Sustainable development competencies for achieving the SDGS: Engineering students and industry requirements

This paper will provide an insight into how French engineering students and employers perceive the competencies needed to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). It draws on the findings of two exploratory focus group studies carried out in the context of the A-STEP 2030 European Project. Our results indicate significant differences in the awareness of sustainability goals among respondents, but a relatively high level of convergence around the skills and competencies that appear most necessary for attaining sustainable development. The respondents considered that technical knowledge and skills were adequately included within French engineering school curricula, yet they felt that achieving the SDGs would demand that more emphasis be placed on the development of transversal skills. According to our results, engineering schools need to more comprehensively integrate transversal skills and competencies. Our findings also suggest that this may best be achieved via interdisciplinary teaching and an increased use of project-based education (PBE) and learning carried out in a real work context.