An ethical stance: Engineering curricula designed for social responsibility

Engineering must provide the global community with socially responsible, ethical and sustainable design solutions. The potential for engineering designers to contribute positively to the betterment of society, through product service systems that provide opportunities for sustainable development, enhance societal well-being and empower communities to be self determining, must be realised. This will require the engineering community to take leadership roles in product design and development and to engage with emerging economies to deliver appropriate designs and sustainable technologies. Social responsibility and sustainability will need to be at the forefront of product design and development and more importantly, integrated throughout engineering education. As global designers, engineering graduates must be ethical and responsible, fully cognizant of the consequences of their professional activities, their potential for global societal contribution and their responsibilities to all stakeholders and communities. Opportunities exist for well considered curricula to drive new engineering paradigms and determine attitudinal change amongst the next engineering designers.