Integration of Sustainable Development in Engineering Education

Integration of

Sustainable Development in Engineering Education Issues and Practice

Edited by: A. Shanableh

College of Engineering University of Sharjah

Integration of Sustainable Development in Engineering Education-Issues and Practice Edited By: Abdallah Shanableh, PhD, CPEng Professor of Environmental Engineering Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering College of Engineering, University of Sharjah Published By: College of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Sharjah Publication Year: 2012 This book contains a selection of papers submitted to the European Sustainable Development Promotion (SDPRomo) Conference under the theme "Sustainable Development in Higher Education". The SDPRomo conference was held jointly with the th "5 International Forum on Engineering Education窶的FEE2010" during the period 23-25 November 2011 at the University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. The main st theme of the IFEE2010 was "Engineering Education in the 21 Century - Quality, Globalization and Local Relevance".

The papers included in this book were selected to match the theme of the book following a peer review process organized by the IFEE2010 technical committee. The views, arguments, sources of information, language use, and contents of the articles included in the book are those of the authors and their sole responsibility.

The Editor is currently a Professor of Environmental Engineering at the University of Sharjah. Prof. Abdallah Shanableh is also the founder and general chair of the IFEE. To order copies of the book or CD-Rom proceedings, please contact: University of Sharjah P.O. Box 27272, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates Phone: + 971-6-5050904, Fax: +971-6-5585173 Sponsors of IFEE2010

The International Forum on Engineering Education (IFEE) The International Forum on Engineering Education (IFEE) was founded in 2001 to bring together engineering educators, professionals, students, policy and decision makers, and community stakeholders from around the world to contribute to the enrichment and advancement of engineering education in the region. The first five conferences were held at the University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, which currently hosts the IFEE. The events were devoted to addressing a variety of issues, under the following themes: 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

st

1 IFEE2001: The Changing Role of Engineering Education in the Information Age - Innovation and Tradition nd 2 IFEE2002: Generic Attributes in Undergraduate Engineering Education Issues and Development rd 3 IFEE2003: Building Partnership with Government, Industry, and Society th 4 IFEE2006: Integration of Teaching and Research with Community Service th st 5 IFEE2010: Engineering Education in the 21 Century: Quality, Globalization and Local Relevance. The 5th IFEE was held jointly with the European SDPROMO Conference - Sustainability in Higher Education.

th

The 5 IFEE2010 included various themes, with the theme on "sustainable development in engineering education" organized under the European SDPROMO ConferenceSustainability in Higher Education. Currently, the inclusion of sustainable development considerations in engineering education remains at the early stages in the region, with most efforts being led by individuals rather than institutions. Nevertheless, the articles included in this book reveal thoughtfulness and motivation on behalf of the contributors. The editor is indebted to the authors for their valuable contributions and to all colleagues who helped make IFEE2010 a successful and rewarding experience.

Prof. A. Shanableh Editor and Founder of IFEE

Sponsors of IFEE2010

INTEGRATION OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION – ISSUES AND PRACTICE

CONTENTS PENETRATION OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT EDUCATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE COUNTRIES OF THE GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL – A PRELIMINARY STUDY

1

A. Shanableh and M. Bkheet STRATEGIES FOR INTEGRATING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT INTO HIGHER EDUCATION

13

H. Meliani and R. Djoudjou THE PARTICIPATION OF HIGH EDUCATION IN THE PREPARATION OF HUMAN RESOURCES FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

26

M. Al-Khateeb ENGINEERING STUDENTS GETTING THE BIGGER PICTURE - 25 ENGINEERING STUDENTS LEARNING SUSTAINABILITY ON A BOAT

40

G. de Werk and K. Mulder SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION IN CIVIL ENGINEERING PROGRAMS WITHIN THE GCC STATES

51

D. Jawad and E. Small INTEGRATING SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION IN A CLASSICAL CIVIL ENGINEERING PROGRAM: THE CASE OF TRANSPORTATION AND CONSTRUCTION COURSES

64

S. Beheiry, G. Abu-Lebdeh, M. Mortula and A. Tamimi INTEGRATING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT CONCEPTS IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION, ESPECIALLY IN CIVIL ENGINEERING EDUCATION

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Z. Ali GREEN CONSTRUCTION: OPTIONS FOR INCORPORATING SUSTAINABILITY INTO GRADUATE CONSTRUCTION PROGRAMS

87

E. Small and D. Jawad A PEDAGOGICAL FRAMEWORK FOR INTEGRATING SUSTAINABILITY IN THE ENGINEERING DESIGN EDUCATION

97

S. Elmasry ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION IN THE UAE: SURVEY AND COMPARATIVE STUDY

106

M. Mohamed and M. Maraqa AUTHORS AND KEYWORDS INDEX

120

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PENETRATION OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT EDUCATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE COUNTRIES OF THE GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL – A PRELIMINARY STUDY A. Shanableh and M. Bkheet Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to quickly assess the level of penetration of sustainable development (SD) in higher education in the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). During the past decade (2000-2010), the CCC countries have witnessed an unprecedented period of expansion in higher education, evidenced by the establishment of many new institutions of higher learning. The privatization of higher education and promulgation of policies directed towards creating higher education hubs in some GCC countries, such as the UAE and Qatar, provided catalysts for such expansion. The rapid expansion of higher education by itself is a positive contributor to sustainable development. The GCC community awareness of contemporary environmental concerns and enthusiasm for sustainable development is significant and constantly improving, with institutions of higher education increasingly organizing activities and introducing courses and programs addressing environmental protection and management and sustainable development. So far however, environmental science and technology issues have received significantly more coverage than SD in higher education, with the coverage of SD being at an early stage and not guided by clear policies or strategies. The data presented in this article were collected using a variety of tools, including: surveys and interviews; searches of universities websites; and reviews of a few available and accessible publications. However, the available and generated data were not enough to make definite conclusions about the status of education on SD in the GCC countries.

Nevertheless, the presented data should provide a useful resource for future studies and indicators of SD penetration in higher education in the GCC countries.

KEYWORDS: Sustainable Development; Sustainable Development Education; Environmental Education; Higher Education; Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Countries

INTRODUCTION The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) consists of six countries: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain. In 2010, the population of the GCC countries has reached approximately 40 million, mostly in Saudi Arabia which has a population of approximately 26 million. During the past decade, the GCC countries have witnessed an unprecedented growth and expansion in the higher education sector, represented by the establishment of a large number of universities and institutions of higher learning and training. This expansion was attributed to strategies aiming at creating higher education hubs in some GCC countries, including privatization of higher education. Privatization of higher education allowed external universities and private

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investors access to the vast higher education market in the region where the standards of living allows families to cover the cost of private universities. The expansion of higher education was aimed at fulfilling the need of the ever increasing number of students who finish high school in the GCC countries, whether being nationals of GCC countries or children of expatriate workers in the GCC countries. Previously, the limited number of national universities were incapable of meeting the demand for higher education and the majority of students had to study abroad. The typical destinations for students in the past were universities in the UK and North America for GCC nationals, universities in home countries of expatriate workers, or universities in regional higher education hubs like Jordan and Egypt. The situation has changed starting the late 1990s and early 2000 with the expansion and privatization of higher education in the GCC countries. The most significant development was the establishment of private universities as branches of universities in western countries, notably the USA, UK, Australia and France. Jawad and Small ([1]) reported that the total number of universities in the GCC countries has risen to nearly 130 institutions (Table 1) in the year 2010. In addition to universities, many vocational training institutions and community colleges are established in the GCC countries.

Table 1: Numbers of universities in GCC countries.

(Source: Jawad and Small, [1]) Country Saudi Arabia United Arab Emirates Oman Kuwait Qatar Bahrain Total

No of Universities 43 37 22 10 4 14 130

The establishment of national environmental agencies in the GCC countries started in the early 1980s (ESCWA, [2]). The GCC countries have adopted a number of environmental laws and regulations directed towards protecting the environment, achieving sustainable development and raising the level of public awareness on environmental issues.

However, the GCC countries are facing many challenges related to achieving sustainable development, including: lack of adequate supplies of fresh water resources, inadequacy of internal food production, high demand for energy, composition of population, and economies reliance on oil exports. The demographic imbalance and high reliance of GCC countries on temporary expatriate workers is a major challenge with regards to

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meeting the needs of today and tomorrow. Selected sustainability indicators for the GCC countries are presented in Table 2, which clearly indicate the high levels of consumption, especially the energy consumption levels needed to support the rapid development needs.

Table 2: Sustainability indicators of the GCC Countries data (Source: UNDP, [3]).

Country Ecological Footprint* 2006 CO2 of Consumption Emissions# (Tons (Hectares per capita) per capita) Saudi Arabia 3.5 15.8 United Arab Emirates 10.3 32.8 Oman 3.5 16.3 Kuwait 7.9 31.2 Qatar 9.7 56.2 Bahrain No Data 28.8 * #

For comparison: Norway 4.2, USA 9.

For comparison: Norway 8.6, USA 19, Sweden 5.6

The decision makers in the GCC countries are aware of the environmental cost of rapid development and consumerism. In response, the GCC governments have engaged in promoting sustainability initiatives, mainly in relation to education, land development, water conservation, energy conservation and renewable energy.

PENETRATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT EDUCATION IN GCC COUNTRIES The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) declared in 2002 the decade 2005-2014 as the ―Decade for Sustainable Development‖. The GCC countries are members of the international community and have responded with policies and practices that aim at achieving a more sustainable pattern of development. With regards to education, assessing the status of education on sustainable development (SD) in the countries of the GCC is limited by the unavailability of relevant studies on the issue or inaccessibility of potentially appropriate information. Furthermore, the collection of information and data using informal requests, interviews and surveys is typically faced with inadequate levels of interest and participation. As such, a credible coverage of the issue is difficult and thus this work remains at best a preliminary one that indicates the general level of penetration of education on sustainable development in the region.

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At the primary and secondary educational levels, the GCC countries signed the Global Learning and Observation to the Benefit the Environment (GLOBE), which is a worldwide science and education program for schools that aims at enhancing the understanding of the environment. In addition, the GCC countries cater for the needs of their vast expatriate workforce by allowing private primary and secondary schools to follow international schools curricula, with the British, American and Indian systems being widely spread. Many international school systems integrate environmental education within school curricula. In addition, environmental education is also integrated in local primary and secondary school curricula. The Arab Bureau of Education for Gulf States (ABEGS) stresses the need for integrating environmental education at all school levels, in addition to higher education. The ABEGS and the Arab League Education, Culture and Science Organization (ALECSO) provide resources on integrating environmental education into education to all concerned authorities, school curriculum planners, textbook writers, educational tools designers, and training programs designers in the Arab World, including the GCC countries. [ABEGS, [4]) Although the demand for higher education continued to steadily increase in the region, most institutions of higher education in the GCC countries have been established during the past 10 years, partly to meet a jump in demand for higher education that occurred in the early 2000s. This jump was contributed by the rapid economic development in the region and influenced by the restrictions and security concerns that accompanied the security events and conflicts that occurred at the start of the new millennium. Many of the new institutions of higher education are privately owned and their focus has been on offering educational programs that are in high demand and are relatively cheap to establish and operate, such information technology and management. The new government and semi-government institutions however opted for more comprehensive coverage of educational program in newly established universities, covering programs such as engineering and medical studies.

Overall, the rapid expansion of the higher education sector is by itself highly positive for advancing the cause of sustainable development.

In addition, awareness of environmental concerns and the need for sustainable development are increasing in the community. Institutions of higher education in the GCC countries are increasingly organizing activities and introducing courses and programs addressing environmental protection and management and sustainable development. A search of 110 universities websites (Table 3) in the GCC countries was conducted in August 2009 using various keywords related to sustainable development and environmental issues. The search results were classified in Figure 1 categories according to the activities they fall under.

For example, the frequency of "degree programs" refers to universities offering programs that use the keywords related to environmental or sustainability issues such as

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environmental science, environmental management, sustainable development, environmental engineering, environmental health, and others. The category "courses in other programs" refers to relevant courses offered in programs other than those listed under the "degree programs" category. It should be emphasized that the results represents the data returned by the searches at the time the searches were performed. The search revealed that the keywords related to environmental issues were more frequently used than those related to sustainable development. In addition, the data suggest a poor level of penetration of the searched keywords in the universities' websites, with many universities not returning any results. Clearly, the websites of many universities may not represent the ultimate source of information on all the educational activities and as such the results are meant only as indicators of the level of penetration in the websites.

Table 3: Distribution of universities whose websites were searched for environment/sustainability related keywords.

GCC Country

No of Universities

Kuwait Oman Bahrain Qatar Saudi Arabia UAE Total

8 29 8 12 34 19 110

0

5

10

Degree Programs

20

25

30 26

Courses in Other Programs

9

Seminars/Activities

9

Professional Gatherings

8

Centers Research Projects

15

5 3

Figure 1: Frequency of occurrence of keywords within searched universities websites.

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ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION IN GCC COUNTRIES Hamzah [5] discussed environmental education in Arab countries, including the GCC countries. A list of higher education programs related to environmental education offered by institutions of higher education in GCC countries, based on the work of Hamzeh [5], is presented in Table 4.

Since the publication of the information listed in Table 4 (Hamzeh [5]), additional educational programs have been established in the GCC countries. For example in the UAE, the newly established Masdar Institute of Science and Technology currently offers a graduate program leading to a Master in Water and Environmental Engineering. The University of Sharjah has offered starting 2010 a new program leading to a Bachelor in Sustainable and Renewable Energy Engineering. The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Sharjah has also offered a concentration in Environmental Engineering starting the fall semester of the academic year 2010/2011.

In addition, Murdoch University in the UAE started a Bachelor of Sustainable Development. The above examples illustrate the increasing level of awareness and interest in environmental protection and sustainable development.

In a recent study, Jawad and Small [1] assessed the-state-of-practice of sustainability education in the GCC civil engineering schools. The assessment was based on a survey to which 15 responses were received from across the GCC countries. The survey results revealed that various approaches are used to integrate sustainable development themes in civil engineering education, including: integration within general course requirements, integration within specific engineering courses in topics of sustainability, integration as part of extra-curricular projects/activities; and integration within some engineering courses.

UNIVERSITY STUDENTSâ€&#x; VIEWS ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT A survey of students in selected UAE universities was conducted by SDPromo [6] to assess the level of penetration of sustainable development in their educational programs.

The survey was part of a special project, called SDPromo project, as described in the acknowledgement section). A total of 97 students responded to the survey from 8 universities in the UAE. Most student respondents were from the University of Sharjah (65 respondents), Ajman University (21 respondents), and Skyline College (5 respondents). The respondents were mostly around 20 years old, with a few respondents above 25 years. The respondents were 52% females and 48% male pursuing a wide range of studies, including business, engineering, sciences and literature.

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Table 4: Degrees, centers and national entities involved in environmental issues in GCC countries (based on data presented by Hamzah [5].

Country Bahrain

Kuwait

University/ Entity Bahrain University Bahrain University Arabian Gulf University* Kuwait University American University of Kuwait* Kuwait University

Oman Qatar

Saudi Arabia

United Arab Emirates

Nizwa University Sultan Qaboos University Qatar University College of the North Atlantic in Qatar King Saud University King Fahad University of Petroleum and Minerals

King Abdallah University for Science and Technology King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology UAE University University of Sharjah American Uni of Sharjah Higher Colleges of Tech British University in Dubai Ajman University of Science & Technology* Murdoch University* Zeyed University* Hamdan Bin Mohammed eUniversity* Canadian University*

Degree Title, Research Organization Master of Environment and Sustainable Development Environmental Research Center Four relevant Master and Diploma programs Bachelor of Environmental Geology Kuwait Institute for Scientific ResearchEnviron and Urban Development Division Marine Science center Environment Public Authority Diploma and Bachelor of Environ Eng Center for Environmental Studies and Research Bachelor of Biological Sciences Bachelor of Agricultural Sciences Diploma of Environmental Health Technology Master of Environmental Sciences Master of Environmental Sciences Prince Sultan Research Center for Environment, Water and Desert Resources, Energy and Environmental Institute Natural Resources and Environmental Institute Master of Environmental Sciences Bachelor of Environ Health Technology Bachelor of Environmental Science Diploma of Environmental Health Sustainable Design and Built Environment Terrestrial Environment Research Center The Environment Agency, Abu Dhabi Marine Environment Research Center Federal Environment Agency Gulf Research Center Masdar Institute of Science and Technology

* Updates to original data provided by in source [5].

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When asked to define sustainable development, some students were able to recount the traditional definition, but most students thought it was a good and ideal concept related to achieving equity through helping the needy and the young and making the world a better place. About a third of students indicated that they had no idea what sustainable development actually meant.

The respondents indicated that sustainable development was addressed in various ways in their studies, as shown in Figure 2A. Only a few students reported that sustainable development studies were mandatory or optional (i.e., elective courses) in their educational programs. A substantial number of students, almost a quarter, reported that sustainable development concepts can be found embedded in courses, with nearly an equal number stating that sustainable development was not related to their studies. About half of the respondents also thought that sustainable development was a profession or a career.

With regards to whether sustainable development is being discussed in the UAE, about 60% of the students agreed that SD was in the public discussions, with the remaining students being unsure or stating that it was not in the public discussion (Figure 2B).

When asked about the major obstacles facing the implementation of SD, the most cited obstacle, as reported by almost half of the surveyed students, was the lack of adequate education on sustainable development. The major other obstacles were technological, cultural and economic (Figure 2C).

VIEWS OF MEMBERS OF THE GCC COMMUNITY Samples of the views of a few members of the community in the GCC were identified using face-to-face interviews and also using surveys distributed as part of the a special project (SDPromo project, refer to acknowledgements).

Fourteen interviews were completed, 11 of which were with participants from UAE and 3 from Saudi Arabia. The interviews involved asking specific question related to the views and awareness of those interviewed with regards to sustainable development and their knowledge or otherwise perceptions of the level of interest and coverage of sustainability issues in their communities. The interviewees included academics and executives from the private and public sectors. The summary of the results of the interviews in Table 5 suggests that the interviewees were generally well informed about the concerns related to achieving sustainable development. The interviewees considered the level of media coverage and debate of sustainability and environmental issues to be generally inadequate. The interviewed considered lack of education on sustainable development the major barrier to achieving sustainable development followed by economical, cultural and political constraints.

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When asked about their views on whether sustainability was a technical, ecological, social or political problem, many respondents thought it was a combination of all these factors. The ranking of responses was in the order of firstly social, then political, then technical and lastly ecological.

Proper attitude and acquisition of relevant skills and knowledge were identified by the majority of interviewees as requirements for young people to support and derive the achievement of sustainable developments. Most interviewees however were optimistic and thought that a shift to sustainable development in the region can be achieved with the next generation or within the next five years.

A. SD in Educational Programs in GCC Countries 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

B. Awareness of public discussion on SD Don’t Know 27%

No 13%

Yes 60%

C. Obstacles facing implementation of sustainable development 50 40 30 20 10 0

Figure 2: University students' views on sustainable development: (A) SD in educational programs; (B) awareness of public discussion on SD; (C) obstacles facing implementation of sustainable development. (based on data from SDPromo [6]).

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Table 5: Summary of views on SD expressed by a few members of the community.

Interview/Survey Question Questions about Addressing Social/ Environmental / Resource Problems Questions about Sustainable Development Awareness

Questions about Education/ Research on Sustainable Development

1. Is there concern with regards to climate change, resource scarcity, social inequities, poverty, or any other environmental problem in your region?

2. Are you aware if any of these problems are included on governmental agenda?

3. Is there adequate media coverage and public debate and/or participation on sustainability and/or environment issues?

4. Is there public discussion on the merits of moving towards sustainable development in the GCC region?

5. Are you aware of any regional agreements on sustainable development? How about to environment?

6. What are the major Cultural barriers/obstacles to Demographic accomplish Sustainable Ecological Development in the region? Economical Educational Institutional Inequities Political Religious Social Other 7. Is it there support and/or resources for research and education in SD? 8. From your perspective, is Technical sustainability a technical, Ecological ecological, social or political Social issue?

Political 9. What are the skills, values and Skills aptitudes required for a young Values professional to work in the area Attitude of sustainable development?

Knowledge 10. Do you think a shift to Les than 5 years sustainable development in Next generation your region is possible in ‌.?

In 50 years The next century Never

#of Responses Don't Yes No Know 14

12

2

4

10

6

6

5

9

2

4

4 9 1 3 2 10

3 7 6 10 9 9 3 13 8 4 8 1 1 0

1

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SUMMARY The rapid expansion of the higher education sector in the GCC countries during the first decade of the 21st century is a positive indicator of sustainable development advancement. The higher education community in the GCC countries, as represented by those interviewed or those who completed the surveys, is generally aware of the contemporary environmental concerns and has a high opinion of SD. However, the current level of penetration of SD in higher education is highly limited and does not appear to be guided by clear policies or set strategies. On the other hand, environmental science, health and technology received significantly more coverage, although limited, that SD in higher education, with a number of higher institutions offering educational programs in environmental science and engineering. The general trend however is towards an increase in the level of coverage of environmental and sustainable development is higher education.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The work presented in this paper was part of an overall project titled "Promoting European Education on Sustainable Development, SDProm II", which was funded by the European Union under the Erasmus Mundus program. The SDPromo II involved a number of partners representing the Royal Instituate of Technology, Sweden; the University of Sharjah, UAE, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia; Anton de Kom Universiteit, Suriname; Kiev Polytechnic Institute, Ukraine; Sekem Development Foundation, Egypt; Technische Universiteit Delft, Netherlands; Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain; and Universiti Sains Malaysia, USM.

REFERENCES [1]

[2]

[3]

Jawad, D. and Small, E. (2010) Sustainability education in civil engineering progra ms within the GCC states, In: Proceeding of the IFEE2010, 23‐25 Nov 010, Sharja h, UAE. United Nations, Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia‐UN‐ESCWA, 2003, Governance for Sustainable Development in the Arab Region: Institutions for and Instruments for Moving Beyond an Environmental Management Culture, viewed 10th December 2010, <http://www.pearlinitiative.org/publications.html?file=tl_files/pearl/data/Governa nce_%20for_sustainable_development_in_the_arab_region.pdf>.

UNPD 2010, Human Development Report 2010, 20th Anniversary Edition, New York, viewed 1st December 2010, <http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR_2010_EN_Complete.pdf>.

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[4]

[5]

[6]

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Arab Bureau of Education for the Gulf States- ABEGS, 1988, Man and the Environment: Environmental Education: proceeding on a workshops, Muscat, Oman, viewed 10th December 2010, <http://www.abegs.org/Aportal/Print/Show?id=219>.

Hamzah, R., Environmental Education chapter in Arab Forum for Environment and Development- AFED Report 2010, AFED. www.afedonline.org/afedreport/english/book15.pdf SDPRomo Project Team, 2011. Demand for Education on Sustainable Development in the Countries of the Gulf Cooperative Council (GCC), viewed 3rd January 2011<www.sdpromo.info/getfile.ashx?cid=264993&cc=3&refid=1>.

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STRATEGIES FOR INTEGRATING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT INTO HIGHER EDUCATION H. Meliani and R. Djoudjou Al-Ahsa College of Technology Hofuf, P.O. Box 804, Post Code: 31982 Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT: The concept of sustainable development is the process of integrating and balancing the economy, environment, and the overall health and well-being of society. Education for sustainable development is an emerging imperative. It represents a major shift in the way students are taught and learn within the higher education sector in order to make higher education the major contributor to society's efforts to achieve sustainability development, through the skills and knowledge that its graduates learn and put into practice and through research and exchange with community. United Nations General Assembly has proclaimed the ten-year period beginning on first January 2005 the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) to emphasize that education is an indispensable element for achieving sustainable development. This initiative and many other initiatives of the United Nations agencies have been a great recognition for many universities around the world to pursue and mainstream Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), throughout their organizations. In fact many universities have become engaged in the process of integrating sustainable development in their activities, by integrating sustainable operations, policy and practices for the long term, in order to make higher education relevant to the societal needs, in general, and sustainable development in particular, and to make themselves a microcosm of the outside world. To achieve their goals universities have to find out what kind of learning objectives do the challenges associated with sustainable development impose on education in general and on higher education in particular and how can the universities respond to these challenges and how these learning objectives are expected to evolve in the future. The purpose of this paper is to explore the strategies used by some universities to take into consideration integrating sustainable development to fulfill their assigned missions. Some examples are given to highlight the impact of sustainable integration development into higher education on education, research, economy and environment.

Keyword: Sustainable Development; Integration of Sustainable Development; University; Research; Education.

INTRODUCTION Sustainable Development is widely acknowledged as a key concept for human society that is faced with both, aspects of human development and global change (e.g. economical globalization, global climate change,..). Higher education as institutions and individual academics have interests in relation to sustainable development through research, consultancy, teaching, and management. While sustainable development cannot be achieved through changes in one sector alone, higher education in particular is seen as a focal point to help create sustainable solutions for the future. Since the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) proclamation of the United Nations Organization, and many other initiatives of the United Nations agencies many universities around the world pursue and mainstream Education for Sustainable

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Development (ESD), throughout their organizations, and have become engaged in the process of integrating sustainable development in their activities, by integrating sustainable operations, policy and practices for the long term, in order to make higher education relevant to the societal needs, in general, and sustainable development in particular. With the processes of globalization and localization, the economic, environmental and social performance higher education should play an active role locally, nationally, and internationally in enhancing knowledge and action competence regarding sustainable development through research and education in cooperation with surrounding society. The emergence of new forms of higher education, such as corporative universities, community and third sector alternatives, poses the challenge to universities to rethink and to reposition themselves on new bases to society. There are many other reasons why higher educational institutions should take sustainable development into account. Among these reasons, higher education institutions have a specific role in producing the professionals who will be the shapers of the future [1]. Now the challenge is to find ways to renovate education in a way that promotes competences for sustainable development and strategies to integrate sustainable development in the university curriculum in general and in higher education in particular [1].

The integration of Sustainable development in education in general and in higher education in particular is valuable not only because it allows the university to address social and environmental issues, but also because it can enhance and advance many teaching and research efforts.

This communication concentrates on how the university can use its full potential to make a contribution towards resolving the most pressing problems of the society through integration of sustainable development and the strategies to be sought to achieve its goals.

In the following sections, are reviewed some strategies and models developed by some universities which can be sought for successful integration.

WHY SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT The past 20 years have seen a growing realization that the current model of development is unsustainable. Our way of life is placing an increasing environmental burden on the planet through: ď&#x201A;ˇ ď&#x201A;ˇ ď&#x201A;ˇ

the consequences of already unavoidable climate change increasing stress on resources and environmental systems from the way we produce, consume and waste resources increasing loss of biodiversity, from the rainforest to fish stocks

We are also living in a world where over a billion people live on less than a dollar a day, more than 800 million are malnourished, and over two and a half billion lack access to adequate sanitation. A world disfigured by poverty and inequality is unsustainable.

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Unless we reconcile these contradictions, we face a less certain and less secure future.

We need to make a decisive move towards more sustainable development both because it is the right thing to do, and because it is in our long-term best interests [2].

The United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014), for which UNESCO is the lead agency, seeks to integrate the principles, values, and practices of sustainable development into all aspects of education and learning, in order to address the social, economic, cultural and environmental problems we face in the 21st century.

Sustainable development aims to help people to develop the attitudes, skills and knowledge to make informed decisions for the benefit of themselves and others, now and in the future, and to act upon these decisions. UNESCO‘s role and, in fact, the task of Member States is defined by the four major thrusts of ESD: improving quality basic education; reorienting educational programs; developing public understanding and awareness; and providing training. From the time sustainable development was first endorsed in 1987, the UN General Assembly explored the parallel concept of education to support sustainable development. The key roles of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) are defined as follows: 

  

ESD concerns all levels of education and all social contexts (family, school, workplace, community),- ESD concerns all levels of education and all social contexts (family, school, workplace, community); ESD allows learners to acquire the skills, capacities, values and knowledge required to ensure sustainable development ESD fosters responsible citizens and promotes democracy by allowing individuals and communities to enjoy their rights and fulfill their responsibilities ESD provides essential learning tools and content to allow individuals to survive, to develop to their full capacities, to live and work in dignity, to participate fully in development, to improve the quality of their lives, to make informed decisions, and to continue learning [3].

Universities and other institutions of higher education have tremendous human and materials resources, such as well educated personnel, laboratory equipment, computers, library and other facilities required for carrying out research projects. Beyond teaching and research universities have a third social mission referred to as "extension", generally defined as the interaction and responsiveness of the university to the demands of society.

This engagement role is thought to be a key to sustainable economic development as universities combine technology transfer and classroom learning with active involvement in sustainability projects on and off campus [4].

Therefore the universities can play a leading role in sustainable development to serve the community by determining community needs in research, education, and outreach , the discovery, dissemination and application of new knowledge and to anticipate and respond to issues and challenges in different fields (like agriculture, food systems, environment and natural resources ), in order to empower people to improve their lives, the lives of others, and the environments on which they depend [5].

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In the following sections, strategies for integrating sustainable development and the generated benefits are reviewed.

STRATEGIES FOR INTEGRATING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT INTO HIGHER EDUCATION One of the principal strategies in support of university's goals is to foster integration of sustainable development into education in general and in higher education in particular through curriculum, programs, research addressing societal issues projects and activities it supports at academic and research institutions [5]. Because there are varying purposes and goals for integrating sustainable development into higher education, various innovations and practices are being initiated in different universities.

As far as the teaching curriculum is concerned, many universities adopt new methods to integrate different aspects of sustainability into teaching and learning in higher education [6].

Tilbury and Cooke (2005) have defined the components (critical factors) of the learning for sustainability approach, in particular, to environmental education, which are: (1) Envisioning a better future, (2) Systemic thinking, (3) Critical (reflective) thinking, (4) Participation in decision-making, and (5) Networks and partnerships for change.

According to Tilbury and Cooke (2005: 27–52) the above mentioned critical factors include the following elements [6]: 1) Envisioning a better future:  Leads to an exploration of how to achieve change for a more sustainable future.  Encouraging learning about the process of change and how it occurs.

2) Systemic thinking:  Helps to look at multiple influences and relationships  Identifies strategies that generate better sustainable solutions

3) Critical (reflective) thinking:  Explores power relationships in our communities, such as universities  Helps us to explore the influence of culture in shaping our views of the world  Creates an ability to participate in change and provides new inspirations and perspectives, and thus, helps to construct an alternative ways of thinking.

4) Participation in Decision-Making:  Involves learners throughout the process creating a greater sense of ownership and commitment to actions for the agreed goals  Actively builds knowledge among learners through a dialogue  Confirms responsibility of outcomes.

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5) Networks and partnerships for change:  Create synergies between organizations to work for change  Foster building shared visions among partners  Allow partners to combine resources and talents  Help motivate partners to work toward long-term change.

The above mentioned critical factor were re-developed and categorized into context, mental and activity related aspects as shown in Figure1. Contextual factors form a framework, while mental aspects refer to intrinsic changes in the learning process for sustainability. Activities are the ways to realize educational practices for sustainability (Figure1) [7].

Society and working life: Future needs for Sustainable Development (SD)

Critical factors for ESD: CONTEXT Integration Spatiality Time perspective MENTAL ASPECTS Value clarification Systemic thinking Critical reflection Motivation building ACTIVITIES Partnerships Cooperation& communication Participation

Result of learning process: Competence building for sustainability

Figure 1: The model of learning for SD.

The critical factors for ESD are context, mental and activity related aspects. The outcome of the learning process is competence building to promote activities for sustainability.

The central feature in the model of learning for sustainable development is interaction between universities and society. a- Context: Context-related critical factors for ESD are the integrative approach, spatiality and time perspective. Mental aspects are related to value clarification, systemic thinking, critical

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reflection and motivation building. The third category, activities, has to do with partnership, cooperation and communication as well as factors related to participation.

Here a more detailed explanation of each of these factors [7]: 

Integrated and interconnected approach :

Integrated and interconnected approach for sustainable development is the basis for understanding and treating the world as a harmonious entity. An integrative approach means, first of all, understanding the causal links of the dimensions of sustainable development, and handling these as interconnected and integrated with each other. For instance ecological questions are not separate from economic, social and cultural ones, and vice versa. 

Spatiality:

Spatiality is important in the discussion of sustainable development. Learning for sustainability looks at sustainability issues from local to regional and global perspectives.

In teaching situations, spatiality and time perspectives form a context as well as a perspective for learning. 

The time perspective:

The time perspective is a focal aspect in learning for sustainability. b- Mental Aspects 

Value clarification:

Value clarification is a useful method in teaching when exploring and reflecting on People's attitudes, opinions and values. 

Systemic thinking:

Systemic thinking is a way to outline the complexity of a system and the connectivity of its parts.  Critical reflection: Critical reflection on its highest level demands students, teachers and other stakeholders to question their preconceptions of issues and create new or modified interpretations to understand and realize activities for sustainability. 

Motivation building

A teacher's role is to build the motivation towards sustainable practices, to transfer knowledge of sustainability, and to teach how to act and behave in terms of sustainable development.

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Activities Partnerships

The sustainability also requires new kinds of partnerships. Ideally, partnerships for sustainability are based on a collaborative culture. Such partnerships can be established between the educational communities, public organizations, non-governmental organizations, local communities, entrepreneurs, etc. 

Cooperation and communication

Cooperation and communication between institutions of higher education is important, but to fulfill their service functions for the workplace and society, cooperation with external stakeholders is required. 

Participation

Participation requires involvement on different levels starting from the consultation and consensus building to decision making, risk sharing and collective partnerships 

Competence building:

Competence building for sustainability is a result of the learning process and development at individual, organization/community and institutional/societal levels.

Because there are varying purposes and goals for integrating teaching research and community service, various innovations and practices are being initiated in different universities.

EXAMPLES OF INTEGRATING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT INTO HIGHER EDUCATION: Here are some examples each illustrating a different approach of integrating sustainable development into higher education.

Laurea University [1] All Laurea‘s new degree programs have a curriculum that consists of field specific themes. Themes are depicted as know-how in relation to the corresponding workplace.

However, all the degree programs are based on the structure of the core curriculum. The core curriculum consists of study units and projects carried out for employers, which all involve a number of generic competences. The generic competences are ethical competence, globalization competence, innovative competence, reflective competence and network competence. In addition to these, there are field-specific competences of

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every degree program. These field-specific competences are basic and essential skills and knowledge needed in the field of study. One aim of the new curriculum is to take sustainable development into account as integrated with regard to field-specific themes.

The above mentioned five generic competences have a specific role for education for sustainable development: 

Network competence is built on communication skills, co-operation and multidisciplinary thinking Reflective competence means critical evaluation.

Ethics refers to moral choices to which the individual is consciously committed The globalization competence consists of three parts, which are knowledge, motivation and values, and implementation skills.

  

Savonia University of Applied Sciences, Finland [8] From the point of view of the authors, oil combating education is a proactive way to prepare for a potential oil spill because oil transportations are dramatically increasing on the Gulf of Finland, and therefore, there is an increasing risk for oil spills in the future. A study course implemented in the year 2006 is based on the idea to enhance a holistic understanding of an oil spill and oil combating from the sustainable development point of view as well as from the management point of view. The education was based on the pedagogical approach which emphasizes critical, reflective and collective learning. The participants of the education were both professionals and degree students from University of Applied Sciences in eastern Finland.

Delft University of Technology [9] The Delft University of Technology (DUT) adopted a SD education plan. It consists of three interconnected activities for all engineering curricula: the implementation of an elementary course ―Technology in sustainable development‖; the development of a graduation program in sustainable development for students who want to specialize; and the integration of sustainable development in all regular courses, wherever applicable.

University of Bradford [10] The University of Bradford adopts a Program called Ecoversity. It aims to embed the principles and practice of sustainable development across the entire institution and all activities. The Ecoversity Vision can be summed up as follows 

Working towards sustainable education by engaging students, staff, the local community and employers on the skills and knowledge needed in the pursuit of sustainable development.



Working towards a healthy environment-Protecting the environment by minimizing our resource use and emissions whilst also enhancing the surrounding environment.

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Working towards social well-being by creating a greener, safer environment in which students, staff and the local community can live, interact, study, and be active.

Working towards a thriving economy-Developing research, innovation and knowledge transfer to bring greater prosperity to students, the University, City and Region

University of Gloucestershire [11] The University of Gloucestershire has developed a program called ‗Promising Futures: A Sustainability Strategy 2008-2015‘. The Strategy commits the University to a process of continuous improvement which extends activities across the campuses and facilities. It provides a sustainability vision for the University which is focused on ‗shifting mindsets‘ as well as ‗changing unsustainable practice‘. Its ultimate goal is to contribute through its educational, research, outreach and operational activities to a more promising future for all. The actions taken by the university are:      

Curriculum: Embed sustainability across core course offerings: initially in professional courses and help staff promote and publish these developments.

Research: Seek funding to establish new research streams and support research networking opportunities Student Experience: Develop a work placement and professional exchange program for students.

Public Engagement: Launch RCE and establish its program of public engagement activities.

Partnerships: Develop a sustainability partnership program for FE Colleges in the area of sustainability.

Academic Profile: Participate in international and high profile sustainability research programs.

The Baltic 21 Education Sector [12] The Baltic 21 Education sector is a platform for multi-stakeholder cooperation on education for sustainable development. The emphasis of the Baltic 21 Education sector program is on strengthening the capacity of knowledge building. The Action Program for the Education Sector is divided into a framework of action areas, which are common to the whole sector: 



Policies and strategies – include the development of education of sustainable development guidelines and promotion of international co-operation for curricula, program and course development at all levels of education; Competence development within the education sector including actions to increase the awareness of sustainable development issues among officials, principals and staff, to support co-operation between educators, researchers and practitioners to promote knowledge and skills in education for sustainable development;

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Continuing education which includes sustainability related knowledge and skills; Research on and development of education for sustainable development

Center for Systems Solutions, Poland & International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Austria [13] Karolina Krolikowska, Piotr Magnuszewski and Jadwiga Magnuszewska from Center for Systems Solutions, Poland, and Jan Sendzimir from International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Austria, introduce a study course which integrates disciplines from ecology and economy through social studies and psychology to concepts that integrate across disciplines, i.e. systems science.

National Research Councils in Canada (SSHRC, CIHR, NSERC) [14]: SSHRC, CIHR, NSERC have arrangements for funding community university research partnerships. These efforts have been supplemented by partnerships with governmental agencies, foundations and civil society that channel private and public investment in cost effective ways to produce results that contribute to social, health, and economic and environmental conditions in Canada and its communities. There are four broad categories of community university partnerships in research.   



Type one as individual faculty to community relationships that have been created without systematic institutional support.

Type two are specific centers or institutes that support partnerships in their fields of interest with communities relevant to that interest.

Type three is a systematic organizational structure operating on a crossuniversity basis to engage community partners in research of value to them and to the institution.

Type four is a multi-higher education institution and community partnership to engage in research at a regional, national or international level on an ongoing basis.

BENEFITS OF INTEGRATING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT INTO HIGHER EDUCATION The integrating sustainable development into higher education and Universities Partnership offers in education for sustainable development can benefit and serve a variety of research, policy, educational, communities and action goals: • the university as a place to equip leaders and civil society to play a greater role in shaping responsive measures both globally and locally, prepare leaders to be accountable to civil society to have their voices heard in decision-making bodies both globally and locally, and equip government, civil society and business to mitigate and adapt to climate change, environmental issues and sustainable development challenges [15].

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create new knowledge through research that both transcends traditional disciplinary, institutional and geographical boundaries, and crosses the academic/industrial division.

Improvement of scientific understanding of global environmental challenges Development of technology and policy tools to help societies reconcile ecological and economic concerns educate a new generation of leaders for all sectors of society with the knowledge and skills required to address sustainability issues Education of a new generation of leaders committed to meet the challenges of sustainable development Allow students to learn and practice how to be environmentally socially, and economically responsible while being active citizens of the global community Research can encompass community-based scholarship and the development of new knowledge through collaborations with community participants.

Teaching and learning can be done in a way that links educational goals with the challenges of life. Common forms of engaged learning are service-learning and problem-based learning, both utilizing community issues as a starting point for accomplishing educational goals.

Universities Partnership offers in education for sustainable development will enable universities to: • •

• • •

enhance quality and policy relevance of university education in the context of sustainable development and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals; increase knowledge on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), so that future business managers, scientists and political leaders of the continent will incorporate values and principles of sustainable development in their decisionmaking; raise awareness and spread a new way of thinking about environment, development and society, beyond the university boundaries inside the many other societal circles in which students, teachers and managers live; create opportunities for collaborative projects between universities, civil society, communities and the private sector; and contribute to the strengthening of scholarships and partnerships for sustainable development.

Higher education institutions contribute to sustainable environmental development in their regions in many ways, for example by [16]: • • •

Generating human capital in the region through their learning and further education programs in areas of sustainable development.

Acting as a source of expertise through research, consultancy and demonstration.

Playing a brokerage role in bringing together diverse regional actors and elements of capacity to the sustainability process.

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Offering recognition and reward incentives for staff to be involved in sustainable development leadership groups in the regional community.

CONCLUSIONS This paper discussed the need of integrating sustainable development (SD) into higher education and explored some strategies for integrating SD into higher education and cited some examples to illustrate how SD can be integrated through research and curriculums.

It also highlighted ways and possibilities for teachers in institutions of higher education to enhance the quality of their teaching. Certainly, there are many more examples of how to deal with SD issues and to bridge the teaching and research missions of the university.

Integrating SD into university curriculum not only enhances the ability of the university to positively impact society, but also enriches professional experience of teachers and researchers. Therefore instead of framing faculty work as three distinct functions essentially subsumed by the teaching and research, universities should think of new policies that envision the work of faculty as occupying different points in the space where research, teaching and SD intersect.

REFERENCES: [1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

A. Virtanen, 'Curriculum Reformation for Sustainable Development in Finland', Learning for a sustainable future, innovative solutions from the Baltic Sea Region, Editors L. Rohweder, A. Virtanen, The Baltic University Press, 2008, Nina Printhouse, Uppsala, pp. 76-84.

The U.K government sustainable development- Strategy securing the future, page12, Published by TSO, March 2005, available online http//www.tso.co.uk/bookshop, World Declaration on Education for All, Jomtien, 1990, Art. 1, para. 1. UNESCO Strategy for the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, 2005-2014 http://www.unesco.org/en/esd/strategy/learning-totransform. (accessed : Feb.2010) J. C. Stephens, M. E. Hernandez, M.-E. Boyle 'Learning from UniversityCommunity Partnerships (Past and Present) for sustainable development', GPMI Working Papers No. 2009-04, May 2009.

H. Meliani, R. Djoudjou, 'Strategies for integrating teaching and research with community service' ,4th Engineering Education Forum 2005-2006- college of Engineering- University of Sharja.

A. Virtanen, L. Rohweder, 'Teaching and Learning for Sustainable Development', Learning for a sustainable future, innovative solutions from the Baltic Sea Region, Editors Liisa Rohweder ,Anne Virtanen,The Baltic University Press, pp. 60-66, 2008, Nina Printhouse, Uppsala.

L. Rohweder, A. Virtanen, ' Developing the model on the learning for sustainable development in Higher Education', Journal of Teacher Education for Sustainability, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 31-42, 2009.

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L. Rohweder, ' Preparing for an oil spill through oil combating education in Finland', in L. Rohweder, & A. Virtanen (Eds.), Learning for a sustainable future, innovative solutions from the Baltic Sea Region, pp. 130-138, Uppsala: The Baltic University Press, 2008.

D.J. Peet, K.F. Mulder, A. Bijma, 'Integrating SD into engineering courses at the Delft University of Technology: The individual interaction method', International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Volume:5, Issue: 3, pp. 278 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 288, 2004.

Bradford Ecoversity, http://www.brad.ac.uk/ecoversity ,(accessed:Feb.2010) Gloucestershire sustainability strategy, academic targets, http://www.glos.ac.uk/vision/sustainability/strategy/Pages/default.aspx . (accessed: Feb.2010).

Baltic 21 Sectors and Spatial Planning, http://www.baltic21.org. (accessed: Feb.2010).

K. Krolikowska, P. Magnuszewski , J. Magnuszewska and J. Sendzimir, ' Dynamics of sustainable development â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Karkonosze Mountains and Odra River Valley in Poland' , in L. Rohweder, & A. Virtanen (Eds.), Learning for a sustainable future, innovative solutions from the Baltic Sea Region, pp. 112-122, Uppsala: The Baltic University Press, 2008.

The funding and development Community University Research Partnerships in Canada, Office of Community-Based Research University of Victoria Community Based Research Canada, October 2009 , page 34.

Sustainable development in practice: education, community development and urban planning , http//www.machik.org/text/index.php?option=com201, (accessed: Feb. 2010) J. Puuka, 'Mobilizing higher education for sustainable development- lessons learnt from OECD study', 4th International Barcelona on Higher Education, 31 March, 12 April, 2008

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THE PARTICIPATION OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE PREPARATION OF HUMAN RESOURCES FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT Mukdad Abdulwahhab Al-Khateeb Department of Sustainable Development Environment Research Center University of Technology Baghdad, Iraq

ABSTRACT: The undergraduates in Iraq range in age between 18â&#x20AC;&#x201C;24 years which makes them a perfect sample for the youth. Their idealized educational status adds value to their potentials and possible future participation in the development process of Iraq. It is a pity that the earlier secondary and primary education has totally neglected the Education for Sustainable Development leading to another extra burden on High Education.

Sustainable development should be promoted for by well planned educational programs which are most crucial to maintain the path towards sustainable development. Such programs and related plans should be categorized per execution as strategic; starting at the primary schools & instantaneous; for the high education undergraduates.

This paper examines the current ambiguity surrounding "Sustainable Development" in Iraq and explores, through a questionnaire, the desires and aspirations of the first year undergraduate students at the University of Technology, Baghdad-Iraq. Also suggests the establishment of Mesopotamia Youth's Environment Forum; a University-Community bonding that secures unity amongst the member students of the Forum and links them to the university academic staff in environmental, studies and researches. The MYEF is expected to become a model to be imitated by the other universities and a platform for further researches and debates related to sustainable development.

KEYWORDS: Sustainable Development; Undergraduates; Mesopotamia Youth's Environment Forum; Sustainability; Sustainability Wheels, Education for Sustainable Development.

INTRODUCTION Since the United Nations conference on the human environment, Stockholm 1972, the environmental concepts have developed dramatically from absolute solitary treatments for the natural environmental conflicts to more advanced integrated socioeconomic approaches; aiming at the protection and improvement of the human environment, which is a major issue that affects the well-being of peoples and economic development throughout the world [1]. In 1987, the World Commi ssion on Environment and Development (WCED) published the Brundtland Report (presented as a book; Our Common Future) which sought to recapture the spirit of Stockholm Conference, that had introduced environmental concerns to the formal political development sphere and placed environmental issues firmly on the political agenda;

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it aimed to discuss the environment and development as one single issue stressing on the new term "Sustainable Development".

At the UN level, the General Assembly expressed its concern about the accelerating deterioration of the human environment and natural resources and the consequences of that deterioration on economic and social development and expressed its belief that Sustainable Development should become a central guiding princ iple of the United Nations, governments and private institutions, organizations and enterprises [2]. Brundtland Report alerted the world to the urgency of making progress toward economic development that could be sustained without depleting natural resourc es or harming the environment; published by an international group of politicians, civil servants and experts on the environment and development. The report provided a key statement on Sustainable Development, defining it as: development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The report highlighted three fundamental components to sustainabl e development: environmental protection, economic growth and social equity [3].

Amongst the highest principles of Sustainable Development is the development of full human potential, which implies the necessity for "social unity" to assure the (full) empowerment of human resources. The UN also agreed with the Commission declaring that; while seeking to remedy existing environmental problems, it is imperative to influence the sources of those problems in human activity and economic activity in particular, and thus to provide for Sustainable Development [4].

Solidarity is an outcome of the social unity, which is essential to secure the participation of the whole society in improving the human and consequently natural environment. It is about safeguarding the earth's capacity to support life in all its diversity and is based on the principles of democracy, gender equality, solidarity, the rule of law and respect for fundamental rights, including freedom and equal opportunities for all [5].

For the three previous decades, Iraq has been a perfect example for "War Environment". Regardless of the real reasons after those wars, the human and economic resources were exploited in three fatal wars and a vicious 13 year international embargo. According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); prior to 1991, Iraq had one of the best educational systems in the Middle East with an enrollment rate of 100 percent for primary schooling (UNESCO, 2003). Iraqâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s institutions of higher education also met international standards. Since 1991, however, sanctions and war have severely deteriorated the educational system to the point where in late 2006 the Iraqi Ministry of Education announced that only 30 percent of Iraq's 3.5 million students wer e attending classes [6]. After the invasion in March 2003, Iraq witnessed a new period which, in relation to the research, was characterized by; the newly emerged social fragmentation and fragile forms of democracy. Regrettably saying; both were not in favor of the "Sustainable Development" pathway in Iraq, as it would have been for any other country [7, 8].

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"Sustainable Development" is literally a forgotten phrase in Iraq. The education, totally excluded "Sustainable Development" from all the curriculums and practices.

The Media, politicians and decision makers rarely mention "Sustainable Development" and consequently resulted to an almost; "Sustainable Development" illiterate community.

Even though the youth demography in Iraq shows a "Youth Bulge", they still suffer the highest unemployment rates and lowest skills even for the educated graduates.

The lack of employment coupled with limited opportunities to gain vocational skills makes young people particularly vulnerable to recruitment by radical movements.

This creates a cycle in which young people become disenfranchised from mainstream society, further diminishing their employment prospects in the long term and affecting Iraqâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s long term economic prosperity and stability. Beyond economic opportunities, an untrained and inexperienced workforce will not produce the leaders required for Iraqâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s government and institutions [6]. The unemployment rate among the population aged 15 years and over recorded, for the year 2006, 17.50 % and was 30.3% for the ages 15-24 for the same year [9]. The Environment Education Programs that have proven to be a major supporter for the sustainable development pathway to many countries are totally dismissed at all levels of education and human capacity building process. In 2004, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) estimated unemployment among Iraqi youth at approximately 33 percent.

However, as a result of the worsening security situation, this number is increasing and is likely to continue increasing for the foreseeable future [6].

This research is an effort to expose the conditions surrounding "Sustainable Development" in Iraq and focuses on the need for urgent instantaneous Education for Sustainable Development Programs in the high education institutes enabling the undergraduates for potential future leaderships. Also suggesting, through a simulation for the desires of a random sample of undergraduate students in two departments at the University of Technology, the establishment of a forum; a realistic educational platform merging the university's (undergraduates and academic staff) with the community through waving one slogan "The Improvement of the Iraqi Environment".

IRAQI ENVIRONMENT A collective view to the, human and natural, environmental situation i n Iraq clearly sees the present urgent demand to take action in order to stop the deterioration, the Iraqi environment is suffering. The Environmental Sustainability Index, which covers 146 countries (including 16 Arab countries) and classifies countries according to their plans for natural resources, low population density, and successful management of the environment and development, ranks several Arab countries at the bottom. For 2005 Iraq ranked near the bottom at 143 [10] while the recent Environment Performance Index; 2008 report, ranked Iraq at 150 out of 163 countries [11]. The damage is so huge that demands assorting the environmental remedies according to

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an â&#x20AC;&#x2022;Iraqiâ&#x20AC;&#x2013; priority list. Such a procedure is essential to gain the Iraqis' trust in the possibility of curing the environment and encourage them to support the mission.

Man is both, creature and molder of his environment [12] and has constantly to sum up experience and go on discovering, inventing, creating and advancing. In our time, man's capability to transform his surroundings, if used wisely, can bring to all peoples the benefits of development and the opportunity to enhance the quality of life [13]. Long-term solutions should be carefully planned and immediately initiated and directed towards the preparation of potential domestic environmental experiences, willing and eager to save the environment. Young people in all countries are both a major human resource for development and key agents for social change, economic development and technological innovation [14] which implies the need for modern education curriculums and training programs for; the primary & secondary schools and most urgently the universities.

DIVERSITY IN IRAQ The Greeks called the land between the rivers or the land between two rivers "Mesopotamia". This name was appropriate because ancient Mesopotamia was located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, in the present-day Middle Eastern country of Iraq [15]. The Iraqi people or Mesopotamian people are natives or inhabitants of the country of Iraq [16][17].

Mesopotamia is the most ancient civilization in the human history [18]. Its community was governed by constitutional laws and guided by a selection of specialized scientists and great theoreticians, which secured justice and equality amongst the inhabitants. At that time, those advanced principles represented the don of civilization for the whole world and attracted several nations and cons equently led to successive heterogeneous generations [19].

Mesopotamia marked the earliest evidence of human culture since 5000 B.C throughout several periods. Each period reflected a new nation with a distinct culture. Hassunah period witnessed the earliest pottery making culture. The knowledge of metal started with Halaf period. The Ubaids (Ubaid period) give the first evidence of temple and other sophisticated architecture. The first ever known dynasties started with the Sumerian dynasty of Ur 2750 B.C. During the Old Babylonian period (1800-1170 BC) Hammurabi, author of the first known Code of Laws governed (1728-1685 BC). 539 BC witnessed the fall of Babylon and the beginning of Persian dominance in Mesopotamia. In 330 BC Alexander entered Babylon that announced the fall of the Persians and Mesopotamian dominance over the region; beginning of Hellenistic period [20].

Iraq is the inheritor of the historic Mesopotamia. The Iraqis, have inherited the diversity in religious beliefs and race from their ancestors. That, should have accelerated rather than retard their progress for better living standards in a modern

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civilized country that could have participated positively in the global developing process. Unity in diversity is the highest possible attainment of a civilization, a testimony to the most noble possibilities of the human race. This attainment is made possible through passionate concern for choice, in an atmosphere of social trust [21].

Until the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, Iraq used to be the ideal example for the concept "Unity in Diversity". Regardless of the reasons and motives after fragmenting the Iraqi community, all the Iraqis are suffering the outcome of this fragmentation and looking forward to regain their unity. The UN estimated the numbers of internally displaced Iraqis between 2,385,865 - 2,480,000 [22] whereas the Iraqi refugees to the surrounding countries exceed 2,100,000 distributed in Syria (1,500,000) , Jordan (500.00) and other few hundreds of thousands scattered in Iran and Lebanon [23], not mentioning the Gulf States and Europe. The political a nd social climate that prevails in the world today emphasizes difference, disunity, and destruction rather than the qualities of unity and productive and constructive energy that are required to sustain human societies [24]. Social unity as a target, apart from being human, is essential for development. The best hope of humankind is to maintain as rich a diversity of social types as possible, with the expectation that each of these experiments in the human future will cross-fertilize with others, and thus maintain the vital diversity essential for indefinite survival [25].

YOUTH DEMOGRAPHY The most evident and challenging aspect of the Arab region‘s demographic profile is its ‗youth bulge‘. Young people are the fastest growing segment of Arab countries‘ populations. Some 60 per cent of the population is under 25 years old, making this one of the most youthful regions in the world, with a median age of 22 years compared to a global average of 28 [26].

In 2004, half of all Iraqis were under the age of 20 years old. Given current population growth rates, the population will double by 2030 [6]. In Iraq, the youth ages between 15-24 Yrs constitute 20.1% of the total Iraqi population; estimated to be 30098000 in 2007, whereas the ages below 15 constitutes 43.1% [27]. Also estimated to represent 20.3% of the population in Iraq whereas the ages below 25 years constitute 60.3% [28] with expectations of becoming much larger in the 10 -15 coming years as a result of the 3% annual population growth [27] and the already dominant phenomenon "Youth Bulge".

The undergraduates are of ages 18-24 making them an ideal sample of the Youth age.

Although the High Education undergraduates has increased numerically from 197437 undergraduates in 1993 to 353173 in 2007[29], they still suffer the ignorance of "Sustainable Development" as a phrase, not mentioning the concepts and principles.

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GEARING THE SUSTAINABILITY WHEELS The Sustainability in Iraq is confronting major challenges mostly related to the decision makers at several levels.

Unlike many other expressions or phrases, and despite the fact that it has been more than 20 years since the publicity of "Sustainable Development", the majority of the Iraqis have not even heard of the phrase "Sustainable Development". On several occasions; a set of questions dedicated to investigate the popularity of the phrase "Sustainable Development" was distributed amongst the attendants who were of considerably advanced educated standards; senior decision makers, province council members, state general managers and private sector's executives. It was found that only less than 10% of them have ever heard of "Sustainable Development", but luckily they all were ready to get more information about the principles of sustainability and eager to know its influence on establishing the "state of development" in Iraq.

The "Sustainability" is the main launching base for sustainable development and requires the interconnectedness of three main wheels; good governance, sustainable development educated community and technological innovation [Fig.1].

The undergraduates, being; the (future) potential leaders and technology expertise and the (present) educated community group can efficiently be the "gearing tool" for the sustainability wheels on condition that; they are being taken care of and put on the right track.

Innovated Techology

Figure 1: Sustainability Wheels.

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UNDERGRADUATES' PERSPECTIVES The pursuit of sustainable development requires a political system that secures effective citizen participation in decision making [30]. The number of students enrolled at the Iraqi; universities, technical education commission and the private colleges, except 6 institutes (distributed in the Northern Kurdistan'/Iraq Province) for the academic years 2006/2007 were 99822 undergraduates while the already admitted students at 2006 were 353174 and the graduated students at the same year were 74669 graduates [31]. It could have been a great success for Iraq to embrace this huge potential educated human capacity and prepare them as partners for sustainable development. All they need is a well planed strategy and the determined good will for effective execution.

Aspirations and Desires A questionnaire embarrassing 20 items was distributed amongst a rand om sample of; 77 first year undergraduate students (voters) of two departments; Chemical and Architectural Engineering (35&42 undergraduates respectively) at the University of Technology, Baghdad-Iraq, which is originally composed of thirteen departments.

The total, first year undergraduates of the Department of Chemical Engineering are 90 and of the Department of Architectural Engineering are 69.

The questionnaire's items were categorized so as to serve the outcome of the research into; environmental forums, shared responsibility, voluntary work and finally sustainable development (Table 1).

Most of the participants in the questionnaire have expressed their positive attitude towards the idea of establishing an (Environmental Forum) in the University. Almost all the students confessed that they have never joined such clubs or forums before.

Also, they have unanimously agreed that those forums could be useful in; uniting the students and improving the Iraqi environment. Being so determined, and despite t heir future negative expectations (item 7), the majority of 82.84% expressed their support for establishing the forum and considerably good percentage of the voters (66.52%) were ready to discuss their residential areas' surrounding environment conditions with the forum's members. Knowing that the scheduled daily studying hours at the University are between 8:00 AM to 2:00 PM, the modest average percentage of 57.03%, that agreed to join the forum (item 3), could be easily connected to the overwhelming majority (80.10%) that asked for elongated scheduled hours to provide brake hours during the daily studying hours (item 9).

Although 84.30% of the voters haven't had any practices related to the involvement of the community in improving the environment (item 10), 79.54% were aware of the fact that the government alone would never be able to provide such improvement (item 11) whereas almost the same percentage (79.28%), as item 13 shows, have asked the decision makers and the government to take action in stopp ing the environmental deterioration. Also, 90.43% of the participants believed that the

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universities should actively participate in developing the community (item 12) and 88.44% stressed on the influence of social solidarity in confronting the environmental dilemmas (item 14).

The voters have numerously (81.20%) agreed to become environmental defenders (item 17) while showing low majority (55.95%) in their readiness to volunteer in the kind of work to support the development process in Iraq (item 15). Such controversy could again be referred to the tight studying schedule (item 9). In every case, their belief in the necessity of field practices to prepare them as potential future leaderships (item18) was obvious through the voters' percentage (85.92 %).

Amongst the most important items involved in the questionnaire was; if the undergraduates have ever heard of the phrase "Sustainable Development" before (item 19). Even though 90.95% haven't heard of "Sustainable Development" still 83.80% were willing to know more about it (item20).

Good and Bad Signs Subjects like "Sustainable Development" are completely vanished at all the studying stages since primary school in Iraq. The local media which should have been a part of the general education is also ignoring "Sustainable Development" as a concept and/or phrase.

The questionnaire has revealed the fact that the polled undergraduates are; determined, serious, cooperative, ambitious and looking for a better future for themselves as much as for their country.

Judging their desires and modes through a questionnaire has proven to be very effective, not only as a feedback process but also as a tool for educating and raising awareness amongst the polled undergraduates. They have numerously chosen to be (environment defenders) after reminding them to be so, through the questionnaire.

Also, were anxious to learn more about "Sustainable Development" when the majority heard of it for the first time through the questionnaire. So, for both cases; the questionnaire was an effective tool for education and raising awarene ss.

Although the pessimism was shadowing the voters' views, they were still believing in their abilities and willing to be part of the building process in Iraq. They were aware of the deteriorating environment, but still, were ready to assist the communit y and the government in the effort to improve it. They supported the establishment of the environmental Forums and Clubs within the University even though worried about the extra time they should need to join the forum.

In general, the polled undergraduates have shown their willingness to be part of the developing process in Iraq, but clearly needed well planned long term strategies and instantaneous projects that would match their ambitions and expectations for a better future.

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Strategic and Instantaneous Plans To assure advancing the role of youth and actively involving them in the protection of the environment and the promotion of economic and social development, It is imperative that youth from all parts of the world participate actively in all relev ant levels of decision-making processes because it affects their lives today and has implications for their futures. In addition to their intellectual contribution and their ability to mobilize support, they bring unique perspectives that need to be taken into account [32]. There is no doubt that long term sustainable development promotion strategies are most crucial and should take into account all the educational levels starting from the primary schools; merged with the curriculums and exposed as field practices; modernized to fulfill the need for an educated sustainable development community. At the same time, Iraq needs instantaneous projects that would mitigate the current educational curriculums; ignoring "Sustainable Development" and thus blocking the path way towards its understanding and applications.

THE HYPOTHETICAL; MESOPOTAMIA YOUTH'S ENVIRONMENT FORUM (MYEF) Introduction The universities in Iraq are the direct reflection of the social diversity inherited from our ancestors, the Mesopotamians. The universities amass youth that, certainly, differ in their religion, culture, race, political views and social backgrounds, but still united; in their ambitions to live in a healthy environment and loyalty to their homeland. Youth, as has been the historical experience of all countries, are particularly vulnerable to the problems associated with economic development, which often weakens traditional forms of social support essential for the healthy development, of young people [33]. Considering the current social segregation resulted after the invasion in 2003, this mission apart from being human is essentially patriotic. There couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;t be a better reason for strengthening, if not regaining, the social unity amongst the undergraduates than a noble indisputable cause namely; improving the Iraqi environment. Knowing that all the Iraqis are looking forward for a new civilized modern Iraq, this mission becomes easier and all it needs is a scientific applicable Iraqi plan taking into consideration the different parameters and directing the program towards justified national Iraqi goals.

Mesopotamia Youth's Environment Forum (MYEF) gathers multi (cultural, religious and ethnic) undergraduates of a specific university in an (environmental group) waving one slogan "Improving the Iraqi Environment". The members of MYEF are to be chosen out of the first year's students, environmentally educated and trained throughout the academic years enabling them to; feedback MYEF and participate in studies and researches related to their environmental observations at their local communities. Capacity building needs to promote the involvement of the local

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population, particularly women and youth, in the collection and utilization of environmental information through education and awareness building [34]. The role of the (Academic Staff) at the university, is restricted to; composing a â&#x20AC;&#x2022;Consulting Committeeâ&#x20AC;&#x2013; that; orchestras & organizes MYEF annual agenda and controlling the progress of the Forum towards the declared slogan. Temporary employment is an objective that could enrich the project; certain grading could be suggested to evaluate the studies and observations submitted by the members to qualify them for a competition that awards five winners in every academic year, starting from the second, a full year monthly payment.

Anticipating members of different backgrounds to join MYEF is a constructive thrust component to prove that the Iraqis are more willing to unite when directed towards national goals. Graduated MYEF's members are expected to be; socially intimate and more united than the other university's graduates, also better trained to diagnose and mitigate the environmental problems and consequently become more eligible for the future environmental leaderships.

The importance of this (hypothetical) project arises from the fact that the next generation, represented by the undergraduates, need to be aware of the deadly dangers surrounding the Iraqi environment, trained to explore and detect the environmental priorities, experienced to deal with such problems in a practical and scientific procedure and most important of all, devoted to help their countrymen regardless of their social, religious and ethnic backgrounds.

Objectives of MYEF 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Preparing potential experiences that are trained to detect and solve environmental problems.

Enlighten the Iraqi community about the necessity to improve the environment using domestic messengers that comprehend how to deal with the surrounding inhabitants.

Feed back the researchers (consulting committee) with what the MYEF member believes to be an environmental problem.

To Provide updated environmental information which could be verified by the (consulting committee) if eligible for further investigation and research.

Uniting MYEF members in a national parade towards one noble national pre-agreed upon target "Improving the Iraqi Environment".

The foundation of civilized traditions, devoted for the domination of a better environment that could be inherited to the coming generations.

Establish a realistic method to specify the environmental priorities for the Iraqi community.

Annual employment of the illustrious members performing peculiar related activities.

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Principles and Concepts of MYEF 1.

The project is a cooperative program between; MYEF and the academics "Consulting Committee".

2. The sponsoring University should provide a proper accommodation (place & location) that suites MYEF's objectives and slogan.

3. The Nomination of the (Consulting Committee) which is the Academic group guiding the Forum.

4. Members of MYEF are the (Male and Female) undergraduates that are willing to join MYEF voluntarily.

5. MYEF is dedicated to improve the Iraqi environment and promote for Sustainable Development.

6. Any political, religious or racial issue that could disband the members is prohibited and not to be included in MYEF programs.

7. At the foundation stage, MYEF membership is restricted to the first year's students at the beginning of every Academic year.

8. MYEF cares about environmental issues (natural and/or human) regardless of their academic reference or field of specialization.

9. The involvement of related, Iraqi and International institutes, in developing MYEF's programs is essential to enrich MYEF with related national and global experience.

10. The elected â&#x20AC;&#x2022;MYEF Executive Committeeâ&#x20AC;&#x2013; conducts MYEF for each academic year starting from the second to the graduation year. To guarantee rotational responsibilities, any committee member is eligible for such a post only once throughout the full academic years' program (4-6 years in Iraq, depending on the university engaged in the program).

11. The membership of any member is terminated if fails passing any academic year.

12. "Unity" is the supreme goal MYEF tends to secure. Activities leading to uniting the members are of extreme importance like trips, arranging environmental conferences, workshops, attending international conferences, organizing social activitiesâ&#x20AC;Ś.. etc.

Budget and Requirements The budget depends on the requirements that should be affirmed after knowing the number of members, which should be within the capabilities of the sponsoring party; In all cases, not to exceed (200) member for the full academic years' program.

The monetary requirements are generally a reflection for the main components that fulfill the program, starting from the foundation stage until the forth academic year.

Foundation requirements comprise providing the location, furniture and stationery equipments. Running annual cost concludes stationery tools, building's maintenance and providing general services that may accompany the project.

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SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS Sustainable Development has become the inspiration for many nations and the salvation for their communities. Such nations have primarily paved their course towards Sustainable Development through maintaining the Sustainability Wheels; good governance, innovated technology and sustainable development educated community.

The "Youth" is an essential human capital in every sustainable community and globally considered to be a force of transformation in the development process. They seek to be integrated into the existing society and to serve as a force of transformation. Their aspirations and willingness to fully participate in the lives of their societies become agents for social change, economic development and technological innovation and also live under conditions that encourage their imagination, ideals, energy and vision to flourish to the benefit of their societies [35].

They could inspire the community and flourish the development process, if well guided and oriented towards beneficial targets. The high une mployment rates, lack of professional experience and general governmental ignorance is threatening the "Youth"; making them vulnerable to extremism and racialism in addition to the circulating prevailing social epidemics.

The High Education Institutes in Iraq encompass the ideal ages of youth groups, 1824 years, with an added value as an educated sector. Being; potential future leaderships and decision makers, sustainable development possible messengers to the community and technological innovation power and institutions' technical specialist; .makes of them the real transformation momentum force in driving the Sustainability Wheels in Iraq.

Although the questionnaires are most often used for feeding back purposes, they could also serve as an awareness and informational tool; particularly in the case of Iraq when related to modern and new issues that the voters haven't heard of or been educated about before such as "Sustainable Development". The questionnaire that was circulated amongst the first year undergraduates of two departments at the University of Technology, Baghdad-Iraq, has revealed that they are aware of the current environmental deteriorated status and willing to be part of the mitigation.

Despite the fact that the High Education in Iraq is suffering an extra burden as a result of the poor initial education at the primary and secondary stages, it is imperative to initiate urgent instantaneous projects that would invest the undergraduates' potentials at the high education institutes in; interc onnecting those institutes with the community in terms of research work and field studies, preparation of potential leaderships and raising the awareness of the community to comprehend the relationship between development and environment. Such achievements would require initiatives of a special kind.

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Mesopotamia youth's Environment Forum (MYEF) is a hypothetical program designed to mitigate the social fragmentation resulted after the occupation in 2003 and provides an ideal platform for further researches and debates related to Environment and Sustainable Development paving the path for merging the universities' staff and students with the community and providing excellent opportunities to perform an effective role in exchanging experience and knowledge in Education for Sustainable Development.

REFERENCES [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

[7]

[8]

[9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20]

Stockholm Declaration, 1972, Part I, 2 General Assembly, 96th plenary meeting, 11 December 1987.

Developing human relations to environment - UN perspective \ Brundtland Report.htm.

Resolutions adopted by The General Assembly, UN, Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, (42/187), 11 December 1987.

Renewed European Union. Sustainable Development Strategy, 9 June 2006.

Theme: The Role of Youth in Rebuilding Communities After Conflict, http://www.acdivoca.org/852571DC00681414/ID/ourwork_communitydevelopme nt The Environment Foundation, 21st Century Trust and the Dana Centre Consultation on Democracy and Sustainability. 18 March 2008, The Science Museumâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s Dana Centre, London, SUMMARY, John Lotherington (Director, 21st Century Trust) and John Elkington (Chairman, The Environment Foundation, and Founder & Director, SustainAbility) SUSTAINABILITY AND DEMOCRACY, An essay by SARA PARKIN. Are political parties getting in the way of the sort of collaborative democracy we need to tackle sustainability? If so, what can we do about it? 25th February 2008.

Min of planning and Development Cooperation, Central Organization for Statistics and Information Technology, Annual Statistical Abstract 2007, Tables 11&12/2 Arab Human Development Report 2009, United Nations Development Program, Regional Bureau for Arab States (RBAS), P.49 Environment Performance Index , Iraq, http://epi.yale.edu/Countries The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, (Proclaims that 1, Stockholm, 5- 16 June 1972) The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, (Proclaims that 3, Stockholm, 5- 16 June 1972).

World Program of Action for Youth to the Year 2000 and Beyond. General Assembly, A/RES/50/81, 13 March 1996 Ancient Mesopotamia, (http://hypermedia. educ. Mesopotamia) http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=iraqi http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/iraqi en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia. www.shrewsbury-ma.gov/schools/ SOCIALSTUDIES/ ancient Mesopotamia.

World Cultures, http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/MESO/TIMELINE.HTM

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Michael Novak, epigraph opening, Unity in Diversity, [1983].

Arab Human Development Report 2009, United Nations Development Program, Regional Bureau for Arab States (RBAS), P.96 Arab Human Development Report 2009, United Nations Development Program, Regional Bureau for Arab States (RBAS), P.94

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ENGINEERING STUDENTS GETTING THE BIGGER PICTURE - 25 ENGINEERING STUDENTS LEARNING SUSTAINABILITY ON A BOAT Gertjan de Werk and Karel Mulder Delft University of Technology Faculty of Technology Policy & Management Jaffalaan 5, 2628 RZ Delft, The Netherlands

ABSTRACT: This paper briefly describes how Delft University of Technology introduced sustainable development (SD) as a core element in its education: a basic course for all students, integration of SD in all other course where it was relevant, and an option for Master students to specialize in SD, besides their regular degree program. In this students could obtain a special sustainability certificate in addition to their MSc. The paper will further analyze this SD specialization. Core of this optional program is a course which partly takes place at a boat. Our philosophy in creating this course was that the best way to achieve a really sustainability-minded engineering student is to isolate him for a while from his daily routine of attending lectures, and put him for a week on a boat with 25 like-minded students. In this way, the student, in cooperation with like minded students from other disciplines, can actively dig into the issues that are linked to sustainable development. During this week of intensive training excursions, lectures, discussions, workshops, videos, etc. are offered which confront the students actively with a variety of sustainability-related problems, like: consumption and waste, food shortages, energy (consumption), decline of biodiversity, globalization, underdevelopment, etc. The strength of the course on the boat is that every student is challenged to participate actively and cannot withdraw from discussions. It creates a really intensive week that sometimes has long lasting effects for the student‘s future.

KEYWORDS: Integration of Sustainable Development in Engineering Education; Intensive Course; Boat Course; Delft University of Technology

THE ARISING OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AT DUT Sustainable Development (SD) plays a key-role in education and research at Delft University of Technology. In the past decade SD has been integrated into the various curricula. One of the missions of the university is to educate engineers that can contribute to Sustainable Development. But it wasn‘t easy to get DUT as sustainable as it is today.

It took a long way and a lot of effort. Moreover, fundamental issues were sometimes at stake:  

Isn't technology the root cause of the SD problems instead of the solution?

What is an engineer? An applied scientist, a scientifically trained designer of technology, or a solver of problems that are both social and technological?

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

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What are the responsibilities of a university in regard to the qualifications of its graduates? Is it limited to equipping students with the right knowledge and competences, or should attitude and a taking responsibility be part of the engineer‘s qualifications?

Is the university‘s responsibility confined to offering training in science and its applications in designs or is it important to train engineering students also in social sciences too?

Historically, the beginning of engineering education in the period of the Enlightenment, engineers were educated scientifically to rethink traditional technologies in order to rationalize and optimize them. This meant that science and mathematics, and their application in designs were crucial parts of engineering education [1, 2]. In this respect, engineering was very successful and had a strong appeal to the rational planning of economic organization that socialists advocated.

Unavoidably engineers argued that their rational scientific methods were the best means to solve problems. However, they sometimes failed to recognize that some issues weren‘t just technological-scientific optimization problems but instead a matter of choice between (often irreconcilable) norms and values. For example when engineers were asked in the 1920s on their view regarding preservation of Dutch windmills by technological improvement, they generally argued in favor of demolishing, thereby neglecting that this was an issue of appreciation of national heritage and not just a matter of deciding on efficiency of pumping devices [3].

In the 1960s new problems emerged:   

By the growing scale of industrial society, pollution, ecological destruction and exhaustion had become global problems.

Fast growing populations and uneven distribution of wealth created new conflicts.

Armed conflicts were far more threatening as new technologies had created the means for global destruction.

Many people started criticizing technology. The instrumental way in which technologists dealt with nature was held responsible for environmental exploitation and destruction.

More and more it became clear that a paradigm shift was required in engineering.

Engineers had to learn that not their technology driven concepts were the central issues of society but the demands of people (and especially the weaker, and the future generations).

The new mission of technical universities became one of challenging engineering students to contribute to fulfilling those demands and conveying them the knowledge and

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competences to do so. If they succeed in doing so, young-engineers will come to realize that they can make invaluable contributions to the environment and the future prospects of human civilization.

Broadening the Engineer Sustainability problems are intimately connected to social and political issues. Therefore, basic science and mathematics will not be sufficient to shape a modern engineer. Major problems are often of a hybrid character: they cannot be solved by a single discipline. To solve these problems, not only techno-scientific rationalism, but also political, ethical and legal rationalism is needed:    

Techno-Scientific rationality aims at finding efficient solutions i.e. solutions that will be effective in relation to the resources that are spend on it. political rationality aims at finding solutions that will be supported sufficiently in the decision making process ethical rationality aims at providing solutions that are considered just. legal rationality aims at finding solutions that will not be susceptible to legal action in court [4].

The 1950s was the era of technological optimism. Energy would become too cheap to meter, DDT would kill all bugs, and the green revolution would provide food for all: science and technology created the good future. The only problem was that there was so much irrationality in society. Rational planning was required, but unfortunately, there was much resistance against the ‗rationality of concrete and straight lines‘. For many engineers, social science was irrational and so they hardly felt the need to co-operate with them.

The rational planning culminated in various s large scale controversies in the 1970s, with the nuclear power controversy as the most visible and disruptive one. Engineers often had the role of picking up scientific inventions and elaborating on them to push them into society. They were applied scientists in the sense that their responsibility was managing a one way street from science to society. But clearly, engineers cannot continue as ‗applied scientists‘. Society does not uncritically accept the ‗marvels‘ that scientists and engineers developed for them. Various stakeholders aim at influencing the ‗innovation agenda‘ (for example for SD).

The engineer should be trained able to manage two way traffic taking both scientific renewal and stakeholder demands in regard. For this reason, engineers should be trained differently. Only in this way the engineer can maintain the role of developer/designer of new technologies/systems.

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An adaptation of the traditional engineering curricula is the only way to bridge the gap between engineers, other professionals, and other stakeholders/the public to enhance mutual understanding. Naturally, the same applies to the social sciences as they often regard the engineers work as a one way street that should be reversed. Too often they regard engineers as ‗nerds‘ or ‗useful idiots‘, and do not show any understanding of fundamental material limitations that guide the engineers‘ work.

The essence of engineering, therefore, should be the ability to connect societal demand and the physical reality in the process of shaping systems and artifacts, or as sociologist Michel Callon calls it: a translator-spokesman. A translator-spokesman aims at aligning the material and non-material world in order to get networks that ‗work‘.

If we take this as a guiding post for what engineers do, problem based learning is of key importance. It allows students to obtain a better understanding of the contribution of various rationalities and disciplines in solving problems. A basic understanding of the principles of various disciplines is required in order to be able to discern various aspects of SD problems, and to be able to communicate with various other experts.

The Integration of Sustainable Development into Education To broaden the knowledge of her students, to teach them social skills and to provide them with a new challenge DUT has chosen to integrate Sustainable development in her curricula, as Sustainable Development is the great new challenge for the engineer of the 21st century.

In its 1995 policy plan DUT stated that engineers graduating at DUT had to be prepared for the great technological challenges, especially solving questions related to sustainable development. This implied that DUT had to educate engineers who could operationalise ‗sustainable development‘ in technical scientific designing and in the application of technology and technical systems. By the end of 1996, the University Board installed a committee that had to generate new proposals for implementing Sustainable Development in the engineering curricula.

Prof. dr.ir. J.L.A. Jansen chaired the committee. His experiences as initiator of the national research program Sustainable Technological Development, (STD) gave inspiring examples of new paths to fulfill the needs of people in the next century.

This committee considered that sustainability should be an integral element of the education of an engineer. In its approach the committee regarded the responsibility for

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sustainable development as a line responsibility in the professional practice, i.e. it could not be left to specialized staff.

This resulted in a plan consisting of three interconnected operations: 1.

2.

3.

The design of an elementary course ‗Technology in Sustainable Development‘ for ALL students of DUT. Intertwining of sustainable development in ALL regular disciplinary courses, in a way corresponding to the nature of each specific course.

Development of an option to specialize in sustainable development within the framework of each department.

1. The elementary course „Technology in Sustainable Development‟ (TiDO) An elementary course Technology in Sustainable Development has become part of every Bachelor program. The course has been introduced in various different ways as to accommodate the existing curricula.

2. Intertwining of sustainable development in disciplinary courses Adequate intertwining of sustainable development in all disciplinary courses will depend on the nature of the course. Initially, we aimed at teaching teachers about SD. However, that turned out to be an unfortunate idea: Teachers hate being taught! Especially if it concerns their own courses: it hurts their self esteem and their sense of autonomy within their own course. We decided to reverse our approach and started to interview lecturers regarding the options that their discipline could contribute to SD. The results were used as starting material for a teacher workshop to discuss ―sustainabilising the curriculum‖.

This approach became a tremendous success. Lecturers felt at ease discussing their own field and often prolonged the appointments to show the marvels of their field.

Afterwards, the enthusiasm could easily be transformed into educational reform. [5] 3. Graduation in sustainable development As ‗sustainability and environment‘ was considered to be a line responsibility, the committee argued that it required, like other line-responsibilities (finance, quality management, personnel management etc), specialists to support line management.

Moreover, there were clear indications that students desired to specialize in technology in sustainable development (1 % would already entail some 10 to 15 graduating students per year). For these students an option was created to specialize in sustainability within their own engineering program. The requirements were:

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A thesis which is clearly sustainability oriented Following successful a selection of three to five sustainability oriented courses from two cluster. The selection has to cover some 300 study hours.

Participation in a special course ―Technology in Sustainable Development‖, of about 100 study hours.

Table 1: Clusters of various topics on SD courses*.

Clusters of SD-courses at DUT

A

Design, analysis and tools

Life cycle assessment, recycling, sustainable energy, Environment and chemistry, photo-voltaic energy, ecotoxicology, sustainable building

B

Management, Policy and society

Environmental management, environmental law, chain management, risk analysis, Technology assessment, sustainability in global perspective, environmental philosophy, environmental economy

*

For a list of all SD courses: http://www.odo.tudelft.nl

This part of the plan triggered some resistance within DUT. Departments feared losing students (although this was denied in the plan) and (probably) feared that the graduates in sustainable developments would be too much social sciences oriented. Discussions with departments were renewed and obscurities in the proposal were removed.

This option of graduating in Sustainable Development meant that students would not only be a specialist in the own discipline, but also specialists in the interdisciplinary theme of sustainable development. The fact that sustainability is a complex theme that needs to be approached with an open mind and a wide scope didn‘t make the integration any easier because, as explained before, these are not the main-skills of hard-core engineering students. So there were multiple purposes for this specialization: 1.

2.

3.

Broaden the focus of the engineer, so he or she would be able to look further than his own discipline (meaning other technical disciplines but also social and political disciplines) Give the engineer the skills to cooperate with other disciplines and give him insight in the focus of those disciplines Make the engineer aware of the main aspects that are incorporated in sustainable development, varying from the needs of present and future generations here and there to the themes like consumption and waste, food shortages, energy (consumption), decline of biodiversity, globalization, underdevelopment, and the difficulties to introduce sustainable technologies.

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Make the engineer capable of linking SD to his own discipline so he can formulate sustainable (design or research) criteria and examine the sustainability of his design based upon those criteria. But he must also be able to assess the consequences of his design or research for third parties and its contribution to sustainable development in general.

The four purposes mentioned above resulted in a special SD certificate. Starting from September 2000 students graduating at DUT could receive the SD certificate as appendix to their engineering degree [6].

THE COURSE TECHNOLOGY IN SD Take I – Isolation in a group but enthusiasm all-over The course Technology in SD is the main tool to make the existence of the certificate visible and to give the students a real and broad view on sustainable development. The first week, Monday morning 9.00, 25 students are gathered at a boat and we won‘t let them leave until Friday 17.00. In between they follow a real intensive program in which lectures, site visits, excursions, workshops, brainstorm sessions, videos, discussions and role-playing games alternate.

The boat is a barge that is converted for passengers. In summertime, it sails with tourist through the canals of the Netherlands. The Netherlands is a flat country that has a large network of canals and rivers that covers almost the entire country. All major cities are well accessible by boat.

The advantages of using such a boat are various:   

no time is lost for transportation or search for accommodation: transport, accommodation and lecture room are efficiently combined Outside speakers are generally very enthusiastic to come and lecture at the boat This pressure cooker idea (being on a boat for a week with people that have only an interest in SD in common and do not have the option of leaving) worked very well: discussions could last to late at night which makes the whole week really a very intensive event.

The aim of the boat week is to give participants an overview in the wide variety of issues that are covered under SD. With their engineering backgrounds, they are bound to focus on emissions, efficiency and material loops, but the site visits, the external speakers and even open up their perception of SD. Even the confrontation with engineering students from other backgrounds is a confrontation with other perspectives: Chemical engineers

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for example mainly have a ‗material flow‘ perspective of the world, Mechanical engineers think in terms of efficient equipment, and civil engineers think in terms of rearranging the landscape.

The participating students are generally of a rather critical type. They have world views of themselves. Discussions are never to be enforced, as the participants are discussing continuously.

Figure 1: The boat used in delivering the course.

Take II – Backcasting: dreaming about the future and realizing it in the present The second part of the Technology in Sustainable Development course takes place at the university as a problem based learning assignment. The students learn the backcasting method, as was designed in the STD project. This can offer them a framework for sustainabilising their own graduation project [7].

In the course, the students carry out a project aimed at designing a process that should lead to fulfilling a need sustainable. Backcasting is the leading method during the project.

Back casting consists of:    

Creating future visions, bearing in mind what needs are to be fulfilled and the conditions that have to be fulfilled (resource consumption, emissions, etc.)

Reaching consensus with all relevant stakeholders regarding this future vision Defining pathways that could possibly end at this goal Defining procedures for updating the goals and the designed pathways

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Needs are to be defined at a basic level (like transport, product protection or protein food) and not in terms of current technology. (such as ‗car‘, ‗packaging‘ or ‗meat‘). Defining needs in this broad way allows a wide scope of solutions that would not pop up if the need would just be ‗a green car‘.

Table 2: Illustration program on back casting A simple calculation has shown that fulfilling the material needs of present and future generations on the basis of equity requires a jump in the environmental efficiency of technology by a factor of between 10 and 50, say 20, over the next 50 years. These jumps in environmental efficiency of technology cannot be brought about by technical innovations alone. The social conditions for these leap-frog technologies still have to be determined but will invariably involve significant structural and cultural change [7, 8].

The Interdepartmental Research Programmed Sustainable Technological Development was undertaken in the Netherlands to explore and illustrate how technological development could be shaped, by backcasting from visions of sustainable futures and to develop instruments for this. The program was established by five ministries and took place between 1993 and 1997 [7].

However, needs do not exist in isolation. They are intimately interwoven with cultural factors, and especially the way they are fulfilled is confined and facilitated by societal structures. This should be recognized to construct attractive future visions. A pill is not a substitute for a piece of meat, even if it was only for the fact that it could not fill plates and be consumed at a table with various partners.

The next step is developing an attractive joint future vision that fulfils the conditions. A vegetable protein food with the right texture and ‗bite‘ might be a future vision for an alternative for meat.

This leads to the next questions: ‗What do we need to do from now to make this vision come true?’ ‘How can the necessary changes in culture, structure and technology be made?‘ An important element here is that the change process is a long term one. For this reason the interests of companies in current markets and in maintaining their ‗pipes smoking‘ is not so large: the long time frame in principle enables them to change without losing major assets. On the other hand, long time frames do not allow companies to gain competitive advantage by their research investments, as intellectual property is lost in 20 years. Therefore, government research funds are often important [9].

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The Opinion of Participants – Does “Technology in Sustainable Development” Make Sense or is it Just a Nice Cruise for Students In the beginning of the interdisciplinary project there was confusion how SD related to the students‘ engineering discipline. But during the project the students became aware of their own specific contribution, based on their different backgrounds. They learned to communicate, without using technical jargon and discovered they could be critical towards persuasive information. Back casting learned the students to think beyond the normal design assignment: in what world do we ultimately want to life, what does it imply for various people, and how to set things in motion?

As a result of the pretty intensive course, the students started to build a new social network. They discussed their own final graduation projects and the future careers they wanted to pursue. This led to the creation of a student organization for Sustainable Development, Osiris. Osiris was a powerful ally in our journey to make Delft University of Technology a stronghold for Sustainable Technology and Sustainable Education.

CONCLUSION-HOW TO GET SUSTAINABILITY-MINDED ENGINEERS Sustainable Development is not an issue to be taught to students like any other course.

Like any other course it is about transferring knowledge: knowledge about the nature of the problems, their causes and context, methods and conditions to develop solutions, side-effects, … However, for the engineering student who is facing graduation, the issues are crucial for further career decisions: what career do I want? How could I contribute to sustainable development from that position? [10] Regarding these issues, discussions are crucial for the students. It is important that they discover that there is a career path that enables them to contribute to SD, and that is not the path of an individual maverick but the path of a forefront of new engineers that are going to make a change in the engineering community. That feeling of having a joint mission, that could become the mainstream engineering mission within a decade, is important. But that career perspective needs a lot ‗chewing‘. The discussions are therefore a most crucial element in the course: not as planned and coordinated discussions, but as informal meetings, for which the boat week offers sufficient opportunity. (youtube movie at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmFNxe9AcaI)

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REFERENCES [1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7] [8] [9] [10]

Mulder, K.F., 2004, Engineering Education in Sustainable Development: Sustainability as a tool to open up the windows of engineering institutions, Business Strategy and the Environment 13 no. 4 pp. 275-285 Grayson, L.E., 1993, The Making of an Engineer: An Illustrated History of Engineering Education in the United States and Canada. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Kamp, L., Mulder, K.F., 2004, Technological promises based on old traditions: the introduction of wind turbines in the Netherlands, paper 4S/EASST, available at http://www.csi.ensmp.fr/WebCSI/4S/index.php Snellen, I. Th.M., 1987, Boeiend en geboeid; ambivalenties en ambities in de bestuurskunde [Fascinating and chaining, ambivalences and ambitions in public administration] Samsom/Tjeenk Willink , Alphen a/d Rijn Peet, D.J., Mulder, K.F., Bijma, A., 2004 Integrating SD into engineering courses at the Delft University of Technology, the individual interaction method.

International Journal of sustainability in higher education, Vol 5, 3 pp 278-288 Mulder, K.F. 2006, Engineering curricula in Sustainable development. An evaluation of changes at TUD, European journal of engineering education 31 (2) pp 133-144 Weaver, P., Jansen, L., van Grootveld, G., van Spiegel, E. and Vergragt, P., 2000 Sustainable Technology Development Greenleaf Publishing , Sheffield Mulder, K.F., 2006, Sustainable Development for Engineers, Sheffield, Greenleaf.

Quist, Jaco, 2007, Backcasting for a Sustainable Future, Delft: Eburon.

Fokkema, J., Jansen L., Mulder, K., 2005, Sustainability: necessity for a prosperous society, International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 6, 3, pp. 219-228

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SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION IN CIVIL ENGINEERING PROGRAMS WITHIN THE GCC STATES Dima Jawad1 and Edgar P. Small2 Notre Dame University, Beirut, Lebanon 2 American University in Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates 1

ABSTRACT: The exceptional growth of the GCC Countries in the last decade has raised concerns regarding the ecological footprint and sustainability of the mega -scale development projects taking place in these countries. These concerns—substantiated by the latest global economic recession— warranted the prioritization of the sustainability agenda in the GCC Government policies and future visions. As engineers are primary participants within the development process, a key component of the sustainability agenda in these countries should include the formation of local base of ―sustainable‖ engineers. To explore the academic preparation of today‘s civil engineering student for meeting the challenges of sustainability, research is performed to review and assess the current practice of sustainable development education at civil engineering schools. The research is performed through an extensive literature review of academic research. The results of the study are synthesized, presented and discussed. Results show that there are three approaches for incorporating sustainable development knowledge and skill requirements into engineering programs: (a) external course offerings (e.g. courses external to engineering programs, such as philosophy, business, economics, sciences/ecology); (b) special courses offer ed within engineering; and (c) integration of sustainability within existing engineering courses. The first approach has the most shortcomings due principally to the outcome results indicating students‘ inability to associate the non-engineering disciplinary skills with engineering topics and design. Weighing up the second approach (special courses in sustainability) and the third approaches (integrating sustainability into existing engineering courses) has resulted in a notable debate among educators and c onstituted a substantial body of research in the last decade. These topics are discussed as a basis of the research that was done by the authors to assess the-state-of-practice of sustainability education in GCC civil engineering schools. The paper concludes with policy and curricula recommendations for GCC civil engineering schools on sustainability education.

KEYWORDS: Sustainability; Civil Engineering Education; Gulf Cooperation Council Countries

INTRODUCTION The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) six countries: Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates are fairly similar in terms of geographical, social, economic, commercial aspects, and infrastructural development.

They represent a unique case of development, where oil and gas revenues have enabled an exceptional accelerated development process in all aspects of life.

Accordingly, these countries have become a center of zealous infrastructural, construction, economic, industrial, tourism and other anthropogenic activities all of which are high resource-intensive sectors that add to the main oil producing sector.

Unfortunately, this booming development has been sometimes criticized or accused to score poorly in terms of sustainability.

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Amid such alarming outcomes, ―sustainability‖ and ―greening‖ became the buzz words in the GCC region for policy makers, construction and design professionals as well as citizens exhibiting increased awareness of the environmental, social, and economical impacts of the rapid development. [1] With civil engineers being major players in the development process in developing countries, an important dimension on the sustainability agenda is always the formation of national/local base of ―sustainable‖ engineers. Formation of local base of sustainable civil engineers is done at undergraduate education for civil engineering. In order to assess the state -ofthe-practice of Sustainability Education at Civil Engineering Schools in GCC higher education institutions, the research presented in this paper was performed through different approaches that included curriculums inspection, extensive literature review on incorporating sustainability in civil engineering curricula, direct questionnaire sent to GCC civil engineering faculty members as well as personal interview with key players in this domain.

The paper starts with presenting the finding of the literature review, and then briefly discusses the characteristics of GCC countries and their higher education systems .

Next, a summary of the survey that was done and its key findings; finally, the paper concludes with policy and curricula renewal recommendations for sustainability education in civil engineering schools in GCC.

SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION LITERATURE REVIEW Literature on incorporating Sustainable Development (SD) in engineering curriculum became noticeable in the early nineties following two international declarations: the Talloires Declaration by Association of University Leaders for a Sustainable Future in 1990, and the Rio Declaration for guiding the future SD of the world and its accompanying Agenda 21 that resulted from the UN Earth Summit of 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The early literature on this subject started with emphasizing and describing the role that engineers can assume in facilitating SD. Realizing the difficulties for engineers to consider environmental factors in their projects and fulfill the anticipated role for facilitating SD because of their traditional engineering training, researchers advocated elemental change in the customary engineering thinking and individualistic practice through innovative approaches in the profession education and training. [2] Carroll discussed the five main issues that were identified during the initial start-up of the World Engineer Partnership for SD in 1992 with ―Redirecting engineering ethics and education for sustainability‖ among these five issues.[3] Renewed appreciation for engineering design and a new awareness of the social dimension of engineering were later presented as the promising developments in engineering education that may help changing the engineering culture to a more compatible with a variety of approaches to SD.[4] The 1997 Revision of the ASCE code of ethics to include the following statement ―Engineers should be committed to improving the environment to enhance the quality of life‖ instigated studies

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criticizing the revision as not responding enough to the aspirations expected from engineers. Vesilind considered the revision was inadequate to offer assistance to engineers seeking guidance on their actions towards the environment.[5] There has not been much research published in academic circles covering the specificity of facilitating SD in developing countries. Such research wer e conducted and published internally by local and international NGOs. In a central scrutiny for SD facilitation in the developing world, Cottell underlined that SD in developing countries must not be sought after by adopting western practices in the engine ering professions and standards unwaveringly. The author deliberated several factors that negate such direct adoption that must be well-understood prior to benefiting from the developed world expertise: Being perceptive of the local political framework in the country, Understanding the cultural and ethical values of the society, Identifying the funding mechanisms, Addressing the public‘s environmental concerns, and preparing local skills and workforce and to understand the conflict role verses the model rol e of engineers [6]. This last point, to assess and prepare the local workforce is most relevant to the research performed in this study.

By the new millennium, introducing the principles of SD into engineering curricula was accepted—and at times acclaimed. Research is this field shifted into answering the questions of: What do we teach? and How should we teach it? Three approaches for incorporating SD knowledge and skill requirements into engineering programs were labeled: (a) students can take courses offered by departments outside of engineering (e.g. courses in philosophy, business, economics, sciences/ecology); (b) special courses can be offered within engineering; and (c) the content and skills can be integrated within existing courses. [7] In the main, the first approach has the most shortcomings due principally to the outcome results indicating students‘ incompetence in associating the non-engineering disciplinary skills with engineering topics and design. Weighing up the second approach (special courses in SD) and the third approaches (integrating SD into existing engineering courses) has resulted in a notable debate among educators and constituted a substantial body of research in the last decade. No clear consensus among engineering educators was reached on which approach is better or rather which approach to follow. One can observe that some of the advocates of the second approach (introducing special courses in SD) are engineering educators that are ―resisting the change‖ due to many reasons most important is their unfamiliarity with the sustainability topics relevant to their course material. This type of educators was pointed out as impediment by Paul Woodruff in his Simon W. Freese lecture ―Educating Engineers to Create a Sustainable Futu re‖ at the 2000 ASCE meeting. [8] Recent literature described researchers/educators‘ experience in incorporating SD principles into engineering curricula. Challenges, incentives and barriers encountered are addressed to assist in further incorporation. Specific areas covered assessing the appropriate education level or courses/modules for introducing SD principles to engineers. Design courses were identified as the most appropriate medium. [9] Other topics covered experiences in developing special courses in SD and the subject

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matters of the course [10, 11], the pedagogical approach [9,12], or the learnersâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC; evaluation approach. [13] Critical thinking, open-ended and real-life design problems were identified as the most suitable pedagogical approach. Incorporating sustainability concepts into existing engineering courses is extensively advocated as the most effective approach even though it is by far the most challenging approach in terms of needed efforts, inherent requirement of broad knowledge in sustaina bility topics [14], intersecting agendas [15] and the implementation assessment process.

[16, 17] Examples of such serious integration were reported from various universities worldwide such as Cambridge University, University of Technology in Sydney, Delft University of Technology, Hong Kong Polytechnic University.[18] A very recent research by Desha et al. addressed the time-lag dilemma in curriculum renewal towards engineering education for SD. In this research, the authors identify three phases universities pass through during curriculum renewal, phase one: the ad hoc exploration which is faculty initiated and driven, phase two: the flagship approach which is market driven where universities start to introduce flagship courses related to one or more dimension of sustainability, phase three: integration which institution driven where department start to integrate new content within program courses. These three phases can be accomplished through standard curriculum renewal process (8-12 years) or rapid curriculum renewal process (15-20 years). [19]

CHARACTERISTICS OF GCC COUNTRIES GCC Demographics The GCC consists of Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The total area of the GCC countries is 2,672,700 km2 populated by 37.5 million inhabitants. The GCC region is one of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s most naturally endowed and economically prosperous regions that is characterized by rapid population and economic growth since the discovery of oil in the region more than 40 years ago.

This region has undergone a profound transformation from one the least developed areas of the world to modern economies with a high standard of living and per capita GDP on par with those of developed nations as illustrated in Table 1. [20, 21] The recent boom in economy is owed to several grounds that capitalized on the high oil prices in the last years, most prominent are the governmentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC; efforts to diversify the economy and reduce dependence on oil. The GCC governments have launched mega projects of infrastructure expansions, real-estate development, economic zones creation, and opening up utilities to greater private sector involvement. All these factors have made GCC countries a major magnet for the global migrants. Foreign investors as well as foreign companies and skilled and un-skilled workforce were attracted from all over the world. The proportion of immigrants co nstitute more than 35% of the GCC population lead by Qatar and UAE reaching 80% and 70% immigrants of their population as shown in Table 1 [21]. Until recently, civil

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engineers were among the most demanded jobs in the region attracting engineers and engineering companies from all over the world.

Table 1: GCC Countries Figures Population ('000 000)

GDP (US$)

UNDP Human Development Index

Immigrants as % of Population

Saudi Arabia

24.8

22,935

0.843

26.8

United Arab Emirates

4.7

54,626

0.903

70.0

Oman

2.9

22,816

0.846

25.5

Kuwait

2.5

47,812

0.916

69.2

Qatar

1.4

74,882

0.910

80.5

Bahrain

1.1

29,723

0.895

38.2

Country

The GCC countries did not move across the hypothetical development stages that most developed countries experienced. Rather, its large oil revenues and government efforts have permitted rapid advancement through these stages, especially in UAE and Qatar. Although these leaps were acclaimed by many as a success story, these leaps of development did not come without a cost and in some cases were deemed unsustainable. [22, 23] Recognizing the high cost of rapid development on the social, environmental and economical sustainability of GCC regions, the governments began launching serious sustainability initiatives with various levels across countries, from introducing ―green‖ legislations, to requiring that all new developments to go through the LEED Rating System, to introducing the impressive MASDAR initiative—the world‘s first zero-carbon, zero-waste development—to developing ESTIDAMA (Arabic word for sustainability) Pearl Rating System (The UAE version of LEED), to organizing several international conferences and awards that promote sustainable practices [1].

All these sustainability initiatives are promising and sometimes heartening; but what remains alarming is that the GCC sustainability initiatives remain tied to foreign skills, foreign alternative energy companies, expatriate civil engineers, planners, scientists and entrepreneurs. Probably the most important initiatives that are taking place across the GCC countries is the nationalization of the work force which aims at raising the numbers of local citizens in the local force.

The question persists: who is taking ownership of the long-term development and sustainability agenda in the GCC? To build this sense of ownership of the GCC future, the key principle of sustainability, educating the local future civil engineers the concepts of SD should become the foremost prerequisite on the sustainability agenda. GCC with its leadership will, and innovative projects and initiatives is an

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ideal site for teaching SD through real-life case studies that challenge critical thinking and utilize problem-based learning.

HIGHER EDUCATION IN GCC COUNTRIES The impressive expansion of higher education opportunities in the GCC states over the last two decades is well reflected in the systemic diversity that currently characterizes higher education systems across the region. Higher education systems include a wide variety of public and private institutions, as well as a range of undergraduate and technical institutions. Within this larger context, the trend towards privatization, Americanization and globalization of higher education systems in the GCC region has been most noticeable.

Table 2: Numbers of GCC Universities and Universities offering civil engineering degrees.

No of Universities

No of Universities Offering Civil Eng'g Programs

Saudi Arabia

43

6

United Arab Emirates

37

6

Oman

22

3

Kuwait

10

1

Qatar

4

1

Bahrain

14

1

Total

130

18

Country

The authors looked into the higher education system in the GCC countries extensively which resulted in pointing out the number of public and private universities or higher education institutions at 130 institutions distributed as shown in Table 2. Out of these 130 institutions, only 18 institutions were found to have civil engineering programs offering bachelor degrees.

The universities/institutions that offer bachelor in civil engineering are listed in Table 3 keeping in mind that universities that recently (in the last two years) started to offer bachelor degree in civil engineering were not included.

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Table 3: GCC Universities offering civil engineering degrees SAUDI ARABIA (6 Schools) King Saud University King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals King Abdulaziz University Jubail University College King Faisal University Taibah University KUWAIT (1 School) Kuwait University OMAN (3 Schools) Sultan Qaboos University Salalah College of Technology University of Nizwa UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (6 Schools) Al Hosn University United Arab Emirate University American University Of Sharjah Abu Dhabi University University Of Sharjah American University In Dubai BAHRAIN (1 School) University Of Bahrain QATAR (1 School) Qatar University

SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION SURVEY Survey Approach A survey was done by the authors between February and May 2010 that aimed to contact all faculty members of civil engineering undergraduate programs in the GCC countries. The survey format and method was developed such that the respondent can complete it in a short time with questions structured to reveal as much information possible without hindering the survey response rate. The survey was done via an online questionnaire that was sent by e-mail to 252 faculty members at the 18 universities identified throughout the GCC. Out of the 252 e-mail messages, the email was received successfully by 184 faculty members (73%). Sixty eight questionnaires were not received due to errors in e-mail addresses of the faculty members as obtained from the University web-sites. Fifty two faculty members completed the on-line questionnaire. Figure 1 shows charts of the distribution of the recipients and the respondents according to country.

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Qatar 5%

58

Bahrain 5%

Saudi Arabia 42%

Kuwait 14% Oman 13%

Bahrain 6%

Qatar 10% Kuwait 9% Oman 13%

United Arab Emirates 21%

% Questionaire Sent

Saudi Arabia 33%

United Arab Emirates 29%

% Response Received

Figure 1: Distribution of the recipients and the respondents according to country.

These 52 faculty members came from 15 universities distributed among the six countries of the GCC. Table 4 shows the distribution of the universities where faculty members were contacted and responded to the questionnaire. Based on the number and distribution of responses, the distribution was fairly representative of all countries.

Table 4: Number of universities where faculty members received & completed questionnaire.

Country Saudi Arabia United Arab Emirates Oman Bahrain Kuwait Qatar Total

Receiving questionnaire 6 6 3 1 1 1 18

Completing questionnaire 5 5 2 1 1 1 15

Survey Aims The on-line survey consisted of structured questions based on our earlier literature review of the different levels and approaches of SD education that are being adopted by civil engineering universities worldwide. The first question asks the faculty members about her/his field of specialization. The second question asked if â&#x20AC;&#x2022;the civil engineering curriculum in your university places emphasis on introduci ng students to principles of sustainabilityâ&#x20AC;&#x2013;; Furthermore, if the curriculum places emphasis on sustainability, then since when. Here the respondent has the choice of three answers: for the last two years, for the last six years, and for more than six year s. The next

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question is about the approach used at the university to introduce sustainability to engineering students. Four options were listed such that the respondent can choose more than one. These options were within general (non-engineering) courses, within some engineering courses, specific engineering courses in topics of sustainability, and as part of extra-curricular projects/activities. Then, a question asked if the respondent herself/himself introduces sustainability topics in her/his courses. If the response was positive then the respondent has to choose between two levels: The first level is discussion of the impact of projects on sustainable development when applicable, and the second level is discussion of impacts, sustainable design approaches, assessment methodologies, and monitoring techniques. The last question asked the respondent to list the courses in which she/he incorporates principles of sustainability.

Survey Findings As mentioned earlier the respondents were distributed among 15 civil engineering programs in six countries. Another important fact about the respondents was their distribution based on their field of specialization. The respondents were well distributed relatively among the field of specialization as shown in Table 5. The highest percentage of participants were faculty members in structures with 44% and the lowest were geotechnical at 9%, keeping in mind that this distribution actually reflects fairly well the number of faculty members in each specialization at GCC civil engineering programs according to our research.

Table 5: Distribution of respondents based on their field of specialization Field of Specializations Structures Construction Management Hydraulics Transportation Geotechnical

% 44 17 17 13 9

The responses to the second question if their respective curriculum places emphasis on introducing students to sustainability showed that 50% of the respondents answered negatively. While the other 50% who answered positively were distributed with 29% saying that their curricula have been placing emphasis for the last two years and 17% for the last six years and 4% of more than six years. When analyzing further the results, interesting facts were exposed. In more than one case, faculty members from the same institution responded to the questionâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;if their respective curriculum places emphasis on introducing students to sustainabilityâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;with opposite answers; which indicates that in some cases faculty members are not aware of the objectives of their programs.

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The most common approach for introducing sustainability in GCC civil engineering schools is through engineering courses (50%) followed by part of the extra curricula activities/projects (33%) and then by introducing specific engineering courses in topics of sustainability at 17%. The least adopted approach is ―within the general non-engineering courses‖ at 13% of the respondents. A chart representing the adoption percentage of different approaches is shown in Figure 2.

Within general requirements courses (non-engineering) Specific engineering courses in topics of sustainability As part of extra-curricula projects / activities Within some engineering courses 0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Figure 2: The adoption percentage of different approaches in introducing sustainability As to whether the member faculty herself/himself introduces sustainability topics in courses, 29% of the respondents indicated that they do not. The respondents that answered positively had a varied level of doing so with the majority (48%) adopting the basic level of ―discussing the impacts of projects on sustainable development when applicable‖ while only 23% adopting the advanced level of ―discussing impacts, sustainable design approaches, assessment methodologies, and monitoring techniques‖.

50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Structures

Construction Management

Hydraulics

Transportatio n

Geotechnical

No

25%

8%

0%

0%

2%

Yes

19%

10%

17%

13%

6%

Figure 3: Responses to whether faculty member incorporate sustainability in her/his courses.

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As shown in Figure 3, further cross-analysis looking at which fields in civil engineering are likely to incorporate concepts of sustainability shows that transportation and hydraulics are in the main drivers behind this effort while construction management and geotechnical fields are supportive enough and faculty member in structures field are less likely to be involved in this endeavor with several statements suggesting perceived notion that structures field does not involve sustainability topics. Figure 3 shows chart of the responses distributed with respect to field of specialization.

Responses with regards to which courses do you incorporate principles of sustainability resulted in a list of almost all engineering courses that are common in civil engineering programs. Courses that were mentioned in the responses in order of number of times listed are: Environmental Engineering, Water and Hydraulics courses mentioned by almost all respondents followed by Transportation & Highway Engineering, Capstone Project, then Construction Materials, Construction Management, Concrete Design and one mention of Selected Topics of Structural Design.

RECOMMENDATIONS An important component of the declared future vision of the GCC countries is to direct the development into more sustainable one. To realize this vision, the engineering higher education system must not fall into the time-lag dilemma of sustainability imperative (resulting from fast development) and the lengthy time needed for civil engineering curriculum renewal towards sustainability.

Few recommendations can be made from this research: 





Approach An integrated approach of a) incorporating sustainability concepts into engineering core courses (where related) coupled with b) introducing sustainability courses, can be an appropriate approach if applied through an accelerated action plan customized to suit the institution‘s capacity and capabilities.

Potential Courses All Engineering Design courses appear to be the most appropriate vehicle to introduce the sustainability concepts at the initial stages where pedagogical approach for the course induce critical thinking and include real-life projects with limited information, team work requirement, communication skills, and open-ended problems Policy ―extreme conditions require extreme measures‖. Government Intervention through appropriate tools and policies is deemed necessary at this stage. Policies could include directives during ministries of higher education initial accreditation or renewal, or it could be of promotional type such as launching several sustainability research programs supported by the governments and organizing regional-wide universities competitions that advance the integration of sustainability and result with national/regional recognition for institutions.

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Policy Federal Engineering Universities and Colleges can be role models by adopting aggressive programs for integration of sustainability into civil engineering education Activities: Intra-universities extracurricular activities and competitions for students that involve sustainability issues can raise awareness and be good incentives for students to get more engaged.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS Sustainability Education in Civil Engineering Schools has never been as crucial as it is at this time in the GCC. With an economic development that swept over the region, short-cut the natural development process and left its high toll on the ecological system as well as the social systems of the GCC region and further peaked with a major global economic recession, warranting sustainable development becomes the only option. Yet, looking for sustainable development requires a shift in the thinking, values and actions of national individuals and institutions which calls for efforts to make sustainability concerns a central theme of all civil engineering education. This research reviewed the state-of-the-practice of sustainability education in the GCC civil engineering schools. The findings were encouraging if one considers the relatively young age of the higher education system in GCC. On the other hand, extreme conditions require extreme measures. The author recommends several measures lead by government intervention that can accelerate again the integration of sustainability education in civil engineering schools in GCC.

REFERENCES [1] [2] [3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

Al-Marashi, H., Bhinder, J., From the Tallest to the Greenest -Paradigm Shift in Dubai, Proceedings of CTBUH 8th World Congress 2008, Dubai Coates, G., Facilitating Sustainable Development: Role of Engineer, Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice, Vol. 119, No. 3, 1993 Carroll, W., World Engineering Partnership, For Sustainable Development, Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice, Vol. 119, No. 3, 1993 McIsaac, G., Morey, N., Engineers‘ Role In Sustainable Development: Considering Cultural Dynamics, Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice, Vol. 124, No. 4, 1998 Vesilind, P., Gunn, A., Sustainable Development and the ASCE Code of Ethics, Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice, Vol. 124, No. 4, 1998 Cottel, M., Facilitating Sustainable Development: Is Our Approach Correct?, Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice, Vol. 119, No. 3, 1993 Crofton, F., Educating for Sustainability: Opportunities in Undergraduate Engineering, Journal of Cleaner Production, No. 8, 2000

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[8] [9]

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[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

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[17]

[18]

[19]

[20] [21] [22] [23]

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Woodruff, P., Educating Engineers to Create a Sustainable Future, Journal of Environmental Engineering, Vol. 132, No. 4, 2006 Siller, T., Sustainability and Critical Thinking in Civil Engineers Curriculum, Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice, Vol. 127, No. 3, 2007\ Wang, Y., Sustainability in Construction Education, Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice, Vol. 135, No. 1, 2009 Mallick, R., Mathisen, P., Fitzpatrick, M., Opening the Window of Sustainable Development to Future Civil Engineers, Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice, Vol. 128, No. 4, 2002 Haselbach, L., Maher, M., Civil Engineering Education and Complex Systems, Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice, Vol. 134, No. 2, 2008 Lundholm, C., Learning about Environmental Issues in Engineering Programs: A Case Study of First-year Civil Engineering Studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC; Contextualisation of an Ecology Course, International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol.6, No. 3, 2004 Chau, K.W., Incorporation of Sustainability Concepts into a Civil Engineering Curriculum, Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice, Vol. 133, No. 3, 2007 Bryce, P., Johnston, St., Yasukawa, K., Implementing a program in sustainability at University of Technology, Sydney: A Story of Intersecting Agenda, International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol.6, No. 3, 2004 Peet, D., Mulder, K., Bijma, A., Integrating SD into engineering courses at the Delft University of Technology: The Individual Interaction Method, International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol.6, No. 3, 2004 Ashford, N., Major Challenges in Engineering Education for Sustainable Development: What has to Change to Make it Creative, Effective, and Acceptable to the Established Disciplines? International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol.6, No. 3, 2004 Fenner, F., Ainger, C., Cruickshank, H., Guthrie, P., Embedding Sustainable Development at Cambridge University Engineering Department, International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol.6, No. 3, 2005 Desha, C., Hargroves, K., Smith, M., Addressing the Time Lag Dilemma in Curriculum Renewal Towards Engineering Education for Sustainable Development, International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol. 10, No. 2, 2009 Cooperation Council of the Arab States of the Gulf â&#x20AC;&#x201C; General Secretariat http://www.gccsg.org/eng/index.php accessed April 20, 2010 UNDP Human Development Report, http://hdr.undp.org/en accessed April 20, 2010 Al-Assad, Mohammad, The Dubai Model, Cross Roads, e-Publication, Center for the Study of the Built Environment, 2007 Joshi, V., The Economic Development of UAE, a presentation, Manipal University, Dubai, 2009.

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INTEGRATING SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION IN A CLASSICAL CIVIL ENGINEERING PROGRAM: THE CASE OF TRANSPORTATION AND CONSTRUCTION COURSES Salwa Beheiry, Ghassan Abu-Lebdeh, Maruf Murtula and Adil K. Al-Tamimi Department of Civil Engineering, American University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

ABSTRACT: Sustainability has emerged as a common theme in many processes related to urban life and the built environment. However, most engineering curricula still lacks the fundamentals of sustainable practices education that prepares graduating engineers to fulfill their expected roles and conduct future business in a more sustainable fashion. A more sustainable Civil Engineering curriculum requires a more systems approach to both diagnosing transport and built environment problems as well as devising solutions to such problems. This paper examines typical engineering curricula and identifies specific courses in the areas of transportation and construction where sustainability can be injected with minimum disruption to the structure of the course and/or its connection to other courses with the intended degree. For the two subspecialties, the core and elective courses are categorized and certain areas/modules within each course are identified, where the integration of sustainable engineering education is useful. Furthermore, some educational tools that facilitate the infusion of these concepts into the two subspecialties are presented.

KEYWORDS: Sustainability Education; Civil Engineering; Transportation Courses; Construction Courses

INTRODUCTION The principles of holistic sustainability encompass environmental preservation, economic transparency and social responsibility [1]. This paper provides a framework for introducing changes into a civil engineering undergraduate curriculum by injecting sustainability principals in specific courses within the transportation and built environment areas of civil engineering. First of all, a model civil engineering curriculum is examined, the relevant courses are identified and their typical content is outlined.

Every suitable course is then injected with the material and pedagogical tools to help deliver the message of holistic sustainability to the students. Environmental sustainability is about maintaining a healthy and balanced eco system. Economic sustainability implies the ability to sustain standards of living, and social sustainability means providing a high quality of life. These elements of sustainability are interrelated and a basic level of sustainability must be achieved simultaneously in all three dimensions.

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BACKGROUND Transportation Curriculum Per Wikipedia, ―sustainable transport (or green transport) refers to any means of transport with low impact on the environment, and includes walking and cycling, transit oriented development, green vehicles, car sharing, and building or protecting urban transport systems that are fuel-efficient, space-saving and promote healthy lifestyles‖ [2]. In the transportation literature, ―sustainable society is one in which the needs of the present are met without compromising the ability of future generation to meet their own needs‖ [3].

Although general, this definition captures the spirit of what we currently call sustainable transportation systems.

Interest in sustainable transportation systems date back to 1987when it first appeared in a UN report on the environment and development [4]. Since then, but more so in recent years, several research centers, programs, and conferences have taken place. Those in turn give impetus to several transportation graduate programs at US universities. Others embraced sustainability in different forms including research centers, courses offerings, certificate, or fellowship programs [5,6,7]. More recently, entire courses or modules within specific courses began to appear at different universities, in most cases within nonengineering programs (e.g., Environmental Science, Urban Planning, etc.). Courses on sustainability within engineering programs began to surface only within the past 6 years or so. In other cases, entire new programs, mostly graduate, have been established.

However, adoption of sustainability in engineering education has been slower than its adoption in the industry. It might be worth noting that sustainability in Europe was embraced earlier than in the USA [3].

Regardless of the history of sustainability in transportation, few disagree that ―sustainability‖ is here to stay and will continue to captivate transportation practitioners and the general public just like the concepts of ―efficiency‖ and ―equity‖ did before [3].

In mid 2004 the Transportation Research Board held a conference dedicated to sustainability, the goal of which was to find ways to more formally incorporate sustainability in the transportation planning process. It was clearly noted that besides adopting practices and standards that support sustainability, a cultural change was also needed since changes in individuals‘ behavior is necessary besides changes in the public and private sectors [3]. In this light, curriculum changes are central to the push for sustainability to not only become part of our daily thinking and practice but also to innovate and take the whole concept to higher levels of attainment.

Although the above make sustainability sounds more the domain of graduate instruction and research, undergraduate research can also play a critical role as well. As it is the norm now that transportation designs and operations are most efficient, whereby formal procedures and metrics to ensure that are available and accepted, dictating that they be sustainable, or support sustainability, will soon sound just as acceptable. Changing engineering curricula to support such move is just the right thing to do. Not surprisingly,

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however, universities have been slow in adapting their undergraduate engineering curricula to the sustainability wave, with European universities being ahead of the rest.

The Built Environment and Construction Management Curricula In Building Construction curricula the shift towards sustainability started gradually. The latest editions of Building construction Materials and Methods textbooks have added sections on sustainable practices. However, the additions are fragmented and are typically chapter endnotes that focus on certain examples related to one or two of the general building material. This does not help the students understand the basic concept of sustainability. Moreover, the student walks away with mystified knowledge of the concept and typically associates the concept with only the use of energy saving materials that are not very useful in a gulf context.

Construction management curricula, on the other hand, have not incorporated much from the best practices in sustainability. Managerial decisions typically dictate the projectâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s environmental pose, economic patterns and social agenda, yet the absence of sustainability education in such curricula is rather conspicuous and damaging to the formation of future leaders in the construction industry.

Over the last decade, British and European engineering and built environment schools introduced undergraduate core and elective courses to be taught to first and second year students. Also several master programs in sustainability/ sustainable development have been .The United States followed course with several minors, concentrations and full blown masters programs. Georgia Institute of Technology developed their Sustainable Design and Manufacturing Program. The program offers technical electives for students from the different engineering disciplines, biology, management, policy, city and regional planning. Master degrees in Sustainability offer courses in environmental studies, renewable resources, energy-efficient living, and wildlife and land preservation. The top programs are certified by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education ( AASHE). Examples of such programs exist in Arizona State University, Harvard University and the University of South Florida.

Arizona State University School of Sustainability offers a trans-disciplinary master's in sustainability. This program emphasizes economic, social and environmental considerations in sustainability, and students work hands-on with local environmental leaders and situations to develop an in-depth understanding of course material.

Established in 2007, this program is a member of the Global Institute of Sustainability (schoolofsustainability.asu.edu).

Harvard University offers a master's program in sustainability and environmental management. Students study with environmental leaders in the community and surrounding area, and have the opportunity to research international environmental issues through internships and study abroad programs.(extension.harvard.edu/envr). The University of South Florida offers a master's in global sustainability. This program emphasizes global, cultural and geographic concerns for environmental sustainability,

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and students also study the role the economy, government and society plays in preserving the environment. Students work hands-on with trained professionals in the community (grad.usf.edu/global.asp).

Furthermore, sustainability education has not just been the concern of academic institutions. International Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) have also been very interested in sustainable education over the past decade. The United Nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s UNESCO launched the â&#x20AC;&#x2022;United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (20052014)â&#x20AC;&#x2013; to integrate the principles, values, and practices of sustainable development into all aspects of education and learning, in order to address the social, economic, cultural and environmental problems we face in the 21st century. (www.unesco.org/en/esd).

Incorporation of sustainability in undergraduate civil engineering curricula has been slower in most American based programs and less visible in civil engineering curricula.

These curricula tend to be overloaded by its original design due in part to formal accreditation requirement. However, there are indications it is being gradually and in a piecemeal approach, incorporated in civil engineering curricula; but in many cases it is left up to the instructors to incorporate aspects of sustainability in course offerings.

SUSTAINABILITY: DEFINITIONS AND RELEVANT CONCEPTS An important step in changing engineering curricula to support sustainability is to adopt and be clear on what sustainability means. Such definition and its practical manifestations make changes to the curricula focused and provide means to assess the efficacy of those changes. Generalities can be very counterproductive as they may give the illusion and satisfaction that something is being done when in fact little or nothing is being achieved.

In general terms, sustainability is about maintaining or sustaining something. But despite the differences, a number of common principles are embedded in most definitions of sustainability although not all are directly relevant to transportation and construction.

These principles include: 1) conservation of biodiversity and ecological integrity (including halting the non-evolutionary loss of biodiversity), 2) constant natural capital and sustainable income, 3) ensuring intra-generational (within generations) and intergenerational (across generations) equity, 4) recognizing the global dimension, 5) dealing cautiously with risk, uncertainty and irreversibility (see below), 6) ensuring appropriate valuation of environmental assets, 7) integration of environmental and economic goals in policies and activities, 8) social equity and community participation. A simple overview of these principles reveals that not all of them are applicable to a course.

When all courses in the civil engineering curriculum are considered, and modified, all of the above governing principles will likely be covered. As such, to attain a desired level of sustainability in civil engineering education an integrated process in the civil engineering curriculum should take place.

There are several issues related to sustainability that need to be addressed/presented/clarified for their presentation and understanding will help in devising changes to any curricula. In addition, these clarifications help gauge outputs and

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progress towards the stated goals. Figure 1 shows that sustainability has multiple levels and works across three different dimensions. The first level of sustainability, survival, perhaps is the least relevant or least impacted by a civil engineering curriculum. The impact of civil engineering on the other two levels is clear, although different disciplines within civil engineering are more relevant than others. For example, environmental and transportation engineering play prominent roles in marinating and improving the quality of life.

Figure 1: Levels and dimensions of sustainability. (source: http://www.green-innovations.asn.au/sustblty.htm)

On dimensions, certain civil engineering specialties are far more impacting in a given dimension than in others. For example, environmental engineering is most relevant and impacting in the ecological dimension. Construction management, materials, transportation, and structures disciplines would be of more impact in the economic dimension than geotechnical. In the social dimension, transportation, as a connector of people, is far more relevant than geotechnical.

PROPOSED CHANGES TO COURSES IN CONSTRUCTION Courses that are typically offered in the building construction and construction management tracks within undergraduate curricula in civil engineering include, Building Construction Materials and Methods, Engineering Economics, Construction

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Management, and Project Planning, Scheduling and Cost Control. The traditional syllabi for these courses did not include reference to Sustainability. Table 1 details these courses with typical description of their content.

Table 1: Traditional content in some building construction and construction management tracks courses within CVE. Traditional Courses Building Construction Materials and Methods

Engineering Economics

Construction Management

Project Planning, Scheduling, and Cost Control

Traditional Content Covers traditional and alternative building systems, the principals, materials, methods, codes and standards, and discusses their advantages and limitations. Encompasses aspects of site preparation, excavation and formwork, foundation choices, different elements of frame construction, scaffolding, thermal and moisture protection, electrical wiring, heating ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC), plumbing, roofing, cladding systems and external and internal finishes.

Covers economic analysis and evaluation of civil engineering proposals utilizing time value and related factors, time value of money, worth of investments and economic evaluation of alternative choices, replacement and retention decisions, selection from independent projects, inflation, cost estimating fundamentals, parametric cost estimating, depreciation methods, breakeven analysis and benefit cost analysis.

Covers management in the construction industry; construction delivery systems; management organizations; construction contracts; preconstruction planning and scheduling; bidding and award; contract administration and control; managing submittals, drawings, communications, progress payments, cash flow and site materials; and progress monitoring and control. Introduces construction quality and safety management.

Covers the application of cost estimating and planning techniques for construction projects. Introduces construction project management; quantity surveying; labor, material and equipment costing; indirect and general overhead costs; preparation of approximate and definitive estimates; work breakdown structures; project scheduling; network modeling; critical path method; time-cost tradeoff; earned value; and project controls.

The introduction of a standalone elective in sustainable engineering practices would initiate the students into the world holistic sustainability and cover most of the necessary knowledge they need to head out to the work force However, it will not be a part of their core courses and hence only those who take the elective will be privy to the knowledge. It is therefore more useful and inclusive to incorporate elements of sustainability in all the relevant areas within the courses in the tracks. Table 2 introduces major topics in triple line sustainable education to be incorporated in core courses.

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Table 2: Proposed topics to be incorporated in traditional building construction and construction management track courses within CVE Traditional Proposed Topics to Add to Traditional Content Courses Building  Short introduction to the concept of sustainability and the Construction triple bottom line Materials and  Sustainable Design- maximizing the use of renewable natural Methods resources  The sustainable construction site-Tools and concepts to help chose the right location, the right local materials and the right energy saving building services  The sustainable construction method statement- employing the appropriate construction methodology to save resources, energy and raise awareness of construction safety.

Engineering Economics

 

Construction Management

 

 Project Planning, Scheduling, and Cost Control

   

Short introduction to the concept of sustainability and the triple bottom line Focused case studies on financial discretion and the notion of organizational financial transparency and project ethics Short review of the concept of sustainability and the triple bottom line The sustainable construction project, Resource management, engineering ethics and transparent contractual relations, and safety and environmental management during the construction phase of a project.

Training for sustainable performance (both engineering and labor cadres) Short review of the concept of sustainability and the triple bottom line The sustainable tradeoff between the three elements of project management (cost-schedule and quality) Prudent use of resources(land, labor and capital) The impact of environmental entities and environmental regulations on project performance

PROPOSED CHANGES TO COURSES IN TRANSPORTATION A good start to the proposed changes in the transportation courses is to identify the impacts or consequences of the transportation system that make it unsustainable.

Identification of these consequences helps focus the changes to be proposed in the subject courses. These impacts are: 1) Nonrenewable Fuel Depletion and Energy Insecurity; 2) Greenhouse Gas Emissions, which contributes directly to increasing global average

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temperature with its potentially devastating consequences; 3) Global Climate Change in the form of flooding tunnels, coastal highways, runways, and railways, buckling of highways and railroads, and shifts in agriculture; 4) Local Air Quality with its negative health impact; 5) Fatalities and Injuries; 6) Congestion; 7) Noise Pollution; 8) Low Mobility as demonstrated by lack of, or limited mobility for the poor, children, the elderly, and the disabled; 9) Ecosystem Damage such as disruption of migration routes, killing , fragmentation and loss of species, and oil spills; and 10) Lack of Equity [3]. Put simply, the changes to be introduced to the transportation courses will directly or indirectly aim at reversing the above negative anti-sustainability impacts. A definition of a sustainable transportation system has thus emerged: A sustainable transportation system, therefore, is one where the previous impacts are either minimal or completely absent.

A typical North American University undergraduate civil engineering curriculum contains two to three required courses and any number of elective transportation courses.

The cve curriculum at AUS follows that model. The three required courses are: 1) cve 241 Elementary Surveying and Introduction to Transportation Engineering, 2) CVE 263 Urban Transportation Planning, 3) Highway Design. The elective courses currently offered are: 1) Traffic Engineering, 2) Airport Planning and Design. Just for contrast, the following is the transportation courses at Michigan State University: Introduction to Transportation Engineering, and 2) Highway Geometric Design; and electives: 1) Traffic Engineering, and 2) Urban Transportation Planning.

For each of the impacts that makes or contributes to making the transportation system an unsustainable one, the changes to the curriculum are noted without necessarily associating it with a specific course thus maintain flexibility should there be a need to redesign courses or move materials or modules from one course to another. Only when necessary the specific course is noted. This might be necessary when multiple sequential interdependent changes are to be introduced. In this case, the changes are noted in the correct sequence, and the courses in which to be introduced.

1) Nonrenewable Fuel Depletion and Energy Insecurity: Although this impact may sound a bit foreign to our area, it is still a valid issue although its urgency may not be as critical here as it is for areas of the world that are less rich in energy sources. The challenge here is to reduce the rate of consumption of nonrenewable energy sources.

This can be achieved through both technological innovations in design of vehicles and new energy sources, and increased use of public and non-motorized transportations. Students need to be exposed to these measures and must conduct suitable experiments and designs to demonstrate and quantify, where applicable, their impact on energy consumption. The following changes are needed: a) introduce transit trip assignment in the 4-step travel demand forecasting and have students do it both manually and using a specialized software used in the respective course (QRSII, in the case of cve 263 at AUS), b) introduce basic analysis of economic, environmental, and societal trade-offs associated with increased use of public transit.

Societal trade-offs may have to be introduced and discussed qualitatively only (cve 263), c) emphasize the relevance of non-motorized modes (walking and bicycling),

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and introduce the proper procedure to evaluate their level of service (LOS)(cve 263, cve 456), and note their health benefits, d) Emphasize the role of traffic signal design and coordination in energy consumption (cve 456). Use specialized traffic engineering software to compute energy savings and pollution reductions. e) Introduce different pavement (material) types and rehabilitation types and contrast their energy and vehicle operating cost savings and noise levels (cve 363), f) introduce a module for computing energy consumption and vehicle emission quantities as a function of traffic volumes (cve 263). Have students conduct exercises using specialized software to estimate levels of emission and energy consumptions as a function of travel volumes. g) Supplement horizontal and vertical alignment designs with discussion on importance of optimizing such designs and note the availability of, and current use of modern optimization techniques such as Genetic Algorithms (cve 241, cve 363). Due to the advanced level of this supplement it can only be discussed qualitatively, and briefly. Interested students may be directed to read selected publications on the subject, or bonus homework can be assigned.

2) Greenhouse Gas Emissions, which contributes directly to increasing global average temperature with its potentially devastating consequences. The sources of greenhouse gases are many; with the most relevant to transportation being the petroleum-based fossil fuel that is used in most transport activities. Needed action in this area include improved fuel efficiency and increased alternative fuels. The following changes introduced in item 1 above are also applicable to this item as well: a, d, f. These changes are well suited to study the impact of greenhouse gases (and it should not be a surprise since fuel consumption and greenhouse emissions are tightly related: more energy consumption means higher emission levels).

3) Global Climate Change in the form of flooding tunnels, coastal highways, runways, and railways, buckling of highways and railroads, and shifts in agriculture (Ref. 3).

The culprit behind climate change and its disastrous consequences is greenhouse gases, a major source of which is transportation. But because of the significant inertia in the climate system, adaptation is necessary beginning now regardless of the effort to reduce greenhouse emissions from this point forward [3,8]. This adaptation in some cases involves significant-- as in revolutionary-- changes in how we plan, design, operate, maintain and use transportation system components including highways, railways, runways, and tunnels. For that, the following changes in the transportation curriculum should be introduced: a) introduce new designs and materials in railway engineering to accommodate higher than usual temperatures, b) introduce new designs of concrete and asphalt mixes for roadways and runways (cve 363), c) introduce new, higher-temperature and higher-moisture-level resistant designs for roadway and runway structures (cve 363; other civil engineering courses in the structures, materials, and geotechnical specialties will need changes as well), d) emphasize the need of special consideration in site location of airports and alignment choices for roadways and railways to avoid areas prone to increased sea level-induced flooding in coastal areas. Design of tunnels that serve parts of rail or road alignments will have to be specially designed or eliminated from the alignment altogether (cve 363, cve 457), e). Emphasize trip number and length-reducing land use designs including mixed, high density, and transit-friendly designs (reduction in trip lengths and numbers contribute directly to reduced motorized travel hence

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reduced greenhouse gas emissions) (cve 263). Emphasize importance of instituting and executing governmental policies to support such designs.

4) Local Air Quality with its negative health impact especially on the respiratory system. Motorized vehicles contribute significantly to local air pollution. New methods, technologies, and policies to improve local air quality are needed. Changes in transportation courses in the civil engineering curriculum should be adopted that directly help achieve these ends. Specifically: a) introduce improved local air quality and health as primary objectives, or success indicators, of solutions to traffic and transportation problems (cve 263, cve 363, cve 456), b) emphasize the role of policy changes and new polices as alternate (or supplementary) to engineering solutions of transportation problems (cve 263, cve 456), b) introduce technologies that are directly aimed at improving air quality as an integral part of solutions to transportation problems (e.g., alternate fuel transit and taxi vehicles, hybrid vehicles). Where possible, quantify the impacts of new technologies on air quality, or, at least, present estimates of positive impacts based on documented benchmark studies (cve 263), c) introduce/emphasize new solution methods and technologies that help smooth traffic flow (and hence reduce emissions and improve air quality and health). An example of that is some of the technologies in the IntelliDrive initiative, intelligent speed adaptation, dynamic signal control, and dynamic speed control methods. Although all of these methods of control have been around for some time now, their air quality benefits are seldom emphasized. These methods should henceforth be taught as mainstream, not fringe alternatives.

5) Fatalities and Injuries. Studies have shown that human factors are involved in majority of road accidents. Significant and cost-effective reductions in road fatalities and injuries, therefore, can be gotten from technological and design improvements that target human factors. But coverage of human factors and their interactions with design and operations of different transportation system components are almost absent from most of the transportation courses. If only one change is to be introduced in the transportation courses then it should be a more detailed coverage of human factors. But there is more that can be done: a) supplement design elements of road and signal control with human factor implications beyond the traditionally limited Perception-Reaction time effects. For example, include coverage of new technologies such as eye-tracking technologies and other intelligent transportation system technologies (e.g., lane departure, intelligent cruise control). Introduce in a more explicit way the relevance of communication (through signage, static and variable; markings; and signals) to safety. Emphasize the new cutting-edge types of markings, signs, and signals1; b) introduce recent technologies aimed at accident reduction and teach them as mainstream safety measures: intelli-Drive, intelligent speed adaptation; c) emphasize the role of new polices and policy changes in combating road accidents. Cite documented innovative policies (especially ones by the Ontario Ministry of Transport) (cve 263, cve 363); d) specially for the UAE, supplement regular safety coverage with safety related class assignments to increase 1

Signage and marking have been traditionally seen as old fashioned, low-tech, and mundane type of devices. New types of signs and markings are sophisticated, multifaceted, and agile.

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awareness and knowledge of accident root causes (note: in the case of the UAE attitude of young drivers is a major factor).

6) Congestion. Although generally seen as negative, some see congestion as a positive thing for sustainability as it forces some people to seek alternate modes of transportation. There is some truth to that, but congestion is more a negative thing to sustainability: it limits the economic and social health of an area or country and restricts mobility of future generations [3]. The root causes of congestion offer a guide on effectively combating it. In North America, congestion is attributable to increased personal mobility and freight movement as well as lack of adequate and reliable transportation funding. The later may not be an issue in our region her in the Gulf area but the increased personal mobility and freight movement are definite contributors to congestion. So far, transportation curricula have emphasized supplyoriented solutions. This is only half of the story; the other half is demand-oriented solutions. Another element existing civil engineering curricula overlooked or did not emphasize is the true cost of congestion including excess energy consumption and emissions, negative health, social, and economic effects. The following proposed curricular changes aim at addressing these deficiencies: a) emphasize technologybased solutions (i.e., intelligent transportation systems-enabled solutions such as route guidance, intelligent signals, automatic toll collection, etc.), most of which are now mainstream solutions; b) emphasize demand-oriented solutions including ridesharing, telecommuting, flexible working hours, toll roads, HOV (high occupancy vehicle) lanes, HOT (high occupancy toll) lanes; c) introduce health and behavioral consequences of congestion in the costing of congestions. Conversely, emphasize the positive health and behavioral impacts of congestion-reduction measures/solutions including less stress, less stress-induced illnesses and positive behaviors; d) emphasize the negative social impacts of congestion including less quality time for positive family and social interaction. Introduce the positive social impacts of congestion-reducing solutions2; e) introduce planning and design for freight movements as an equally important component in transportation (besides movement of people). To date, freight transport planning is not included at all in civil engineering transportation curricula, and this is a major shortcoming. Freight movement is an equally important component of the urban transport system, and a contributor to traffic congestion. Although specialized graduate urban planning courses may address some aspects freight movement, coverage of planning and design requirements to support efficient freight movement, pick-up and delivery is necessary for a sustainable transport system.

Most of the proposed changes noted above are not or may not sound ―engineering‖ per se, but they do not have to be. The notion of separating or ―compartmentalizing‖ solutions to complex transportation problems, as congestion, is itself something of the past and is not becoming of sustainability. Just like most other transportation 2

Transportation Psychology is a recent discipline that aims at improving the understanding of transportation problems through research in the behavioral characteristics of drivers and other system users. At least one dedicated research journal is now available in the area of transportation psychology.

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problems, congestion is a complex multi-faceted problem whose solution spans multiple domains of the urban life; engineering is only one of them.

7) Noise Pollution. The transportation system is a major source of noise be it from vehiclesâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC; engines, construction equipments, breaking and turn maneuvers, horns, or landing and take offs of airplanes. Noise is disruptive to humans as it contributes to behavioral disorder, heart problems, and hearing loss. It is also disruptive to wildlife with negative impacts on breeding and nesting patterns. Measuring and quantifying physical noise is easy but quantifying its impacts is not. This in part contributes to current transportation instruction, and practice, not accounting for the full cost of transportation. But there is also an awareness element that is missing which contributes to perpetuating this oversight. As noted earlier, there is a need to account for the full cost of transportation systems, including the cost of noise. The following changes are necessary to address noise as a contributor to unsustainable transportation systems: a) introduce a module that train students on how to measure noise near transportation facilities. Charts and tables have already been established for this purpose; b) emphasize the health impacts of transportation through reading assignments addressing this point. The connection between engineering the transportation system and human health must become clear--transportation engineering has a health aspect to it. In addition, include noise as one of the measures to be mitigated in the Term Project (or the traffic impact study assignment) of the applicable course (cve 263).

8) Low Mobility as demonstrated by the lack of or the limited ability to travel and access points of interest by the poor, children, the elderly, and the disabled. A sustainable transportation system must provide a reasonable level of mobility to all users including these special needs groups. This is necessary to support the essential social and cultural interactions as well as for the economic wellbeing of society at large. Traditionally, emphasis has been the engineering (design, construction, and operation) of the transportation system, but engineering alone will may not necessarily translate into mobility. Mobility does not equate with availability of physical facilities and vehicles. The following changes would be introduced to address low mobility: a) adopt new indices and metrics for assessing success of transportation systems (assuming that these indices/metrics already exist). These metrics must have mobility built in them; b) introduce a clear and easy to measure and quantify proxy for mobility as necessary. This could be a function-form combination of different transportation network performance measure, or measures of effectiveness, MOEs.; c) where available introduce correlations between mobility and social, cultural, and economic health of a society. Because of the newness of mobility and the need to quantify it, quantifying the social, cultural, and economic impacts of mobility may not be as easy at least at this stage. As such, categorizing those impacts may be necessary (and sufficient) at this stage; d) emphasize the notion that transportation engineering measures, designs, and management options must be tied to mobility. Traditionally, these were only tied to measures of effectiveness (for example delay) which may or may not translate into mobility options (cve 263, cve 456).

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9) Ecosystem Damage such as disruption of migration routes, killing, fragmentation and loss of species, and oil spills. The damage caused by the transportation system to the ecosystem ranges from localized impacts as death of animals crossing highways, to profound, as fragmentation and loss of species. The following changes to the transportation curriculum aim to lessen or eliminate the negative impacts of designs and operations of new system components as well as to mitigate the negative impacts on already built and operating systems or system components: a) introduce the impacts on the ecosystem of the transportation system as important, relevant, critical, necessary. Introduce the impacts as a must-consider-item in the design, evaluation, operation, and maintenance of transport system components; b) use existing literature and research findings (e.g., Endangered Species Act, USA, and practiced mitigation requirements for highways and other paved surfaces at airports, seaports, etc.) to introduce specific designs, design amendments, operations or maintenance standards, to reduce or eliminate the negative impacts on the ecosystem. For example: new designs of road cross- sections and bridges that do not interfere with migration patterns of local animals. In this context emphasize the need for team work and close consultation with staff in other disciplines as (for example) wildlife specialists. At the same point, manuals or manual supplements will be used that presents specific ecosystem-friendly designs, procedures, etc.; c) emphasize more the runoff effects and correlations of designs of transport system components as roads, paved areas at airports, seaports; d) emphasize the need for effective runoff mitigation requirements; e) supplement traffic impact studies with runoff mitigation and requirement measures, and make it an integral part of the traffic impact study process; f) introduce the impact of new transport projects on wildlife as a requirements (where applicable) to be included with the traffic impact study (TIS) process.

10) Lack of Equity. This is brought about in part by the unsustainable impacts of other parts of the transport system. Progress towards an equitable transport system can be made through the reduction of the unsustainable impacts discussed above. Therefore, all of the changes to the transportation curriculum noted earlier are steps towards intergenerational and social equity which are the overarching aims of a sustainable transport system [3].

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUDING REMARKS In conclusion, the Building Construction and Construction Management Track core courses can incorporate several elements of sustainability education to prepare an undergraduate civil engineer to be responsible citizen of the world and a creative engineer upon joining the work force. These elements should target the triple bottom line equally. In environmental sustainability the following issues should be discussed: natural design and the choice of appropriate local materials, creative construction method statements and energy saving building services. In economic sustainability, financial prudence, transparency and project performance tradeoffs should be incorporated in the curriculum. Finally, social sustainability education must introduce the students to the importance of construction safety, labor rights and community benefit and involvement in all major projects. Transportation courses as well can incorporate elements of

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sustainability and target the triple bottom line (as manifested by the issues related to energy insecurity, greenhouse emission, climate change, etc.).

Meanwhile, it is clear that attaining sustainability is a joint effort by the public sector and its institutions, private sector, and individual citizens. Educational institutions, including universities, provide only a part of the puzzle. This makes a systems approach to attaining sustainability a must. Sustainability cannot be attained if only parts of the society and its institutions, sectors, and industries conduct their businesses sustainably while others do not.

REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]

[10] [11]

[12] [13]

[14]

Powell, M. Sustainability: What does it mean? http://www.greeninnovations.asn.au/sustblty.htm. Accessed 4/7/2010 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_transport. Accessed July 24, 2010.

TRB Conference on Sustainability, 2004 United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, 1987 http://www.misti.mtu.edu/index.php. accessed July 25, 2010 http://stc.ucdavis.edu/education/overview.php . Accessed July 25, 2010 http://www.sustainableunh.unh.edu/climate_ed/transportation.html. Accessed July 25, 2010 Friedman, T.L.: Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America. McMillan, 2009 Master's Programs in Sustainability | eHow.co.uk http://www.ehow.co.uk/list_6544455_master_s-programssustainability.html#ixzz12axLN5F6 Blewitt, John (Editor) and Cullingford, Cedric (Editor). The Sustainability Curriculum: The Challenge for Higher Education .2004.

Chau, K.W., 2007. Incorporation of Sustainability Concepts into a Civil Engineering Curriculum. Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice. 133(3):188-191.

Jones, Paula. Selby, David and Sterling, Stephen. Sustainability Education: Perspectives and Practice across Higher Education. July 2010.

Siller, T.J., 2001. Sustainability and Critical Thinking in Civil Engineering Curriculum. Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and practice.

127(3): 104-108.

American University of Sharjah, 2010. Course Curriculum. Available in website: www.aus.edu, September 30, 2010.

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INTEGRATING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT CONCEPTS IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION, ESPECIALLY IN CIVIL ENGINEERING EDUCATION Zahid Ali Consultant, Structures & Building Materials, Islamabad, Pakistan ABSTRACT: The need to reorient basic and secondary education to address sustainability has grabbed international attention whereas the need at engineering education level is more profound because the engineering graduates are the one responsible for design, construction and management of projects. It is indeed high time to introduce and embed sustainable development concepts in engineering and technical education for having a sustainable future. Civil engineering education requires immediate and special attention as building design and construction alone consume a major share of natural resources. Buildings in view of the materials from which they are built cause a tremendous effect on the environment both during construction and use. They consume natural resources from which they are built and are the main source of energy and water consumption. Buildings also affect the health of human being, as many major diseases have been linked to inappropriate building materials. Similarly, Scientists observed that urban areas with more buildings and paving and less vegetation are typically warmer than surrounding rural areas. The additional heat causes air conditioning systems to work harder and consume more energy. We need to develop awareness about education for sustainable development (ESD) so as to make it popular among engineers and general public. The paper will deliberate over integrating sustainable development concepts in engineering education, especially in civil engineering education in order to create resource efficient buildings / projects.

KEYWORDS: Sustainable Development Concepts; Awareness of Sustainable Development; Sustainable Development Concepts in Engineering Education; Effects of Buildings Construction on Environment; Integrating Sustainable Development in Civil Engineering Education

INTRODUCTION Before going into sustainable development concepts and their integration in engineering and civil engineering education, we need to start with the widely used definition of sustainable development, known as Brundtland definition, â&#x20AC;&#x2022;Sustainable development is development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generation to meet their own needs." Harlem Brundtland [1]. One can find many other definitions but the following relates to our topic, "using natural renewable resources in a manner that does not eliminate or degrade them or otherwise diminish their renewable usefulness for future generations while maintaining effectively constant or non-declining stocks of natural resources such as soil, groundwater, and biomass." World Resources Institute [2]. A sustainable system delivers services without exhausting resources. It uses all resources efficiently both in an environmental and economic sense.

Sustainable development is supported on three pillars and tries to build harmony between the three: environment, economy and society.

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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT CONCEPTS Sustainable development is carrying out the development in a manner so as to leave the Earth in as good or better shape for future generations than we found it for ourselves.

Thus, development or construction is termed as sustainable development when it can be carried out and maintained without depleting natural resources or degrading the natural environment. The actions required to achieve sustainable development based on many factors out of the same three major ones, living within environmental limits, ensuring a healthy society, achieving a sustainable economy are worth mentioning. In fact the three major factors are interlinked for achieving sustainable development as shown in Fig-1

ECONOMIC Cost reduction by energy efficiency and reduced raw material inputs.

Improved productivity

SOCIAL ENVIRONMENTAL Reduced waste / emissions to environment, Use of renewable raw materials, Elimination of toxic materials, Reduced impact on health

Impact on quality of life.

Occupants health.

Workers health and safety. Better indoor and outdoor air quality

Figure 1: Major interlinked factors

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT More buildings / houses and infrastructure / utilities are going to be in constant demand in view of continuous growth of worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s population. Resources utilization, energy consumption, building materials demand, water consumption and waste production will continue to increase. If we misuse our resources then the ability of future generations to adequately meet their needs will be significantly harmed. Sustainable development or

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sustainable construction required efficient use of resources in the planning, design, construction and usage of buildings and projects. Some of the basic concepts of sustainable development are briefly listed below for better understanding: Energy Efficiency Energy efficiency can be achieved by using materials and systems that meet the following criteria: a) Materials, components, and systems that help reduce energy consumption in buildings and facilities. b) Planning, designing and orientation of a building / house utilizing maximum daylight. c) Locally available insulation materials and shades for reducing heat so as to minimize energy required for air conditioning.

Resource Efficiency Resource efficiency can be accomplished by using: a) Products with identifiable recycled content. b) Natural or Renewable Materials obtained/harvested from sustainable managed sources. c) Products manufactured with resource-efficient processes including reduced energy consumption. d) Materials that can be easily dismantled and reused or recycled at the end of their useful life. e) Products enclosed in recycled content or recyclable packaging.

Indoor Air Quality In the last several years, a growing body of scientific evidence has indicated that the air within homes and other buildings can be more seriously polluted than the outdoor air in even the largest and most industrialized cities. The quality of the indoor environment has a large impact on the people who use buildings. In many industrialized areas, people spend 90% of their time indoors, and research indicates that indoor air quality, exposure to natural sunlight, and the use of non-allergenic materials can improve the health and productivity of a building's occupants, Bartlett and Baldwin, [3]. Indoor Air Quality can be improved and enhanced by using low or non-toxic materials that emit few or no carcinogens or irritants or produce lesser irritating emissions, products that have minimum chemical emissions, products and systems that resist moisture and minimize or limit the growth of biological contaminants in buildings.

Water Conservation It can be obtained by using systems and methods that contribute in reducing water consumption in buildings and conserve water in landscaped areas, devices in over head tanks that can minimize over flow of water from the over head tank and sprinklers for watering lawn.

Green Building Materials A green building material is the one that fits most harmoniously with the ecosystem.

There are many criteria for evaluation of building material for declaring it as green

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building material. Some of the criteria that are commonly used for the judgment or evaluation of green building materials: a) amount of energy used to produce and transport the building material and its components, b) energy sources (renewable or otherwise) used in producing it and c) pollution and its production and transport generate.

Green Power The term ―Green Power‖ is defined as power generated from renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar power. Run of the river power generation can also be considered as Hydro Green Energy.

EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT In order to achieve the goals of sustainable development, our engineering graduates must have the education and knowledge about sustainable development. Many approaches can be adopted for education for sustainable development, commonly known as ESD, but the main spectrum under which the same needs to be evolved is relevancy with local conditions, relationship with environment, economy and society, pinpointing related areas in each engineering discipline and participation of all sectors, engineering universities, government and industry.

Education for sustainable development must find a central place across the full spectrum of educational endeavors if it is to provide the opportunity for all people to learn the values, behavior and lifestyles required for positive societal transformation, Daisaku Ikeda [4].

The UN has declared 2005-2014 as Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, UNESCO, ESD [5]. Director General of UNESCO, Mr. Koichiro Matsuura on the launching of the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) said on 1st March, 2005, ―The ultimate goal of the decade is that education for sustainable development must be more than just a slogan. It must be a concrete reality for all of us – individuals, organizations, and governments. This means that education will have to change so that it addresses the social, economic, cultural and environmental problems that we face in the 21st century.‖

KNOWLEDGE ABOUT SD IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION Environmental education means more than transmitting knowledge about the environment; it is also about educating for sustainable development. One of the main issues involved is changing people's attitudes, values, behavior, and consumption patterns. University education in Greece aims to educate engineers so that besides acquiring theoretical knowledge they also learn to show personal responsibility and are motivated to act sustainably. Educating for sustainable development also entails the

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development of critical capacities and the necessary skills to be able to identify and formulate problems, Odysseus Manoliadis [6].

The need arises to equip engineering students with a wider horizon of concepts in terms of environmental, economic, and social attributes, for decision making of sensitive to sustainability issues. Pedagogic frameworks have to address a multidisciplinary analysis of sustainability, K.W Chau [7].

INTEGRATING SD CONCEPT IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION Engineering Education and specially Civil Engineering Education need to take Sustainable Development as challenge. We have to positively support the integration of Sustainable Development concepts in Engineering Education.

For achieving a sustainable future, departments of engineering in universities must provide the awareness, knowledge, skills, and values that equip their graduates to pursue life goals in a manner that sustains human and non-human well being. Such an important factor since colleges of engineering prepares most of the professionals who plan, design, develop and manage the small, medium and large building / infrastructure projects.

In order to develop awareness and knowledge about sustainable development in engineering and civil engineering graduates in particular they must be educated in engaged environments that offer students opportunities to interact with different disciplines and to observe the applications of academic work and the social and environmental implications of professional decisions.

To start the process of integrating ESD in engineering and civil engineering education, we need to revise or rewrite the initial statement of objectives and competencies for the engineering or civil engineering degree programs.

To begin with we need to make additions in objectives of Bachelor of Engineering degree program producing graduates who:  Know how to manage resources efficiently  Appreciate the importance of community involvement and social contribution  Know about energy and resource efficiency, water conservation, etc.

(Further objective can be added as per local requirement and needs) Graduates of engineering degree program should have the following additional competencies besides those required/listed for his respective field of engineering:  Understanding of the principles of sustainable design and development  Understanding the need for sustainable development  Understand the efficient use of resources and energy

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ď&#x201A;ˇ Ability to communicate effectively not only with engineers, technicians, economists but with community, as well (Additional competencies to be added as per local requirements) Inclusion of SD Concepts in Engineering / Civil Engineering Education In the beginning, based on the added objectives and competencies, following areas can be included in civil engineering, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering education, briefly shown in Table-1, Table 2 and Table 3 respectively: Table 1: Inclusions in Civil Engineering Education Subject Offered (Year) Engineering Materials (First Year)

Relevant SD Area

Topics to be Added

Materials Efficiency

- Materials and products selection by evaluating several characteristics such as reused and recycled content, zero or low gassing of harmful air emissions, zero or low toxicity, locally harvested materials having sustainability, recyclable, durability, longevity, and locally produced. - - Products that promote resource conservation and efficiency.

- Reuse and recycle construction and demolition materials. For example, using inert demolition materials as a base course for a parking lot keeps materials out of landfills and costs less.

Construction Planning & Management (Final Year / 4th Year)

Materials Efficiency

Use of dimensional planning and other material efficiency strategies. These strategies reduce the amount of building materials needed and cut construction costs. For example, design rooms on 4-foot multiples to conform to standard-sized wallboard and plywood sheets. This will reduce wastage as well.

Irrigation and Water Resources

Water Efficiency

Use of state-of-the-art irrigation controllers and self-closing nozzles on hoses.

Water Supply and Sanitation (Final Year)

Water Efficiency

Minimize wastewater by using ultra low-flush toilets, low-flow showerheads, and other water conserving fixtures.

Use of re-circulating systems for centralized hot water distribution.

Install point-of-use hot water heating systems for more distant locations.

Engineering Construction (Third Year)

Occupant Health and Safety

Recent studies reveal that buildings with good overall environmental quality can reduce the rate of respiratory disease, allergy, asthma, sick building symptoms, and enhance worker performance. Selection of construction materials and interior finish products with zero or low emissions to improve indoor air quality.

Many building materials and cleaning/maintenance products emit toxic gases, such as volatile organic compounds (VOC) and formaldehyde. These gases can have a detrimental impact on occupants' health and productivity.

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Table 2: Inclusions in Mechanical Engineering Education Subject Offered / Year of Degree Engineering Economics (Third Year)

Relevant SD Area

Topics to be Added

Material Efficiency

Materials and products selection by evaluating several characteristics such as reused and recycled content, materials having sustainability, recyclable, durability, longevity, and locally produced. Products promoting resource conservation and efficiency.

Power Plants

Green Energy

Plant selection based on sustainable development criteria.

Run of the river accumulation type stations for power generation.

Refrigeration and AirConditioning (Final Year)

Occupant Health and Safety

Provide adequate ventilation and a high-efficiency, in-duct filtration system. Heating and cooling systems that ensure adequate ventilation and proper filtration can have a dramatic and positive impact on indoor air quality.

Table 3: Inclusions in Electrical Engineering Education Subject Offered Power Generation

Relevant SD Area Green Energy, Hydro Green

Topics to be Added The term â&#x20AC;&#x2022;Green Powerâ&#x20AC;&#x2013; used to define power generated from renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar power.

Run of the river power generation

Other relevant SD Areas and related topics can be embedded in Transportation Engineering, Architecture and Town planning subjects of Civil Engineering. Similarly, related SD topics can be added in Introduction to Transportation Planning & Operation, Principles of Engineering Construction, Urban Planning and management subjects of Urban and City planning.

DISCUSSION The standard engineering program allows the student to develop the fundamental skills they will need for their discipline as well as an understanding of logical thinking. It gradually leads the students from thinking about basic design issues for solving simple problems to project management where they are taught to be organized in their approach to handling complex projects. For most engineering programs, the traditional concepts are deemed to be the basic ones and, as a result, the students learn traditional approaches and traditional responses to problems. This means that they are taught to consider the main problem in their design and to work around other problems once they have the basic design defined - a standard end-of-pipe approach. Often the apparent problem is the one that is resolved, rather than determining the cause of the problem, primarily because the

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cause often involves more than just engineering, requiring some knowledge of management, ecology, sociology etc. Effective management of complex problems, however, requires that the designer consider all the problems at the design phase and look beyond traditional solutions. Critical and lateral thinking is required as well as innovation and an understanding of the fundamentals of all the problems. Moreover, the relationships between problems must also be understood. Critical to resolving complex problems is the ability to determine what the cause of the problem actually is and resolving that, in comparison to solving the apparent problem. Thus, to achieve sustainability, the concept needs to be defined and the ways we are not being sustainable determined. Carol Boyle [8].

The overall approach in promoting the change process has been to educate engineers to ask a wider set of intelligent questions before formulating their solutions, rather than simply attempting to teach "technical solutions" to a narrowly defined set of current sustainability issues. This reflects the requirement to ensure engineers are focusing attention on the outcomes of their work, and how they meet clearly defined needs, rather than simply delivering outputs. Richard, Charles, Heather [9].

In each subject and in each area of engineering and civil engineering field in particular, a thinking and eagerness be developed towards resource efficiency, energy efficiency, water conservation, waste minimization and all other related areas which can contribute in utilizing our resources in an efficient manner without wasting a bit of the same, keeping in mind that we are going to be answerable to any wastage as well.

CONCLUSIONS Sustainable development concepts need to be integrated in engineering education and particularly in civil engineering education for having sustainable future. Instead of ESD just as a subject, relevant SD concepts better be introduced / added in related civil engineering and engineering subjects. Introduction needs to be given in general and science education so that occupants of building and houses can ask/demand for better indoor air quality, energy efficiency, etc

REFERENCES [1] [2]

[3]

Brundtland, H., ‗World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future‘, Oxford University Press, New York, 1987.

World Resources Institute, ―Dimensions of sustainable development, World Resources: A Guide to the Global Environment‖, Oxford University Press, New York, 1992.

Bartlett, P.; Baldwin, R., 1994, "Assessing the Environmental Impact of Buildings in the UK‖, Building Research Establishment, Proceedings of the US Green Building Conference 1994.

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[4]

Ikeda, D., 2004, ―Education for Sustainable Development‖, The Japan Times, Nov.22, 2004 UNESCO, ―Education for Sustainable Development‖, United Nation Decade, 2005-2014 Odysseus Manoliadis, ―Education for Sustainability: Experiences from Greece‖, ASCE, J. Profl. Issues in Engrg. Educ. and Pract. Volume 135, Issue 2, April 2009 K.W.Chau, ―Incorporation of Sustainability Concepts into a Civil Engineering Curriculum‖, ASCE, J. Profl. Issues in Engrg. Educ. and Pract. Volume 133, Issue 3, July 2007 Carol Boyle, ―Considerations on educating engineers in sustainability‖, International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol. 5, Iss. 2, Bradford 2004 Richard, Charles, Heather, ―Embedding sustainable development at Cambridge University Engineering Department‖, International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol. 6, Iss. 3, Bradford 2005.

[5] [6] [7]

[8]

[9]

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GREEN CONSTRUCTION: OPTIONS FOR INCORPORATING SUSTAINABILITY INTO GRADUATE CONSTRUCTION PROGRAMS 1

Edgar P. Small1 and Dima Jawad2 American University in Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates 2 Notre Dame University, Louiaze, Lebanon

ABSTRACT: The explosion of construction activity in the United Arab Emirates and other GCC countries is unprecedented with the development ambitions of cities like Dubai and Abu Dhabi renowned across the globe.

The Emirates is also becoming known as a leader in sustainability, which is demonstrated through the commitment made through Masdar City and the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology. Merging these two areas of distinction reveals a unique opportunity for construction graduate programs in the UAE to provide leadership through training and education of a new generation of sustainability-focused construction professionals. Opportunity for development of graduate-level construction programs to accomplish this goal is explored in this paper. The background and characteristics of ‗green‘ construction are first identified and discussed. Typical efforts reveal a focus on impacting sustainability of the constructed facility through green-design, as guided by LEED and other international standards and guidelines. Sustainable design has significant influence on the final constructed facility; however, consideration of sustainability must also extend throughout the project lifecycle, especially through consideration of the energy-sustainability of the construction process itself.

This is particularly important when evaluating opportunities for development of ‗green‘ construction curriculum. Graduate-level programs in the UAE and the United States are first surveyed through a literature review process. Graduate program offerings are then evaluated to determine typical, common program elements with the goal of identifying common elements for sustainability education. The available body of knowledge for energy-related sustainability is then discussed and best practices identified. Opportunities for integration of sustainability within project and thesis oriented degree programs are then evaluated and discussed.

KEYWORDS: Construction; Green-Building; Education; Sustainability

INTRODUCTION Green construction and green building are key elements of sustainability and sustainable development, which is defined by the United Nations as development which, "meet(s) [the] present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs‖ [1]. This broad definition embodies considerations and concerns of a wide range of professional disciplines, including civil engineers and construction professionals, policy makers and legislators, economists, sociologists, etc. Activities in each discipline are drawn together by this common objective focusing on researching, evaluating or implementing appropriate ―methods, systems and materials that won‘t deplete resources or harm natural cycles‖ [2].

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Though technically distinct, the terms ‗green‘ and sustainability have evolved to become nearly synonymous in civil engineering and construction. Performing a simple websearch on sustainable development and sustainable building quickly identifies worldwide efforts in green building. This includes efforts promoted by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and its associated international counterparts. The EPA defines green building as ―the practice of creating structures and using processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building‘s life-cycle from siting to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation and deconstruction. This practice expands and complements the classical building design concerns of economy, utility, durability and comfort‖ [3]. While this definition includes activities throughout the project life-cycle, most practical implementation efforts focus on the design stage of the project life-cycle. Efforts focusing on LEED and green building design are characteristic of this focus and, through LEED certification, a significant impact on the final product is made through the design process. However, as ―construction and operation of buildings consumes over a third of the world‘s energy consumption and 40% of all mined resources … striving to make buildings more sustainable while saving construction and operating costs,‖ [4] requires that the engineering and construction personnel focus holistically on design, construction processes, maintenance and operations, etc. While some elements are considered during, attention must be also given to the implementation activities and actions taking place on the construction site, such as equipment selection and construction of temporary facilities and structures.

As the need for green construction processes is realized, construction professionals must be prepared to address the resulting challenges. As much of the burden for advancement of the field will fall upon the shoulders of new graduates and early career professionals, engineering programs must adequately prepare graduates to excel and rise to the challenges they will inevitably face. To explore the opportunities to effectively prepare these engineers, graduate program opportunities are examined. Ideally, this examination will providing a basis for the development of a graduate-level, sustainability-oriented graduate program in the UAE. Existing programs in the United Arab Emirates and throughout the United States are surveyed to determine whether common program elements exist and whether a recognized body-of-knowledge for such a program exists.

Opportunities for integration of sustainability within project and thesis oriented degree programs within the United Arab Emirates are then explored.

EDUCATIONAL NEEDS It is widely recognized that sustainability must be incorporated in engineering education in order to prepare students to positively impact society addressing ―most important challenge facing our planet today‖ [5]. The centrality of sustainability in also recognized by accreditation boards, such as the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) in the United States, and the Ministry of Higher Education in the UAE. Sustainability directly relates to several of the ABET program outcomes, including the following:

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an ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, manufacturability, and sustainability (criteria c) the broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context (criteria h); and a knowledge of contemporary issues (criteria j)

Such criteria demonstrate the importance of sustainability for the profession, at both the undergraduate level and at the graduate level. The exploration of sustainability curriculum developments proceeds will an exploration of graduate course offerings which are currently being developed, implemented, and expanded in the United Arab Emirates. This is followed by examination of US-based graduate program offerings.

SUSTAINABILITY OFFERINGS IN UAE GRADUATE PROGRAMS The examination began with an exploration of existing civil engineering programs throughout the United Arab Emirates. The following programs were investigated and course offering were explored:      

Abu Dhabi University – Master of Engineering Management American University of Sharjah (AUS) – M.S. in Engineering Systems Management and M.S. in Civil Engineering British University– M.S. Sustainable Design of the Built Environment Masdar Institute – M.S. in Engineering Systems Management UAE University – M.S. in Civil Engineering, Engineering Management University of Sharjah – M.S. in Civil Engineering

There are opportunities in each of these programs for students to focus on Sustainability and Green Building through both thesis-based and course-based graduate study. There are few course offerings specifically targeting su stainability.

This, however, is changing as faculties throughout the Emirates advance graduate activity.

Significant efforts are underway at the British University in Dubai and the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology. The British University pro gram focuses entirely on design, primarily from the architectural and interior design standpoints.

Students complete four required courses (Climate and Comfort, Renewable & Sustainable Resources, Investigation in the Build Environment, and Sustainable Bui lt Environment) and from a collection of electives, which includes a course focusing on LEED design. At Masdar, all students must complete a course on Sustainable Energy. Students in Engineering System Management may also take a course in

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Sustainable Development. There are needs within these and other programs to incorporate sustainability within a construction engineering and management context.

SUSTAINABILITY IN US CONSTRUCTION GRADUATE PROGRAMS Construction programs in the United States were subsequently explored by examining Colleges and Universities identified by Engineering News Record as the Nation‘s ‗C-Schools‘ (construction schools). These are listed in Table 1. Through these colleges and Universities, there are ninety (90) recognized undergraduate programs offering undergraduate construction education. Programs are typically offered through Civil Engineering, Architecture and/or Urban Planning Departments.

Forty-six (46) of the programs identified also offer graduate programs. Eleve n (11) of these graduate programs offer both Masters level studies and Ph.D. The highest level of degree awarded for these programs is shown graphically in Figure 1.

For the graduate-level courses, curriculum and course offerings were examined and explored. On-line resources were used to evaluate the programs and offerings.

Resources examined included: course catalogs, publications documenting program requirements, information provided on Departmental web-sites, course web-sites, faculty pages, and information identified on-line.

Fourteen (14) of the forty-six (46) graduate programs offered specific graduate-level courses on sustainability. As seen in Figure 2, the majority (64%) of Ph.D. degree granting graduate program have specific courses on sustainability. Furthermore, several of the Ph.D. granting institutions offered specific Masters-level concentrations in sustainability.

Presumably, such concentrations facilitate continuation of graduate studies at the doctoral level.

The availability of specific sustainability courses in graduate programs which do not offer doctoral studies is must less significant. Only 20% of the programs were seen to have specific course offerings in sustainability. Considering all graduate degree granting C-Schools, only 30% of institutes have incorporated sustainability explicitly either through core or elective coursework. As the vast majority of these institutions have active ‗green‘ activity in on-campus facilities management, the authors had expected to see a more significant percentage of sustainability within course offerings. Presumably, sustainability is discussed more informally or indirectly as part of other course offerings. Specific pedagogical approaches for incorporation of sustainability in programs without sustainability courses cannot be determined through the literature and resources available on-line.

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Table 1: U.S. Schools Examined for Sustainability Elements in Graduate Program.

SOUTHEAST

NORTHEAST

NORTH CENTRAL

GREAT LAKES

Auburn University

Central Connecticut State Wentworth Institute of Technology University of Maryland, Eastern Shore

Iowa State University

Bradley University, Illinois Illinois State University

Univ. of Maine, Orono

Kansas State University

Fairleigh Dickinson University, New Jersey New Jersey Institute of Technology Alfred State College, NY SUNY, Coll. of Env. Sci. & Forestry, Syracuse Pennsylvania College of Technology, Williamsport Pennsylvania State, Harrisburg Temple University, PA

Minnesota State University, Mankato Minnesota State University, Moorhead Central Missouri State, Warrensburg Southwest Missouri State, Springfield

Indiana State University

University of Nebraska, Kearney

Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond

University of Nebraska, Lincoln University of Nebraska, Omaha North Dakota State University South Dakota State University, Brookings

Northern Kentucky Univ., Highland Heights Murray State University

Tuskegee University Florida International University University of Florida, Gainesville University of North Florida, Jacksonville Georgia Institute of Technology Georgia Southern University, Statesboro Southern Polytechnic State Univ., Marietta, GA University of Southern Mississippi East Carolina, Greenville North Carolina State Clemson University

Roger Williams University

East Tennessee State, Johnson City Virginia Tech (VPI and State University)

Univ. of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls Pittsburg State University, Kansas

SOUTH CENTRAL U of Arkansas, Little Rock John Brown University, Siloam Springs, Ark. Louisiana State University University of Louisiana, Monroe Oklahoma State University, Stillwater

ROCKY MOUNTAIN Arizona State, Tempe

FAR WEST Cal State - Long Beach

Northern Arizona

California State Polytechnic â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Pomona California Polytechnic State - San Luis Obispo California State - Chico

Boise State University

California State â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sacramento

University of Oklahoma, Norman Texas A&M University

Montana State, Bozeman University of Nevada, Las Vegas University of New Mexico, Albuquerque Brigham Young University

University of Southern California, Los Angeles Oregon State University

Southwest Texas State University Texas Tech University,

Colorado State University University of Denver

Washington State University , Pullman Central Washington University

Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville Tri-State Univ., Indiana

Indiana U - Purdue U., Indianapolis Purdue University, West Lafayette Purdue University, Calumet

Eastern Michigan University Ferris State University, Big Rapids, Michigan Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan Bowling Green State University of Cincinnati Milwaukee School of Engineering University of Wisconsin, Madison University of Wisconsin, Platteville University of Wisconsin,Stout/Meno monie

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Figure 1: Highest Degree Awarded by C-School Programs.

Figure 2: Numbers of Programs with Specific Sustainability Course Offering (As Per Graduate Catalog) and Percentages by Highest Degree Awarded.

CONTENT OF SUSTAINABILTY COURSES: Specific course offerings were examined to determine whether there were common elements that could form a consensus opinion on a ‗body of knowledge‘ for sustainability in construction and civil engineering.

Courses offered by select graduate programs, and the associated catalog descriptions as taken from the most recently available catalogs available on the respective web-sites, are as follows: 

University of Washington: CM 540 – Sustainable Construction Catalog Description: Study of sustainable construction techniques and best practices. Focuses on use of US Green Building Council's Leadership in

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Energy and Environmental Design standards to evaluate alternatives and select techniques for constructing sustainable projects Colorado State: CON 576- Sustainable Technology in Built Environments Catalog Description: Major components of creating environmentally sustainable built environments.

Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque: CE 571 - Sustainable Design & Construction Catalog Description: Principles of sustainable design and construction, including life-cycle cost analysis, evaluation of economic and environmental impacts, state-of-the-art technology, and LEED certification.

Kansas State: ARE 630 – Introduction to LEED Catalog Description: Introduction to green building design and construction principles and practices based on the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System of the United States Green Building Council (USGBC).

University of Florida: BCN 6585 – Sustainable Construction Catalog Description: Sustainability principles applied to planning, design, operation, renovation, and deconstruction of built environment. Emphasis on resource efficiency, environmental protection, and waste minimization.

Virginia Tech: BC 5134 – Sustainable Facility Systems Catalog Description: Introduction to means, methods, and analytical practices associated with sustainability in the built environment. Best practices for sustainable projects in the areas of planning/development, site design, project management, energy and water conservation and efficiency, green building materials, and indoor environmental quality. Analytical methods include green building assessment tools and methods; Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system; economic analysis of green building alternatives; and evaluation for innovation and organizational change.

It should be noted that many of the programs offering Ph.D. level work have multiple courses focusing on sustainability and sustainability-related areas. For instance, the University of Florida has a concentration and degree program focusing specifically on Sustainable Construction. One noteworthy course at the University of Florida is BC 6580 – High Performance Green Building Delivery Systems, which includes significant discussion on LEED. Virginia Tech has other sustainability related classes, such as BC 5144 – Sustainable Infrastructure Systems, an area largely excluded from other programs. Programs such as Michigan State have susta inability courses, such as Sustainable and Energy Efficient Design and Construction, but also have significant involvement of numbers of faculty members in sustainability-related research and infuse significant sustainability discussion in traditional cour ses.

Literature searches of past studies on construction sustainability were also explored.

In a separate study, Wang [7] has recognized different approaches and discussed sustainability education through: the introduction of specific programs in sustainability, offering of sustainability courses, incorporating sustainability in

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traditional courses, introducing specific sustainability-related projects and activities, and offering professional certificate programs. Through the current literature review discussed earlier in this paper, select approaches itemized and discussed by Wang were validated. Offerings of specific sustainability courses were identified and certificate programs found select graduate programs. No information was available through literature review on the prevalence of sustainability-related projects and activities or incorporation of sustainability-related content in traditional courses. To quantify the prevalence of these approaches, further study is required.

OPTIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT OF SUSTAINABILITY GRADUATE PROGRAM Building upon the knowledge obtained and practices of UAE and US graduate programs, there are many different approaches that can be taken for incorporation of sustainability into a construction engineering and management program. Options are as follows: 

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Develop specific Masters concentrations and Certificate programs Conventional wisdom indicates that specific concentrations and certificate programs will attract students from diverse backgrounds towards sustainability.

This is indirectly exhibited through the success of specific concentrations and the trend towards development of interdisciplinary sustainability centers.

Furthermore, as demand for engineers and contractors with sustainability credentials grows, there will be increased need for professional credentials.

These can be obtained through such programs.

Develop and implement specific sustainability courses – the prevalence of specific sustainability courses in programs which award doctoral degrees indicates the need for course-based focus on the area. Multiple courses in this area could be developed, which would be particularly advantageous for sustainability concentrations. Based on the course descriptions discussed, there seems to be diversity in the material instructed. Common elements include a focus on life-cycle issues and LEED design. These areas must be included as part of a sustainability course in the United Arab Emirates. The treatment, however, should not be limited to LEED certification but must also give students exposure to Estidama Pearl and BREEAM approaches.

Infuse sustainability principals in existing courses – To give students a focus and to reinforce the importance of the discipline, sustainability principals must be intertwined throughout the entire graduate experience. This involves incorporating sustainability principles in core construction management offerings, such as estimating, scheduling, equipment and operations, etc, as well as electives, such as Value Engineering. Work has been done by others, such as Al-Yousefi [8], demonstrating how sustainability and value engineering can be intertwined. Program development should capitalized upon such experiences when developing and refining curriculum. Pedagogical techniques will vary but could include development of projects which have real, defined sustainability components, such as estimating and scheduling a ‗green design‘ or examining sustainability issues in equipment selection.

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Learning from experience and initiatives – Activities, such as the construction of Masdar City, are milestones and any program in the United Arab Emirates must capitalize upon the learning experiences emerging from this on-going construction activity. Site-visits, seminars, and projects could be arranged to explore the successes and learn from the trials experienced during construction.

Partnerships could also be formed with ‗green‘ contractors working on other projects to permit students to learn from on-going activities.

Advancing the field through research and development – As indicated in the literature search of US programs, research-based University programs offering doctoral studies tend to offer sustainability concentrations and programs. These educational activities undoubtedly are coupled with research activities.

Significant impact can be made by establishing a vibrant research program to support graduate studies, which is particularly important with thesis oriented degree programs.

Programs could be continually refined to ensure that curriculum offerings are properly serving the academic and professional communities and providing leadership on the international level.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS When examining construction programs, course offerings are not as prevalent as had been expected. Nevertheless, there are lessons which can be learned to assist in development of a graduate program with a ‗green construction‘ focus. It is noted that sustainability-related courses are more prevalent in Universities offering doctoral level studies. Many of these programs also have established interdisciplinary sustainability-related research programs. This is less common in traditional M asterslevel programs, which presumably integrate dialog and discussion of critical sustainability topics within traditional courses. For establishment of a program in green construction in the UAE, program requirements should include one or more specific sustainability and sustainability-related courses. These courses should look at more than buildings, examine decision making throughout the project life -cycle, explore new technologies and techniques, and have a component focusing on certification (LEED, Estidama‘s Pearl and BREEAM in particular. More detail is also required to develop a body-of-knowledge sufficiently holistic to cover construction and other critical life-cycle elements, such as facilities management and operation. Further monitoring of successes in course offerings could ultimately contribute towards development and enhancement of a body of knowledge in this area. Furthermore, the impact of holistically addressing sustainability throughout the curriculum could be evaluated to assess the impact of various pedagogical techniques. Development of construction-specific sustainability programs at the graduate level with such considerations will also contribute towards advancement of the UAE as a world-wide leader in sustainability while developing a new generation of sustainability-focused construction professionals.

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REFERENCES [1]

[2] [3]

[4]

[5] [6] [7] [8]

Provide United Nations, Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future, Transmitted to the General Assembly as an Annex to Document A/42/427. Accessed online, June 6, 2010 Rosenbaum, "Sustainable Design Strategies," Solar Today, March/April 1993 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Green Building – Basic Information and Definition of Green Building, http://www.epa.gov/greenbuilding/pubs/about.htm, Accessed June 2, 2010.

Straube, J., Green Building and Sustainability, Building Science Digest, No. 005, 824/2009, http://www.buildingscience.com/documents/digests/bsd-005-greenbuilding-and-sustainability, Accessed June 7, 2010.

Perkins, J., Welcome Message – Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, http://www.masdar.ac.ae, Accessed June 7, 2010 Rosenbaum, D.; Rubin, D.; and Power, M., The Nation‘s C-Schools, Engineering News Record, October 29, 2001.

Wang, Y. ―Sustainability in Construction Education‖, ASCE Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice, January 2009.

Al-Yousefi, A.S., ―The Synergy Between Value Engineering and Sustainable Construction‖ Proc. - Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitats (CTBUH) 8 th World Congress, 2008.

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A PEDAGOGICAL FRAMEWORK FOR INTEGRATING SUSTAINABILITY IN THE ENGINEERING DESIGN EDUCATION Sarah Khalil Elmasry Department of Architectural Engineering United Arab Emirates University P.O. Box 17555, Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates

ABSTRACT: The United Arab Emirates has one of the highest levels of energy consumption per capita in the world. Consequently, the country is currently encouraging strategies which further enhance sustainable development and growth, and the local market is also having a keen appetite for engineering graduates who have a sustainability background. This paper reviews the current transformation towards sustainability within the built environment in the U.A.E. in general and as well as the status of sustainability education in the country. Pedagogical approaches adopted in a senior architectural engineering design studio towards integrating sustainability in the architectural design process are reviewed. Lessons learnt from students‘ and course administrator are used to provide fundamentals for structuring a framework for integrating sustainability in the engineering design process. The processes and the performance of students in this studio across two academic semesters are investigated to provide indicators of (a) students‘ prior knowledge of sustainability, (b) how they perceive sustainability in their design proposals, and (c) their potential consideration for sustainability in their future engineering careers. This paper concludes a number of course-based, student-based and context-based fundamentals required to structure a pedagogical framework towards embedding sustainability in the engineering design process.

KEYWORDS: Architectural Engineering; Built Environment; Pedagogical Framework; Sustainability Education; United Arab Emirates.

INTRODUCTION The United Arab Emirates is one of the fastest growing countries in the modern world.

With a total area of 83,600 sq. m., the country has been rapidly developing since its establishment in 1971. A number of factors have escalated the country to the top energy consumers list in the contemporary world; development in the built environment, urbanization, population and economic growth ‎[1], not to ignore availability of relatively cheaper fuel (oil), and cultural diversity of its population, which does not necessarily reflect energy-consciousness. Despite the fact that UAE officials are currently taking measures to address environmental concerns, particularly the environmental impact of the building sector, the Department of Renewable Energy predicts that not until 2050, when up to half of the UAE‘s required energy will be harvested from renewable resources [2,3].

It was not until the last decade when the local government and agencies started acting towards sustainability in the built environment. In the city of Dubai for example, 13 projects have already been LEED certified [3]. In 2008, the Abu Dhabi Urban

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Planning Council (UPC) launched the first local building rating system; Estidama, which aims at transforming Abu Dhabi into a model of sustainable urbanization â&#x20AC;&#x17D;[1].

Abu Dhabi has also launched the unique Masdar Initiative utilizing 100% renewable energy, and is to be the first Carbon-neutral city worldwide while aiming to become a global exemplar of sustainable research and development [4].

On the other hand, there is growing evidence that global business has a keen appetite for engineering graduates who have sustainability literacy; those who can work in a multi-disciplinary and diverse environment, able to solve problems from a syste mslevel perspective, effective communicators, and demonstrate social responsibility [5,6]. A survey conducted in the Emirati job market indicate that it is in high demand for engineers equipped with the sustainability background [7]. Academic engineering programs however have not been purposefully developing in the same pace towards sustainability in their design curricula. Unexpectedly, only one graduate program in the country is specialized in sustainable design [8].

The Architectural Engineering (AE) program at the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) offers 4 to 6 years of course work. Although there isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;t a declared and structured integration of sustainability in the design curriculum holistically to date, there are individual attempts to introduce the component of sustainability to the typical design process. The Senior Environmental Design Studio is an example.

Experiences gained through this studio lend a number of fundamentals for structuring a pedagogical framework towards sustainability integration.

THE ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN STUDIO; COURSE POSITION, STRUCTURE AND COMPOSITION The Senior Environmental Design Studio with its current structure aims to address the local and international market need for sustainability literacy. The studio has been successfully offered to senior AE students for the last 4 academic semesters, as an attempt to integrate the sustainability component in comprehensive explorations of the engineering design process, performance-based design, and building systems integration. In Figure 1, the typical design process in the studio is illustrated in an example of a group project, where students initiate a design concept after finalizing the data gathering and data analysis phases, and then they are required to develop that concept through individual and group brain storming sessions. Once a schematic design is proposed, individuals within the group take responsibility for specific tasks at systems-level, with sustainability as their primary aim.

Course Pedagogical Structure Engineering design courses are more likely to be taught in a linear, step -by-step fashion and they are still strongly predicted upon visual reasoning only, they are also less likely to adopt reflective practices [9-11]. Sustainable design lends itself particularly to in-depth-phased approach as it has its own clearly recognizable

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phases; the context, the building, and the details. It also requires a broader understanding of different disciplines, which is a complicated task by nature. The Senior Environmental Design Studio adopts the Problem-based learning (PBL) approach to solve a design problem at multiple levels.

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Figure 1: Students' design process for an ecological center, and resort, in Al Ain, UAE (a) concept borrowed from site, (b) concept initiation, (c) final design proposal, (d) examples of systems studies.

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This approach has proven success in engineering education in general and in teaching sustainability in specific ‎[5]. PBL is employed as a contextualized approach to develop diverse skills among students, and animate the process of business and research which reflect the main goals of the studio. Students also experience problem solving, concept generation, creative and organizational skills in a holistic manner.

The process encourages students to work with the complexity of the problem, to identify multiple solutions, which makes them better equipped to be long-life learners ‎[5]. As in a typical PBL practice, three areas of activities are conducted in the duration of the studio; collaborative learning, cognitive learning, and live projects ‎[5 ].

Collaborative learning The area of sustainability usually involves a number of specialists who de al with their areas of expertise rather than the big picture. Thus, it is critical for students to be able to promote group thinking and communication skills ‎[5]. The structure of the studio requires the students to work collaboratively in large groups of 5 to 7 students.

In some tasks, they are required to break down in smaller groups, and also take responsibility as an individual on specific assignments related within their context of the group. This practice enhances their leadership abilities, and increases their ownership of the project at hand. At the beginning of the semester, students are initially guided by direct instruction. Then, they are required to exercise individual and group brain-storming to initiate a concept; a feature of PBL, where students‘ critical analysis and self reflection facilitate issues which are hidden to some students but known to others ‎[9].

Cognitive learning At the beginning of the studio, students are introduced to an environmentally vulnerable site as well as a systems-related problem to be answered. Systems level thinking requires the students to evaluate the architecture of the design solution and explore interrelationships of its functional requirements and the operating environment ‎[6]. This is emphasized through a structured design process which requires students to investigate the design problem in multiple -layers with sustainability as the main performance goal. An example of systems-level thinking from one group project is illustrated in Figure 2.

Live projects The contents of the projects involve real-life experiences by nature, which are communicated with students through the theory-practice approach. During the initial phases of the project, students are required to investigate similar practices and analyze precedent studies in the area of sustainability. This is also supported by

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collaborating with practitioners from the industry, as the images in Figure 3 illustrate. This kind of collaboration expands students‘ knowledge of unknown inherit and complex problems related to practicing sustainability in design, construction and building performance.

Figure 2: Students group project; demonstration of systems-level thinking.

Environmental research and public awareness center, Murawah Island, Abu- Dhabi.

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(b)

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Figure 3: Students‘ collaborative meetings at local sustainable building practices, (a) Estidama Abu Dhabi, (b) Masdar city Abu Dhabi, (c) Metito Headquarters, Dubai.

Course Atmosphere The students‘ experiences in the studio encourage active engagement and leadership, which is also enriched by ―off-line‖ conversations. These new experiences present the students with challenges, which reflect either positively or negatively on the atmosphere of each class according to the social, physical and learning contexts.

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The social context Female students contribute to the higher population of students in the campus, their enrollment in the program is generally shorter than male students, and by observation, they are found to be highly motivated and self-directed compared to their peer male students. Social tensions among individuals in groups of students from different origins, states or countries may start to emerge at the beginning of each semester. Such tensions if not resolved earlier between students usually result in poorer outcomes and flamed conversations during collaborative activities.

The physical context The UAEU campus lies in proximity of high-end sustainable building practice between the capital state of AbuDhabi and the state of Dubai. Having the studio positioned with strong access to the green building industry, allows for professional encounters between students and practitioners at their own sites, or on-campus during multiple occasions, which supports and strengthens the PBL approach.

The learning context Lack of consistency in the design curriculum does not help reinforce the structure of the design process introduced through this course, and does not improve the positi on of the sustainability content in the program, which accordingly influences what graduates have to offer to the local and the international markets.

Also, inconsistency in learners‘ prior knowledge of the topic represents a challenge to the studio. To compensate for this inconsistency, classroom activities are tailored to variations in students‘ learning styles and their state of knowledge of the topic.

STUDENTS‟ EXPERIENCES Students enrolled in the course during 2 academic semesters participated in a postcourse survey. The survey aims to provide indicators of (a) students‘ prior knowledge of sustainability, (b) how they perceive sustainability in their design proposals, and (c) their potential consideration for sustainability in their future engineering careers. A total of 12 students participated in the survey. The following findings describe their feedback.

Prior Knowledge of Sustainability All participating students indicated that they have started the studio with prior knowledge of sustainability, ranging between general knowledge, up to academic-gained knowledge of the topic. 42% of participants indicate that they have studied aspects of sustainability in previous course work, and 16% have applied it in previous architectural design work.

Students‘ feedback on what they think of as the 3 most important benefits of sustainability in general, reflect their knowledge of their local environment and current

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problems challenging it. 67% include reduction in energy consumption in their list, 50% mention reduction in pollution level and the same percentage believe that it is important in terms of promoting health, productivity, safety, comfort and livability. 33% of participants also believe that it has significant economic benefits.

In terms of the local environment, 58% of participants suggest that natural daylighting is a successful sustainable strategy; they refer that to the availability of solar energy all year long, as well as the alerting need to reduce reliance on electric energy. The same percentage mentions that recycling is also of high benefit locally due to the huge amount of waste produced in the country by individuals or as a byproduct of construction. 42% indicate that renewable energy strategies are critical to the country‘s movement towards sustainability, and mostly due to their availability. 33% mention that shading devices are highly needed as well, due the extreme weather conditions. Sustainable landscapes and green roof come next in importance for 25% of participants, and they rely that to the lack of water resources in the country.

Sustainable Performance of Students‟ Design Proposal Students were also asked to reflect on what they believe are proven successes in terms of sustainable design in their projects. 67% of students indicate that natural daylighting was best achieved in their projects. While 50% believe that they were successful with their envelope design. Those linked their proposals to enhancing users‘ experiences in the space. Students also indicate that building envelopes provided them the potential for solving a number of sustainability-related problems in their designs, for example use of recycled or recyclable materials, promoting for natural ventilation, use of selective glazing, orientations which enrich light penetration and filtering while minimizing solar heat gain, as well as lending controllability to users. 25% of participants indicate that their proposal for green roof systems and solutions for sustainable sites have proven success. They further argue the importance for similar strategies for reducing the impact of global warming, and the level of CO2 emissions at the larger scale.

Sustainability and Future Career After the studio, 42% of the students indicate that they are currently adopting sustainability in their design work. However, 33% express their interest in the topic, but they think that it does not represent their first concern in building design. When participants were asked to identify their position of sustainability in terms of their future careers, 46% indicated that whether their future employers consider sustainability or not, they are planning to adopt sustainable practice in their design or site work. More interestingly, 25% indicated that they are planning to get a professional certification, or post-graduate studies in the area of sustainability along with their future careers.

However, only 4% of participants commit to narrowing their job search to only employees who are specialized in the field of sustainability. Also 25% indicate that it does not make a difference if their future employer does no particularly consider sustainability in their practice, but they might attempt to promote for it within the employer‘s interests.

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SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS Embedding sustainability in the pedagogy of the design studio challenges the structure of the traditional in-depth, linear engineering education model. It also dictates the need for structured collaborations between students, departments, and practitioners from the building industry. Students‘ and instructor‘s experiences gained throughout the Senior Environmental Design Studio at the UAE University, provide a number of fundamentals for a successful pedagogical framework which introduces sustainability in the engineering design curriculum. These fundamentals are course-related, context-related, and student-related.

Course-related considerations are driven from the course structure, and the design process reinforced within, where in-depth-phased pedagogical approaches are incorporated with reflective and collaborative activities, which provides students with the opportunity of experiencing the process in a real-life scenario. The position of a sustainability design studio in the program should also be suppo rted by providing students with the background knowledge needed, while the program should be structured with the intention of graduating students with the sustainability background. The course atmosphere has a strong impact on progress. Reflectivity as part of the studio, usually results in off-line conversations involving social, racial, and, in this case, gender-related tensions.

Context-related considerations vary from one experience to another. In this case, proximity of live, high-end sustainable projects add to the students‘ collaborative, problem-based learning process. Working closely with practitioners allow students to gain exposure to the concept, the needs, and the solution, it also promotes their knowledge of real-life problems. Also, addressing region-specific environmental problems within the global umbrella is a priority both to a successful pedagogical experience, as well as the local market.

Context-related considerations are driven from students‘ awareness of environmental problems and their impact, as well as their personal interest in the topic, and their prior knowledge or experience play a significant role in orienting the pedagogical approach of the studio. Also, understanding students‘ priorities when it comes to their future job plans, as well as the market needs, is a necessity for program ad course orientation.

Finally, engineering programs nowadays need to consider a number of variables in order to successfully integrate sustainability in their typical design processes, mapping of social, contextual, and pedagogical variables should also be perceived as integrated components of a successful sustainable engineering design process.

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REFERENCES [1]

[2]

[3] [4] [5]

[6]

[7]

[8] [9]

[10] [11]

[12]

[13]

[14] [15] [16]

Kazim, A.M., 2007. Assessments of primary energy consumption and its environmental consequences in the United Arab Emirates. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 11, 426-446.

AME Info, 2008. A study on â&#x20AC;&#x2014;Energy Sectorâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC; in Dubai. Url : http://www.sesamuae.com/hamburg/contents/A%20study%20on%20'Energy%20Sector'%20in%20D ubai.pdf US Green Building Council, 2010. LEED Projects and case studies directory. Url: http://www.usgbc.org/LEED/Project/CertifiedProjectList.aspx Masdar, 2010. Url: http://www.masdarcity.ae/en/index.aspx De Eyto, A. et al. 2008. Strategies for developing sustainable design practice for students and SME professionals. European Journal of Engineering Education, 33(3), 331-342.

Savage, R.N. et al. 2007. Integrating project-based learning throughout the undergraduate engineering curriculum. Journal of STEM education, 8(3&4), 1527.

Jassim, M. and Coskuner, G. 2007. Environmental engineering education (E3) in the Gulf Co-operation Countries. European Journal of Engineering Education, 32(1), 93-103.

Comission for Academic Accreditation, 2010. Url : http://www.caa.ae/ Morris, R. et al. 2007. Sustainability by design A reflection on the suitability of pedagogical practice in design and engineering courses in the teaching of sustainable design. European Journal of Engineering Education, 32(2), 135-142.

Owens, C.L. and Fortenberry, N.L. 2007. A transformation model of engineering education. European journal of engineering education, 32(4), 429-440.

Zuo, Q. et al. 2010. Integrating performance-based design in the beginning interior design education An interactive dialog between the built environment and its context. Design Studies, Article in Press (doi:10.1016/j.destud.2009.12.002).

Lehmann, M. et al. 2008. Problem-oriented and project-based learning (POPBL) as an innovative learning strategy for sustainable development in engineering education. European Journal of Engineering Education, 33(3), 283-295.

Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council, 2009. The Pearls Design System for the Emirate of Abu Dhabi Rating method for new buildings.

Url:http://www.estidama.org/$Common/Doc/ThePearlsDesignSystem_NewBuildi ngsRatingMethod.pdf El Chaar, L. and Lamont, L.A., 2010. Nourishing green minds in the land of oil.

Renewable Energy, 35, 570-575.

Energy Information Administration, 2009. Country analysis briefs United Arab Emirates. Url: http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/UAE/pdf.pdf Holden, M. et al. 2008. Learning teaching in the sustainability classroom.

Ecological economics, 64, 521-533.

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ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION IN THE UAE: SURVEY AND COMPARATIVE STUDY Mohamed M. Mohamed and Munjed Maraqa Civil and Environmental Engineering Department United Arab Emirates University, Al-Ain, P.O. Box 17555 United Arab Emirates

ABSTRACT: Environmental awareness has received higher priority in the UAE agenda in recent years. In addition to the recently developed governmental structures, many non -governmental environmental groups have been established over the last decade. A clear assurance exists now amongst federal bodies, individual agencies and non-governmental organizations, together with their domestic and international alliances, of the need for environmental protection and sustainability. Environmental legislations have been recently passed or currently underway either at a federal level or at an individual emirate level. This fast growing environmental awareness coupled with the necessary legal support is not accompanied with a similar pace of improving the environmental engineering education (E3) in the country. Higher education institutes in the UAE do not yet have academic programs with the sole purpose of offering E3. This is obviously essential to provide the local market with the appropriate UAE graduates needed for pursuing a ca reer in this field. In this paper, the current E3 in the UAE higher education institutes was reviewed and was compared with other similar programs in developed countries. The UAE market needs for E3 was also assessed through a survey.

KEYWORDS: Curriculum Development; Environmental Engineering Education; United Arab Emirates; Higher Education.

INTRODUCTION Environmental engineering education (E3) is an essential supporting component of the environmental protection in any country. The main aim of E3 is to provide an appropriate technical background, but with a vision rather than just skills. However, the E3 programs, although having the same generic aim of sustainability, can perform different roles [1]. Once viewed as sub-sets of civil or chemical engineering, they have also mushroomed to include all aspects of human and terrestrial environments. In addition, there are movements to enhance engineering disciplines with an environmental component [1]. There seems to be no lack of expertise in either environmental or conventional technology; what is limited is a holistic approach to engineering, one that incorporates the environment into the mainstream of technological application and thought [1]. Therefore, environmental engineers need skills of integration, communication, and conceptualisation in addition to a traditional engineering background [2]. Such a complex knowledge and skill mix is best promoted by a specially designed program. An environmental engineering (EnE) degree program must impart the required knowledge and skill base and promote the intellectual versatility to develop appropriate technical solutions to environmental problems within existing ethical, ecological and legal frameworks [2].

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Gutiérrez-Martín and Dahab [3] discussed the concepts of sustainability and pollution prevention and their roles in E3. They argued that EnE science and education must be re-oriented to focus primarily on pollution prevention technologies as a mechanism for attaining the goal of sustainability [2]. Although it is acknowledged that traditional pollution control will remain as an integral part of environmental science and engineering education, the shift towards pollution prevention should be completed in order to achieve the goal of sustainability.

Gutiérrez-Martín and Dahab [3] presented two case studies; at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (USA) and at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (Spain) where efforts were made to re-orient E3 to promote the concept of sustainability as the primary goal of environmental management.

IMPORTANCE OF E3 IN UAE UAE is a small and rich country that has developed rapidly since its establishment in 1971. This development, which is expected to continue in the future, requires careful consideration of the environment on both the construction and institutional levels. The government of UAE realizes the importance of the environment to the people of the country; and, therefore, shows clear devotion to the environmental awareness and obligation toward the natural world. For example, in March 1999 a law was passed aimed at reducing air pollution. The regulations limit excessive use of harmful gases. Other regulations are also under discussion for controlling the use of leaded fuel which produces harmful emissions. Also, the UAE enforces strict laws governing the use of chemical insecticides in agriculture to protect public health and reduce negative impacts on the environment. It has banned the importation of many chemical insecticides, permitting only the importation of those products which are already licensed for agriculture use in USA, Canada, Japan and EU. Another example is the UAE's participation in the GLOBE (Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment) agreement in June 1999.

Over the years a number of government organizations have been established in the UAE with the role of studying and protecting the environment. In addition there are other regional departments which have their own programs for environment protection, wildlife protection and, most importantly for increasing public awareness. An indubitable demonstration of this devotion is the words of Late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan in his speech on the occasion of the UAE first Environment Day, 4 February 1998. He said ‗With God‘s will, we shall continue to work to protect our environment and our wildlife, as did our forefathers before us. It is a duty – and, if we fail, our children, rightly, will reproach us for squandering an essential part of their inheritance and of our heritage‘. Late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan also received the Gold Panda award in 1999 from the World Wide Fund (for which he was the first sitting Head of State to be so honored) for his services to the environment. The institutional structure, supported by legislation, is now in existence in the UAE, although further legislation is still required.

However, in the authors‘ opinion, the supporting role of environmental education has not received yet the same attention.

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E3 IN USA AND EUROPE E3 is mostly offered as part of the traditional undergraduate civil engineering program in Europe [4]. Recently, many educational institutions started offering full EnE degrees or specialized postgraduate degrees [4]. In Germany, for example, the system of engineering education is defined to have two types of programs; namely scientific-oriented programs at university level and application-oriented programs at ‗school of engineers‘ level [5].

E3 in North American universities has similar trend of departmental evolution [6]. The criteria of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) ensures that graduates of accredited engineering programs are adequately qualified to enter professional work life. EnE is now accredited by ABET and it is a well-recognized degree program in the USA. ABET goals are to guarantee quality graduates from the engineering programs, to adequately provide graduates with skills, and to motivate improvements in the engineering education. The 2010–2011 ABET EnE program criteria related to curriculum and faculty are listed below (ABET; www.abet.org) a. Curriculum The program must demonstrate that graduates have: proficiency in mathematics through differential equations, probability and statistics, calculus-based physics, general chemistry, an earth science, e.g., geology, meteorology, soil science, relevant to the program of study, a biological science, e.g., microbiology, aquatic biology, toxicology, relevant to the program of study, and fluid mechanics relevant to the program of study; introductory level knowledge of environmental issues associated with air, land, and water systems and associated environmental health impacts; an ability to conduct laboratory experiments and to critically analyze and interpret data in more than one major EnE focus areas, e.g., air, water, land, environmental health; an ability to perform engineering design by means of design experiences integrated throughout the professional component of the curriculum; proficiency in advanced principles and practice relevant to the program objectives; understanding of concepts of professional practice and the roles and responsibilities of public institutions and private organizations pertaining to EnE. b. Faculty The program must demonstrate that a majority of those faculty teaching courses which are primarily design in content are qualified to teach the subject matter by virtue of professional licensure, or by education and equivalent design experience.

E3 IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTES IN UAE: THE REVIEW There are more than twenty public and private universities in the UAE (Table 1). Not all of these universities have colleges of engineering; of those few have civil or chemical engineering departments.

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Table 1: Higher education institutes in the UAE. With Environmental Subject(s) Abu Dhabi University √ Ajman University of Science and Technology X Al Hesn University X Al Ain University for Science and Technology X Al Ghurair University X American College of the Emirates X American University of Asia X American University in Dubai √ American University of Sharjah √ British University in Dubai X Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Dubai X Fujairah College X Gulf Medical College, now Gulf Medical University X Hamdan Bin Mohammed e-University √(NE) Heriot-Watt University Dubai √(NE) Higher Colleges of Technology √ Ittihad University X Paris-Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi X Petroleum Institute in Abu Dhabi √ Rochester Institute of Technology-Dubai X United Arab Emirates University √ University of Sharjah √ University of Wollongong in Dubai X Zayed University √(NE) Canadian University of Dubai √(NE) NYU Abu Dhabi X NE: none engineering courses; G: Graduate program.

University or College

With EnE Program(s) X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X √(G) X X X X X

The Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) was established in 1988, and is the largest institution of higher learning in the UAE with over 18,200 students. During the 2009 2010 academic year there were 11,700 female and 6,500 male students enrolled at 17 campuses and 92 programs throughout the country. More than 30,000 UAE nationals are graduates of the institution. The HCT provides post-secondary education in business, education, engineering technology, information technology, communications technology and health sciences. Examples of courses related to EnE offered by different departments at the HCT are CHEM N2325 Environmental Monitoring and Control; ELME N2130 Occupational Health, Safety and Environment; SFTY N0215 Health Safety and Environmental Awareness; CIVL N455 Environmental Engineering; MECH N430 Health, Safety and Environment; EGEN N302 Health, Safety and Environment; ECVL N405 Environmental Engineering.

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Abu Dhabi University (ADU) was established in 2003. Abu Dhabi University provides both undergraduate and postgraduate study programs, and consists of three colleges along with the English Language Institute; the College of Arts & Sciences; the College of Business Administration; and the College of Engineering and Computer Science. There is a civil engineering program at ADU that offers courses related to water resources and EnE. An example of these courses is the Environmental Engineering course offered by the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department. The Ajman University of Science and Technology (AUST) is a technology-oriented university in Ajman. The university was founded in 1988 as a university college. Although AUST contains a college of engineering, this college does not include civil or chemical engineering departments.

There is an institute for water environment and energy but only offers M Sc degree in Groundwater Engineering and Management. Al Ghurair University is a private higher educational institution that was founded in 1999. Al Ghurair University is licensed by the UAE Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research. The universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s educational programs include engineering and applied science program with emphases on electrical and computer science only. No EnE courses are offered at this university.

The American University in Dubai (AUD) is a private institution of higher education.

AUD was founded in 1995 as a branch campus of the American InterContinental University in Atlanta, Georgia, but it has turned into a private university in 2007. AUD is accredited regionally as a separate unit by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. AUD contains engineering school offering BSc degrees in Civil, Computer, and Electrical Engineering. Courses related to EnE are offered through the civil engineering program. An example of these courses is the ECVL 340 Environmental Engineering course offered by the civil and environmental engineering department. This course covers topics related to all aspects of water, air, land pollution, sustainable technologies, risk assessment, and climate change.

The American University of Sharjah (AUS) is an independent higher educational institution in Sharjah. AUS was founded in 1997. The College of Engineering at AUS offers BSc degrees in Computer Science, Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering. EnE courses are offered through the civil and chemical engineering departments. Ittihad University (IU) is the first private university located in the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah.

IU was founded in 1999. The University is divided into four undergraduate colleges one of which is the School of Engineering. This school offers BSc in Computer Engineering and Computer Science only; and therefore, does not have an EnE program neither it offers EnE courses. The University of Sharjah is a semi-governmental higher educational institution founded in 1997. More than 1366 students are currently enrolled in the five degree programs at the College of Engineering namely, Architectural Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Computer Engineering, Electrical and Electronics Engineering, and Industrial Engineering and Management. These five programs are offered through four departments. Both the University of Sharjah and AUS offer an EnE course for the undergraduate students in their Civil and Environmental Engineering Departments. This course covers topics in water and air pollution. Another course related to wastewater technologies is offered at the University of Sharjah as an elective course.

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Meanwhile, a course called Physical and Chemical Processes in Environmental Engineering is offered as an elective course at the AUS. The Petroleum Institute (PI) was created in 2001. There is a College of Engineering at the PI that offers BSc degree in Chemical Engineering but not in Civil Engineering. A course that covers topics related to water treatment is offered in the chemical engineering department.

The United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) is the oldest of the three governmentsponsored institutions of higher learning in the UAE. The other two are the HCT and Zayed University. The UAEU was established in 1976, with probably the biggest faculty of engineering in the country. There are five engineering departments including Architectural Engineering, Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering. These five departments offer seven programs namely, Architectural Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Petroleum Engineering, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Communication, and Mechanical Engineering. Both the Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Chemical and Petroleum Engineering Departments offer courses related to EnE. Examples of these courses are CIVL 270 Introduction to Environmental Engineering, and CIVL 375 Water and Waste Water Technology which are core courses; and CIVL 520 Special Topics in Water Resources and Environmental Engineering, CIVL 522 Advanced Environmental Engineering, CIVL 524 Geo-environmental Engineering, which are elective courses. These courses cover wide range of topics in EnE such as air, water, solid waste management, environmental microbiology, environmental chemistry, all aspects of water and wastewater treatment, environmental impact assessment (EIA), air pollution, and solid and hazardous waste management.

Additionally, there are several masters programs at the UAEU, of which the Water Resources, the Environmental Sciences, the Petroleum Sciences, and the Civil Engineering offer courses related to EnE. In addition, the recently commenced PhD program in Civil Engineering at the UAEU offers graduate level courses in EnE. The University of Wollongong in Dubai (UOWD) is a private university that was established in 1993. This independent institution is affiliated with the University of Wollongong, Australia. UOWD offers a bachelor of engineering and, therefore, does not contain special engineering departments and programs. Zayed University (ZU) is a higher educational institution that was established in 1998 and named in honor of Late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the country's first president. Zayed University is organized academically into five colleges: Arts and Sciences, Business Sciences, Communication and Media Sciences, Education, and Information Technology. The Canadian University of Dubai (CUD) is an institution of higher education which offers undergraduate and graduate programs. The CUD was established in 2006 with no more than 100 students.

Currently, the university serves over 1700 students. The university does not offer degrees in engineering; however, it offers BSc in Environmental Health Management through the School of Environment and Health. The New York University in Abu Dhabi (NYU Abu Dhabi) is a private university that was established in 2007. This independent institution is affiliated with the NYU, USA. The university offers general degree in engineering but does not have special engineering departments or programs.

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It is evident from the previous discussion that none of the higher education institutes in UAE offers undergraduate program in EnE. Some of the UAE universities integrate E3 into the undergraduate programs through a chemical or civil engineering curriculum. The curriculum of chemical engineering covers non-sanitary components of E3 and the civil engineering syllabus covers subjects related to water supply, sewage distribution systems and domestic wastewater treatment technologies. The Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at the UAEU offers an elective specialization option in environmental engineering and water resources. Other smaller private universities in the UAE focus on information technology and business management with fewer numbers of students.

UAE MARKET NEEDS FOR E3: THE SURVEY Survey Form and Respondents To evaluate the market needs for E3 in the UAE, a survey form (Appendix A) was distributed to target individuals. The survey form consists of 9 questions. The first 4 questions were designed to obtain information about the respondentâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;s background and experience. The respondents were then asked about the importance of EnE to their organization/company (Q.5) and how do they classify E3 in the UAE (Q.6). The respondents were also asked about the areas of EnE that are highly needed by their organization/company (Q.7). Respondents were then asked about the demand of their organization/company to graduates with different EnE degrees (Q.8). Respondents were asked (Q.9) to scale potential job opportunities in the UAE that require knowledge of EnE at 11 employer groups (see Appendix A).

For most of the questions the respondent selects from a list of choices. However, the respondents were asked (Q.10) to write any comment they may have related to E3 in the UAE. In addition, respondents were allowed to suggest areas of EnE other than those listed in Q.7 that are needed by their organization/company. Respondents were further asked to indicate job opportunities that would exist at other potential recruiters beside those listed in Q.9.

The form was distributed to more than 100 individuals but 70 responses were received.

Respondents can be categorized into 5 groups in terms of their work place; environmental ministry, environmental agencies, and city directorates (31%), companies related to water and wastewater management (27%), oil industry (9%), engineering consulting firms (21%), and academic and research institutions (11%). The academic background of the respondents varies but most of them have a degree in engineering (64%), followed by management (16%), science (11%), and EHS (9%). As to their academic level, 4% of the respondents have diploma, 47% have BSc degrees, 31% have MSc degrees, and 14% have PhD degrees. Also, the majority of the respondents (91%) have at least 2 years experience working in the UAE, with 35% of them have an experience of more than 10 years.

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Results and Discussion Most of the respondents indicated that EnE is important (32%) or very important (65%) to their organization, with only 3% of the respondents considered EnE not important to their workplace (Fig. 1).

Not important 3%

Important 32%

Very important 65%

Figure 1: Importance of EnE to respondentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC; organization/company.

Classification of E3 in the UAE varies among the respondents as shown in Fig. 2.

However, a significant fraction of the respondents (41%) classified E3 in the country as weak and some classified it as strong (23%). Of noticeable is that 26% of the respondents do not know how to classify E3 in the UAE. About 60% of the respondents considered solid waste management, water management, wastewater management and risk assessment as highly needed by their organization/company (Fig. 3). Other highly needed EnE areas such as air pollution assessment and control, land pollution, and modeling of environmental system were selected by a lesser fraction of respondents (about 40%). The least highly needed EnE area selected was cleaner production (20%). Overall, these results emphasize the importance of E3 in nearly all its fields to the UAE market. Some respondents indicated other EnE areas that are needed by their organization/company including, sustainability design requirements, impact of marine activities on coastal areas, hazardous waste management, EIA, and environmental management planning.

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Don't know Very weak Weak Strong Very strong 0

10

20

30

40

50

Respondents (%)

Figure 2: Classification of E3 in the UAE.

Modeling environmental systems Risk assessment Cleaner production Wastewater management Water management Land pollution Air pollution assessment and control Solid waste management 0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Respondents (%)

Figure 3: Areas of EnE highly needed in the UAE.

In response to the question about the anticipated UAE market demand to EnE specializations, graduates with a BSc degree in engineering and a minor in EnE or with a BSc degree in EnE will have a moderate to high demand (i.e. 3.7 and 3.4, respectively on a scale of 5) as shown in Fig. 4. Those with MSc degree in EnE will have a moderate

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5 4 3 2 1 PhD EnE

MSc EnE

BSc Eng. With minor EnE

BSc EnE

0 Diploma EnE

Respondents' average score

demand (3.1 on a scale of 5) and those with a diploma or a PhD degree in EnE will have a low demand (2.3 on a scale of 5). It should be noted that this demand is rather descriptive. Quantitative evaluation of the demand for EnE specializations in the UAE is not known and could be a topic of a future study.

Degree needed

Figure 4: Forthcoming demand to graduates with E3 (0 means none and 5 means very high)

Figure 5 illustrates that good job opportunities that require specialization in EnE at the recruiter groups listed in Q9 of the survey form (Appendix A) would exist. Of these recruiter groups, environmental ministry/agencies, and city directorates (G1), water and wastewater management connected to city municipalities (G2), oil and petrochemical industry (G3), and consulting firms that prepare EIA studies or perform risk assessment (G8) would be the main recruiters. For the other recruiter groups, job opportunities for graduates with knowledge of EnE would be above moderate. Also, respondents added other potential recruiters for graduates specializing in EnE including, energy companies, infrastructure developers, academic sector, and facility management.

Respondents' average score

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5 4 3 2 1 0 G1

G2

G3

G4

G5

G6

G7

G8

G9 G10 G11

Potential recruiter group

Figure 5: Potential recruiter groups that require knowledge of EnE in the UAE (0 means none and 5 means very high)

Several respondents made some comments about E3 education in the UAE. Some stressed on the need to graduate EnE and EHS professionals to meet current and anticipated demands created by regulatory requirements and several initiatives. Lately, Abu Dhabi Emirate recognized EHS as a priority among different sectors in the emirate.

Moreover, sustainability is a main pillar of the UAE government policy (i.e., Agenda 2030). Also, top managers in the oil and gas industry call for zero-flaring. All of this makes the environmental field with all its disciplines in high demand for the foreseeable future. As such, respondents requested that universities must respond to this demand by offering relevant courses and graduate capable people to face current and future challenges.

Some respondents suggested that focus should be on innovative environmental education and training systems to develop sustainable technologies and promote the needed cultural changes. Other respondents thought that more EnE courses within the civil engineering curriculum are needed or an EnE division within the civil engineering department should be established. Others thought that all engineering disciplines should receive some E3.

Some even thought that the environmental education should expand, by different extents, to all colleges so that graduates are aware of the environmental issues facing the society which then could be transferred to their surroundings. Some respondents suggested that current engineers should seek environment and safety diplomas/certification from recognized institutions as this will add values to their careers.

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SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS This paper presented a review of the current status of Environmental Engineering Education (E3) in the UAE higher education institutes. The review showed that none of the higher education institutes in UAE provide specialized undergraduate E3. E3 is rather provided through courses offered in the Civil or Chemical Engineering programs in few of these institutes. The UAE market need for graduates with E3 is also assessed in this paper through a survey. It was found that the UAE market is in high need of graduates from this field. Based on the results of the review and the survey, it is recommended to initiate programs of E3 to be offered in major public higher education institutes in UAE.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The authors would like to thank all engineers and managers who responded to the market survey and to students participated in the survey distribution and documentation.

REFERENCES [1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5] [6]

Gutierrez-Martin, F. and Huttenhain, S.H., Environmental education: new paradigms and engineering syllabus Journal of Cleaner Production, 11, 247–251, 2003.

Jassim, M. and Coskuner, G., Environmental engineering education (E3) in the Gulf Co-operation Countries. European Journal of Engineering Education, 32(1), 93–103, 2007 Gutiérrez-Martín, F. and Dahab, M.F., Issues of sustainability and pollution prevention in environmental engineering education. Water Sci. Technol., 38(11), 271-278, 1998.

Alha, K., Holliger, C., Larsen, B.S., Purcell, P. and Rauch, W., Environmental engineering education – summary report of the 1st European Seminar. Water Sci. Technol., 41(2), 1–7, 2000.

Schmitt, T. G. and Wilderer, P. A., Environmental engineering education in Germany. Water Sci. and Technol., 34(12), 183-190, 1996.

Bishop, P.L., Environmental engineering education in North America. Water Sci. Technol., 41(2), 9–16, 2000

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Appendix A

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES UNIVERSITY Faculty of Engineering Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering P.O. Box 17555  Al Ain  UAE Dear evaluator: A research team at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the UAE University is evaluating the market needs for environmental engineering education in the UAE. We would therefore appreciate your valuable input by taking few minutes to fill out this survey.

Opinion Survey* Needs for Environmental Engineering in the UAE Organization/Company Name and Location: _________________________________________ Evaluator Name (optional): _______________________________________________________ Position: _________________________Contact e-mail (optional):________________________ Tel (optional):_____________________Fax (optional):_________________________________ 1. How many years of work experience in the UAE do you have? ________________________ 2. What is the highest degree you hold? Diploma B. Sc. M. Sc.

Ph. D.

others (please indicate)____

3. What is your area of specialty? _________________________________________________ 4. Approximately, how many engineers from all specialties are currently employed in your organization/company? ___________________________________________________ 5. How important is environmental engineering to your organization/company? Very important Important Not important 6. How do you classify the environmental engineering education in the UAE? Very Strong Strong Weak Very weak

Don‘t know

7. Which area of environmental engineering is highly needed by your organization/company (please mark whichever applies)? Solid waste management Air pollution assessment and control Land pollution Water management Wastewater management Cleaner production Risk assessment Modeling environmental systems Others (please indicate)__________________________________________________ 8. In your opinion, how will be the demand of your organization/company in the next 5 years to graduates with the following degrees (0 means none and 5 means very high)?

Degree A diploma in environmental engineering A bachelor degree in environmental engineering A bachelor degree in engineering (civil, chemical, etc) with a minor in environmental engineering A master degree in environmental engineering A Ph.D. degree in environmental engineering

0

1

2

3

4

5

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9. In your opinion, what job opportunities that require knowledge of environmental engineering are available in the UAE (0 means none and 5 means very high) Group 0 1 2 3 4 5 G1. Environmental ministry, environmental agencies, and city directorates G2. Water and wastewater management connected to city municipalities and wastewater collection systems G3. Oil and petrochemical industry G4. Companies which design, construct and operate water and wastewater treatment plants G5. Consulting engineers for public and private institutions concerning water management, handling of resources, solid waste, protection and rehabilitation of waters and soil.

G6. Environmental public laboratories G7. Companies which provide necessary materials and equipment for water and wastewater treatment plants G8. Consulting firms that prepare environmental impact assessment studies or perform risk assessment G9. Industrial enterprises for the management and quality assurance of raw materials, products and waste streams G10. Research engineers in the development and application of experiments, models, tools and software to simulate environmental systems G11. Institutions (national, regional or international) working on management activities Others (please indicate below and rank it needs) G12.

G13.

10. Please write any comment you may have related to environmental engineering education in the UAE.

Thank you for your corporation

* All information provided in this survey will be kept confidential, and will be used only to evaluate the need for environmental engineering education in the UAE.

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AUTHORS AND KEYWORDS INDEX

A Abu-Lebdeh, 64 Ali, 78 Al-Khateeb, 26 Al-Tamimi, 64 Architectural Engineering, 97 Awareness of Sustainable Development, 78

B Beheiry, 64 Bkheet, 1 Boat Course, 40 Built Environment, 97

C Civil Engineering, 64 Civil Engineering Education, 51 Construction, 87 Construction Courses, 64 Curriculum Development, 106

D de Werk, 40 Delft University of Technology, 40 Djoudjou, 13

E Education, 13, 87 Education for Sustainable Development, 26 Effects of Buildings Construction on Environment, 78 Elmasry, 97 Environmental Education, 1 Environmental Engineering Education, 106

G Green-Building, 87 Gulf Cooperation Council, 1, 51

H Higher Education, 1, 106

I Integrating Sustainable Development in Civil Engineering Education, 78 Integration of Sustainable Development, 13 Integration of Sustainable Development in Engineering Education, 40 Intensive Course, 40

J Jawad, 51, 87

M Maraqa, 106 Meliani, 13 Mesopotamia Youth's Environment Forum, 26 Mohamed, 106 Mulder, 40 Murtula, 64

P Pedagogical Framework, 97

R Research, 13

INTEGRATION OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION-ISSUES AND PRACTICE

S Shanableh, 1 Small, 51, 87 Sustainability, 26, 51, 87 Sustainability Education, 64, 97 Sustainability Wheels, 26 Sustainable Development, 1, 13, 26 Sustainable Development Concepts in Engineering Education, 78 Sustainable Development Concepts, 78 Sustainable Development Education, 1

T Transportation Courses, 64

U Undergraduates, 26 United Arab Emirates, 97, 106 University, 13

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