The volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) global context, amplified by two years of COVID has a profound effect on the predominant project based learning approach within design and design engineering curricula. Project management and affective or emotional factors are evidenced as significant but often overlooked within this context. Linking literature on the topics with data from n=200 participants from 3 HEIs, three aspects of popular industry Agile project management approaches are shown to correlate directly with addressing the VUCA context together with a model as a basis for considering the alignment of the topics.