2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

With the globalization of our world, it is important for engineering graduates to not just gain an understanding of global issues that impact today’s society but become global problem solvers. To do this, students need to attain global competence, which is the ability to understand issues that affect all people, especially those who have a perceived different cultural background, and to apply these understandings in intercultural situations.
This paper investigates how engineering students that participated in an international, faculty-led 5-week program in Brazil, focused on sustainable energy, were able to develop global competency skills. As part of this one-month program, the students took two second year level courses, Energy Systems and Chemical Engineering Conservation Principles. During the program, the students visited multiple sustainable energy sites and talked with Brazilian industrial leaders who pioneered these technologies. They participated in designing a sustainable urban development project for a Brazilian energy technology company, CPFL Energia, and in collaboration with Brazilian engineering students from Universities in Brazil.
The development of global competencies in the students on this program were researched using the OECD Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) global competence framework and questionnaire. The PISA global competence framework has four pillars: 1. the capacity to examine issues and situations of local, global and cultural significance; 2. the capacity to understand and appreciate different perspectives and world views; 3. the ability to engage in open, appropriate, and effective interactions across cultures; and 4. the capacity to take action toward sustainable development and collective well-being.[1] The students were given the voluntary questionnaire before and after the program to Brazil which included the PISA global competence questions as well as information on demographics, languages spoken, and personal cultural influences.
This paper discusses the pedagogical and programmatic strategies that were implemented in the short-term international, faculty-led program to meet each of the 4 pillars of global competence. It also provides results and insight into which constructs of global competencies were strengthened in engineering students after participating in the program.
With the globalization of our world, it is important for engineering graduates to not just gain an understanding of global issues that impact today’s society but become global problem solvers. To do this, students need to attain global competence, which is the ability to understand issues that affect all people, especially those who have a perceived different cultural background, and to apply these understandings in intercultural situations.
This paper investigates how engineering students that participated in an international, faculty-led 5-week program in Brazil, focused on sustainable energy, were able to develop global competency skills. As part of this one-month program, the students took two second year level courses, Energy Systems and Chemical Engineering Conservation Principles. During the program, the students visited multiple sustainable energy sites and talked with Brazilian industrial leaders who pioneered these technologies. They participated in designing a sustainable urban development project for a Brazilian energy technology company, CPFL Energia, and in collaboration with Brazilian engineering students from Universities in Brazil.
The development of global competencies in the students on this program were researched using the OECD Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) global competence framework and questionnaire. The PISA global competence framework has four pillars: 1. the capacity to examine issues and situations of local, global and cultural significance; 2. the capacity to understand and appreciate different perspectives and world views; 3. the ability to engage in open, appropriate, and effective interactions across cultures; and 4. the capacity to take action toward sustainable development and collective well-being.[1] The students were given the voluntary questionnaire before and after the program to Brazil which included the PISA global competence questions as well as information on demographics, languages spoken, and personal cultural influences.
This paper discusses the pedagogical and programmatic strategies that were implemented in the short-term international, faculty-led program to meet each of the 4 pillars of global competence. It also provides results and insight into which constructs of global competencies were strengthened in engineering students after participating in the program.
1. OECD (2019), "PISA 2018 Global Competence Framework", in PISA 2018 Assessment and Analytical Framework, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/043fc3b0-en.