Many of the technologies developed by engineers in the past are contributing to the problems society is currently facing. In the future, engineers must help solve—not create new challenges—points out Lars Christoffersen, DTU’s Dean of Undergraduate Studies and Student affairs, Senior Vice President.
Here, Lars Christoffersen answers five questions and responds to sustainability and education at DTU.
1. DTU’s focus on sustainability is important to whom?
There are several aspects to this. Campus-wise, the students have wondered why DTU hasn’t a greater focus on sustainability. Despite championing sustainable initiatives, our efforts haven’t been visible. So we face a communication challenge in explaining what we’re actually doing.
We also see a greater demand for sustainability in the programmes. Over the last few years, DTU has integrated sustainability learning outcomes into relevant courses, just as the overall profiles for diploma, BSc, and MSc programmes have integrated sustainability. Sustainability, for example, is included in large basic courses, such as ‘Philosophy of Science in Engineering’ and in ‘Strategic Analysis and System Design’—not to mention in a wealth of specific courses on e.g. life cycle analysis in the environmental and food fields and on topics such as digitalization. For over a decade, we have had Green Challenge, which highlights projects with technologies in social, economic, and environmental sustainability. So we have done a lot and intend to do a lot more.
One of the areas we need to address is that lecturers lack ways of integrating sustainability into teaching. They really want to, but they don’t have models and examples of which sustainability matters most—the environmental, economic—or social.
2. Why do engineering students need to address sustainability?
We are in the paradoxical situation whereby many of the technologies developed by engineers in the past are contributing to the problems currently facing society. It isn’t necessarily engineers who have used the technologies, but they have helped to develop them. Among other things, the technologies have contributed to pollution and climate change. This is something we must avoid in the future. Our job is to help solve problems—not create them. And, of course, we must cooperate with other disciplines because technology alone can’t solve the world’s sustainability challenges.
That is why we’re also developing a sustainability charter that will be included in our studies as part of our overall sustainability strategy. Our student organization Polyteknisk Forening (PF student association) fully supports this initiative.
This helps to create a sense of pride and responsibility for students’ future work—namely the idea of not creating problems, but solving them in a sustainable way.
3. So what should students do differently in the future?
As an engineer, they will face many dilemmas in the future. I myself worked in a consulting engineering company at a time when new building regulations were introduced. Clients wanted advice on how to get around the regulations because they were cumbersome—and we had to help the contractors. A charter might have proved useful there. At that time, sustainability wasn’t high on the agenda. In the short term, ignoring sustainability might confer an economic advantage, but in the long term, it can prove really expensive. Just look at Cheminova or other companies that in keeping with the norms and legislation of the time made short-term gains, but which now owe a huge debt to society.
In the future, we must use the sustainability approach to create good, long-term, economic solutions. Thinking sustainably will lead future engineers to come up with economically viable solutions.
4. How will this approach affect society?
On the one hand, it will ensure that we don’t create problems of the future and it will also retain Denmark’s favourable international position. We are a small country in terms of population and size—with the opportunity to try things out on a small scale before upscaling. We are helping to lead the way for others— both in terms of advantages and disadvantages. In many ways, Denmark is a role model for other countries. We have the clear advantage of being a well-educated society, so it is crucial that sustainability is integrated into the study programmes based on facts and evidence—and not just opinions.
5. Do you think that a university that is actively committed to sustainability leads to more people applying for an engineering degree?
If we become more adept at talking about what we are actually doing and avoid greenwashing—because students need to have confidence that we are serious about it—then the students will be our best sustainability ambassadors. They are already proud of many of the things we are doing at DTU. They are proud of our student environment and teaching—and the current students are happy to tell future students about this. And a serious approach to sustainability is one of the things that prospective students demand. So yes, I am convinced our approach is making a difference.