Roadmap for Industrial Engineering Education Sustainability

Abstract

In industrial engineering education the possibility links are not easy between renewal and sustainability processes, particularly when renewal is encouraged irrespective of sustainability. This paper aims to explore sustainability frameworks to better understand and improve the effectiveness of industrial engineering education change processes towards sustainability in universities .This work describes a sustainable process developed for the continuous improvement of a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering (BSIE) program. The objective is to apply the results of the student outcome assessment and their evaluation to improve the program. The methodology taken in this work is implementation of a roadmap for sustainable development built around existing findings in literature, higher education case studies, and chosen sustainable development practices. Satisfaction of the various stakeholders was achieved and year-on-year improvement in the achievement of the student outcomes was observed by following the sustainable development roadmap. This study focuses on the sustainability of undergraduate industrial engineering programs only. The recommendations suggested at the end of each academic year are feasible and practical for implementation in the next year by all faculty and staff members in order to close the loop for a sustainable development cycle. The results of this study can be useful for transition from traditional IE education to applied IE Education. This work also describes how the concept of sustainability can be part of an IE department, adapting the philosophy of sustainable development.

Education for sustainability in higher education

“…Sustainability is no longer an optional activity but has become a basic requirement to keep pace with rapid technological development. In academia these efforts include the program itself as well as the staff members (management, administrators, teachers, and researchers), students and workplace (Shafeek, 2020).…”

“…It gives students an impactful way to deeper their commitment to sustainability by using the campus as learning lab for example, to help the waste prevention goals. Implementing items of sustainability on campus can happen quickly but creating a culture of sustainability needs a long time (Shafeek, 2020). There is a shortage of events that promote students to develop sustainable behaviors.…”