Course Convenors, to assess and classify all courses in the program of focus (using a Category Rating of 1-5). A collaborative mapping process with the Course Convenors, to identify opportunities and constraints for each course. A scoping of resource and timing requirements for existing course renewal and new course development/ replacement. The production of an audit report which contains a map of the current curriculum and recommendations and suggested content for curriculum renewal in each course. Sustainability Desktop Audit: Collaborative, Non-Confrontational, Pro-Active Approach to Curriculum Renewal, Addressing Accreditation Requirements