Civil And Architectural Engineering Students’ Conceptualization Of Good Engineering And Its Implications For Ethics Education

The ways in which students conceptualise what it means to do good engineering illuminates their values and priorities and shapes their understanding of ethics in engineering. The present study is part of a larger project that is exploring civil and architectural engineering students’ understanding of ethical and societal responsibility and its development via formal and informal learning. Data collection and analysis are ongoing in the larger project, and the present study focuses on eight semi-structured interviews with civil and architectural engineering students at one university in Belgium. The analysis was designed to address how civil and architectural students conceptualise good engineering and the potential role of the engineering culture in this meaning-making. The data were examined through the lens of Cech’s culture of disengagement: a framing for how engineers conceptualise their professional responsibility and understand what it means to be an engineer. The findings include good engineering has a human-centred purpose, is responsible, and requires interpersonal competencies, all of which diverge from the tenets of the culture of disengagement. However, in alignment with the framework, there is evidence that students perceived gatekeeping in their programme to determine who can do good engineering. The implications raise awareness around the culture of engineering and point to students’ interest in using it for community benefit.