Report on the future role of engineers in society and the skills and competences engineering will require

Brad Tabas (1, 2) , Una Beagon (3) , Klara Kövesi (2, 1)

1 FoAP - Formation et apprentissages professionnels
2 ENSTA Bretagne_SHS - Département Sciences Humaines et Sociales ENSTA Bretagne
3 TU - Technological University [Dublin]

This literature review outlines the current state of the art knowledge in relation to the influenceof diversity, attractiveness of the engineering profession and the skills and competenciesrequired of engineers to achieve the SDGs. We aim to answer the overall research question:How do engineering educators develop new learning and teaching approaches(methods) that will attract a diverse group of students (and mature learners) whilstachieving the SDGs in 2030?The main objective of the A-STEP 2030 project is to create an attractive and fascinatinglearning environment to encourage young people with diverse backgrounds to engage inengineering studies and the profession as a whole. The aim of this project is threefold:• In Activity 1, we would like to determine the future roles and skills requirements of engineersto enhance the sustainable development of our society. For this reason, we ask the questions: What are the skills and competencies that engineers need to resolve the SDGs? What are the future professional roles of engineers in relation to the global issues facingour society?• In Activity 2; we investigate the intrinsic values and motivations of young people, studentsand adult learners in order to determine how this influences their future career choices and touse this knowledge to make a career in engineering more attractive to all. We propose severalresearch questions: What are their preferences in making their future career choices? What are the values and motivations influencing their decisions? How do they perceive the engineering profession and their ideal future employer? Where are the gaps between their expectations and the needs of the future engineeringprofession?• In Activity 3, our objective is to develop new and innovative teaching and learning practicesto encourage our diverse population to engage in engineering studies and the profession as awhole. To do this, we examine: Is there a relationship between sustainable development and diversity? How to encourage a diverse population to engage in engineering studies and theprofession? How to optimise diversity?For our literature review study, we applied a traditional literature review method by collectingarticles related to the following five topics in line with our Activities:- Sustainable development,- Sustainability and diversity,- The Role of Engineers in achieving the SDGs,- Attractiveness of Engineering Education and- Future skills and competencies in relation to sustainable development.We searched relatively recent (in the last 15 years) peer reviewed scientific journal articles,conference papers, scientific books and reports. For our search, we used available scientificjournal databases (e.g.: Science Direct, ERIC), library catalogues and subject specific websites(e.g.: EE publications on the SEFI website).

Mots clés: Engineering education; Literature review; Future skills and competencies for engineers; Attractiveness of engineering profession; Role of engineers in achieving SDGs

Domaines: Sciences de l'Homme et Société; Education

Brad Tabas, Una Beagon, Klara Kövesi. Report on the future role of engineers in society and the skills and competences engineering will require. ENSTA Bretagne - École nationale supérieure de techniques avancées Bretagne. 2019. ⟨hal-04032850⟩