Global competence education in practice

Abstract

The 21st century has placed new professional demands on engineers as a result of global economic, social, environmental, and technological developments. As a result, engineering institutions have been under pressure to evolve their curricula to better prepare students for their future professions. Industry and academic scholarship have long recognized that engineering education must foster global competence in students, but the complexity of the concept may make its integration challenging. Despite its proliferation in educational literature, the concept is still in its infancy, which is connected to a lack of practical experience and empirical data for informed decisions. Considering that global competence learning may be a foreign concept to traditional technical and science education, there is a risk that well-intentioned but overeager efforts may not lead to the desired learning outcomes. These considerations guided the research project presented here, which examines global competence education for engineering students with the aim of developing an empirical foundation for advancing practical institutional engagement with the issue. Recognizing the need for a solid conceptual foundation at the basis of any efforts, it revolves around three main themes of global competence education for engineers: conceptions of core global competencies for engineers, their development, and their assessment.

These themes are addressed by synthesizing the insights of five studies that combine a large-scale review of engineering institutions’ practical efforts, a comparison of competence frameworks, stakeholder evaluations of competence importance, and the experiences and perspectives of engineering students and educators. Synthesizing the insights of these studies, this thesis first addresses the concept of global competence and its contents by providing a detailed conceptualization of global competence including a definition and core competencies, and examines what it means to be globally competent. Moreover, it addresses the issue of global competence learning at engineering institutions by providing a proposal for an institutional strategy for global competence efforts, which was developed by combining insights into institutional global competence efforts with stakeholder experiences and perspectives. In this regard, this thesis complements its empirical investigation with more practical contributions, and may serve as a valuable foundation for further theoretical and practical engagement with global competence education.

urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-363503