Engineering education for a greener future: A review of curricula, competencies, and pedagogy in the era of industry 5.0
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.46502/issn.1856-7576/2026.20.02.3Keywords:
climate change, engineering, higher education, sustainable developmentAbstract
This article is directed towards faculty members, instructional designers, and academic staff who wish to integrate sustainability education into higher education institutions. It studies recent developments in climate change and sustainability education, with emphasis on engineering, and focuses on three dimensions: curriculum design, competencies, and pedagogical strategies. Based on a semi-systematic review of academic literature from 2020 to 2025, the study explores the integration of sustainability into curricula and discusses frameworks for assessing the effectiveness of sustainability education. It highlights sustainability competencies and green skills which engineers need to address climate change, and examines their connection to recent trends such as Industry 5.0. Furthermore, the article describes the main teaching methodologies used in climate change and sustainability education. Several challenges are identified, such as the tension between weak and strong sustainability, critiques of the STEM framework, the gender gap, and misalignment between academic programs and industry demands. The gender gap is not only a demographic imbalance, it may also contribute to the low level of commitment to the environment observed among students. At the same time, the concept of sustainable development has been criticized for its emphasis on economic growth, which some authors identify as the root of the environmental crisis.
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