Embedding Sustainability in Higher Education Course Content: An Industry and Education Perspective

ABSTRACT Large amount of environmental resources are utilized towards the construction, renovation, operation and maintenance of buildings. Though buildings enhance the standard of living, it accounts for a large portion of non- renewable energy depletion, greenhouse gas emissions, raw materials use, waste generation, and freshwater consumption. Sustainable design and construction practices can substantially reduce or eliminate negative environmental impacts through high-performance design, construction, and operations practices. With most of the top design and construction firms in the globe implementing sustainable design and construction practices, there is a huge responsibility on Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) professionals to be knowledgeable in sustainable design and construction practices. Although many higher education institutions have begun to provide sustainability related courses, there is a lack of consensus on what constitute the body of knowledge on sustainability and knowledge expectations from the recent graduates when they join the workforce. The purpose of the research study is to identify the industry expectations of sustainability knowledge of recent graduates and how that is delivered through course curricula. The research methods adopted for the study will be three folds, starting with an initial literature review on sustainability and how it is addressed by AEC as well as non-AEC course curricula, followed by a survey of AEC industry professionals (listed in Engineering News Record’s top 100 list) to identify the sustainability knowledge expected from recent graduates. Further, using content analysis, the AEC educators’ interview data and the course descriptions will be analyzed to identify how well the industry expectations are delivered through the course curriculum. The findings of the study will provide important feedback for AEC educators to revise and evaluate their course curricula to address the important sustainability knowledge identified by the industry professionals.