Embedding sustainability in the engineering curriculum: Meeting the requirements of professional accreditation

Professional accreditation agencies are increasing requirements on sustainability in engineering education as a response to ethical obligations, industry needs and emerging academic best practice. In 2021, Engineers Ireland increased sustainability requirements in new accreditation criteria. This paper reports on a thematic analysis carried out by Engineers Ireland on the self-assessment and achievement of these new accreditation criteria on sustainability. The analysis was conducted on the self-assessment reports from a large Irish University, referred to as University A hereafter. The results indicate that, for the purpose of meeting accreditation requirements, University A has interpreted sustainability in their programmes as either meeting the UN Sustainability Goals (SDG's) by mapping modules to the SDG's, or by aligning Programme Area (PA) 7 Sustainability of the Engineers Ireland accreditation criteria with the Engineers Ireland Programme Outcomes (PO's). The paper outlines the main themes and approaches identified across 17 engineering programmes and presents 2 case studies of how sustainability is embedded in engineering curricula in Ireland.