Both design processes and the role of the designer in society are in constant transformation. Designers are involved in increasingly complex problems, performing tasks that go beyond technical perspectives and production processes. This means that education must prepare design and engineering students for an uncertain future. Within this context, design skills and creativity are considered tools that allow designers to meet the future challenges and requirements of education and the design profession. The starting point for this research is the definition of what current designers do to successfully perform the role they play in the field of design. An online survey has been created to compile data on these competences at an international scale, as well as a methodology to analyse them in the classroom. These tools were used in a class with 105 students and in two case studies with a small design company and a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO). The analysis tools were created and designed to give an understanding of the competences that designers have, from their own self-perception to the perception of their peers and professors or observers. The main contribution of this research is to improve selfreflection for students and young designers. Reflection is understood as a part of effective learning that enables students to work creatively to meet the design challenges of the 21 st Century.

The current social situation makes designers face increasingly complex challenges, closely linked to environmental and social issues. Design education has to respond to this, since design competencies are required to manage them. In this context, the present research studies how designers face these challenges under a competency approach. This paper relates the designer's competencies to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the action guide proposed by the UUEE with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.From this perspective, the competencies that designers acquire during their training must be aligned with the SDGs. However, recent research indicates that design students have competency gaps when working in social, environmental or sustainable design processes [1] [2]. In traditional education, core competencies for sustainability, such as Integrated Problem-solving, Strategic or Critical thinking, according to UNESCO 2019 Sustainable Key Competencies, are not considered particularly important. However, they are fundamental competencies defined in previous research on Design Creative Competencies. Moreover, authors point out that applying the competency approach to sustainability is relevant to solve real social challenges and opportunities [3]. That is why this article proposes a parallelism between designers' competencies, in other words, those they use when developing creative processes, and the SDGs. It is also required to analyse the competencies that enable them to solve problems 'with respect to realworld sustainability problems, challenges, and opportunities ' [4]. This context leads to innovative questions about design students' curricular profile in the 21 st century.