Skills for Sustainability | The Student Voice

Skills for sustainability The Student Voice

Report for the Siemens Digital Industries Software ‘Skills for Sustainability’ survey. Produced by Petrus Communications for Siemens DISW in partnership with the student organizations:

siemens.com/software

Executive summary

The Siemens ‘Skills for Sustainability’ survey was launched in November 2022 as a pilot. The objective was to give students a voice in how sustainability is addressed globally in engineering education. Insights from the project leader at Siemens and the student organizations can be found in the panel discussion summary exploring the survey results on page 5.

The survey design followed a literature review and a series of global focus groups with students. The literature review enabled us to build on existing work in the field, and the focus groups allowed students to define which topics they felt were the most important. A total of 667 complete submissions were analyzed. For this pilot, our geographic focus was Europe and the Americas, though the responses are global. We collected the data with the support of the student organizations SPEED, ESTIEM, BEST, European Young Engineers, Siemens interns and participants from Petrus’ experiential learning programs.

Key findings

Sustainability-related topics in education

• ‘ Climate Change ’ is the most covered topic by respondents in their studies to date, with the next most covered topic being ‘sustainable energy production and management.’

• The second least covered topic currently studied is the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) . This may represent a significant learning gap and misunderstanding of sustainability, as the UN SDGs set out that sustainability is more than fighting climate change - they also include issues such as quality education and health and well-being.

• The ‘circular economy’ is the least covered topic , presenting another gap. Students and recent graduates rated the ability to apply

lifecycle or circular economy thinking as the fourth most important skill for addressing sustainability-related challenges.

Sustainability skills

• In an open question, the top career skills students felt they needed to address sustainability included professionalism, communication, creativity and problem-solving.

• From the list of proposed responses, students rated mindset, critical thinking and creativity and innovation as the most important skills needed for addressing challenges. Expertise in a specific subject was generally rated lower than transversal skills.

• Comparing across regions, problem-solving skills are considered much more important to respondents in Africa, the Middle East, and Europe than from respondents in the Americas and Asia Pacific. European students considered self-drive and motivation more important.

• Intercultural skills are seen as more important for those in Africa, the Middle East, and Europe than for those in the Americas and Asia Pacific. Those in computer science and IT fields rated the ability to work well with people of diverse profiles more highly than other groups but worryingly also rated integrity and an ethical approach lower than all other groups.

• When comparing ‘students and recent graduates’ with ‘all respondents’, the results show a shift in the relative importance of certain skills, with empathy ranked least important when taking all respondents into account but third most important by students and recent graduates

• A further trend in the importance of skills can be seen in students and recent graduates ranking critical thinking as the third least important skill,

with a high number of respondents in this group rating it ‘not at all important.’ In contrast, critical thinking is the second most important skill considering all respondents.

Activities for developing sustainability skills

Respondents were asked which activities they felt were the most important for addressing sustainability.

• The most useful activities were related to applying knowledge and skills in ‘real world’ contexts. Real-world contexts included project work, hands-on community or volunteer projects, in-person apprenticeships, internships or summer programs, and working on real business case studies.

• 59% of respondents felt projects directly linked to UN SDGs are useful, whereas only about 30% have covered the topic in their education so far.

• Although ‘Generation Z’ is associated with being constantly online, respondents did not rank online apprenticeships, internships or summer programs as useful as in-person experiences. The least valuable activities for all respondents were working on projects in the metaverse or digital twins.

Student experience of activities for developing sustainability skills

Respondents were asked which activities they experienced as a student in higher education.

• The most experienced activities included student clubs, teams, and societies. The next most popular activities among respondents were developing skills with engineering tools and software, competitions, hackathons, and innovation and entrepreneurship programs or challenges.

• Only 22% of recent graduate respondents said they had experienced community or hands-on project work in their first year and nearly 20% of all respondents had had no experience in this area.

• None of the top five activities rated as the most useful by respondents - mostly

real-world experiences – are commonly experienced by students during their education.

• Similarly, participating in student clubs, teams, and societies are viewed as relatively less useful but are also the activities experienced by the most respondents.

• Working with the metaverse and digital twins are the least commonly experienced activities, although these activities are experienced to a higher degree outside of Europe.

• While participating in student clubs, teams, and societies is experienced to a high degree when considering all respondents, those in Africa and the Middle East have experienced these activities less than in other regions.

Generation Z characteristics

With the current generation of university students often referred to as Generation Z (born mid-1990s to early 2000s), respondents were asked which three words they would use to describe their generation. The most common responses alluded in various ways to ‘digital’, ‘internet,’ and ‘technology.” Other popular words were innovative, openminded, creative, adventurous, and hard-working. Responses were not all positive, though, with critical terms such as ‘lazy’ and ‘arrogant’ also shared.

Student comments and suggestions for leaders

• When students were asked for suggestions for education and industry leaders, four areas for change emerged: hands-on learning, student creativity, embedding sustainability into education, and collaboration and educational reform.

• Students want to work on real-world projects and are eager to impact society with their ideas. They also want urgent changes to the engineering curriculum to make way for new skills and knowledge. They see this as being delivered through greater collaboration between academia and industry.

The student voice at the 2022 GEDC Industry Forum

Since 2017, the GEDC Industry Forum has brought together leaders from the private sector, education, and stakeholder organizations to develop engineering leaders, experts, and innovators of the future. This leadership design workshop’s collaborative and creative format presents an opportunity to leverage collective knowledge and experience while developing an effective and meaningful dialogue.

At this year’s GEDC Industry Forum in Cape Town, South Africa, we kicked off proceedings with a lively discussion about the Siemens ‘Skills for Sustainability’ survey results, hearing the views of our student panel, who also answered questions from the audience.

The survey was designed to ensure that when looking at ways to improve sustainability engineering education globally, students’ education experience is listened to and that they remain engaged in this critical aspect of their education. Our student panel consisted of:

• Maria Laura Polo Gonzalez , President of SPEED

• Mihai Filimon , BEST

• Francisca Trigueiros , ESTIEM

• Thabelo Mohlala , Nelson Mandela University

• Sihle Trolly , Nelson Mandela University

Jennifer Bradford , from Siemens Digital Industries Software, who hosted the event, commented on the importance of the pilot survey and the need to hear from students about what they are currently experiencing in their education and where the significant gaps might be.

Jennifer shared some of the early insights and her initial thoughts from the survey findings:

• Students are getting little exposure to sustainability learning, in particular, the UN SDGs

• There is a lack of opportunities for students to gain ‘real life’ hands-on industry experience

• New students are demonstrating a shift in the importance they give to transversal skills,

especially towards empathy and away from critical thinking, digital skills, and expertise

• Students emphasize communication, professionalism, creativity, and problem-solving skills yet believe their creativity is not fully utilized. They also want to learn more about greenwashing and how to avoid it.

• Gen Z values in-person learning over online, despite the latter’s ability to reach diverse learners. This may stem from negative experiences with online education during the pandemic and the desire to connect with peers in person.

• Students are calling for urgent educational reform, and want to see sustainability education embedded into learning.

Support for the survey

Jennifer asked the students why they had supported this research.

“

“

There was a really low score for the sustainable development goals which could potentially impact how sustainability is viewed within the curriculum and ultimately make addressing climate change more difficult. There are a lot of other things that those SDGs address –reduced inequalities, quality education, good health and wellbeing measures – so the fact there is relatively little exposure is concerning.”

“ We need to tell students a better story about what it is that students are going to be doing out there in the real world.”

“

The fact that critical thinking is at the bottom is one of the things that I found personally most alarming. We have work to do regarding framing some context.”

“ Education is one of the most important tools that we can use to solve the problems we see every day.”

Thabelo Mohlala

“ Students are responsible for implementing changes, so we believe that their voice should be heard.”

Mihal Filimon

We’re increasing students’ ‘participation in the development of education. The topic of sustainability is something that students are also striving for.”

Francisca Trigueiros

“

Student advocacy involves putting students in decisionmaking positions, which is what Siemens and Petrus did when they asked us to participate in this survey.”

Maria Laura Polo Gonzalez

The results?

The student panel mostly felt the results confirmed their current sentiments; however, they were surprised that even 30% of students had said they gained some experience with the SDGs during their studies. On the other hand, they were not surprised by the high number of students calling for more hands-on learning. They felt that more clarification for a shared understanding of what language like ‘professionalism’ really means would be helpful. And they remarked on the current sense of ‘fear-mongering’ among students who are unsure what industry expects of them once they graduate.

How can universities help?

Jennifer asked the students what they would like to see their universities doing to help.

One suggestion was more mentoring and cooperation, with industry taking more of an initiative to make links with students and community projects. Other points included making more resources widely available to all universities, especially in terms of hardware and software, and for these to be available to all students, regardless of their economic status or where they are in the world. Additionally, there was agreement that changes to the curriculum are urgently needed, with industry involvement in those changes.

Tackling the burning issues

Jennifer asked the students to share ideas of how their student organizations and industry could tackle two of the issues raised in the survey: embedding the notion of professionalism and addressing the lack of opportunities for hands-on learning.

The student panelists were full of ideas, highlighting the importance of student advocacy, capacity-building workshops, competitions, and more design forums like the GEDC Forum. They agreed that it is vital that students are included in curriculum design, with specialized courses readily available to them to fill knowledge gaps - especially in sustainability.

More urgent cooperation is needed with industry to provide accessible ways for students to work on real-world projects while studying. There is also a need to develop student organizations to help teach critical skills such as time management, teamwork, and project management skills.

Sihle Trolly mentioned the success of a company he worked with, which bridged the gap between industry and students, bringing industry people in to highlight the skills and qualities required in employees.

“ Students realize there’s a huge gap between what they learn in school and what’s needed in industry, so the idea of professionalism is a big thing.”

Thabelo Mohlala

“ There’s a vacuum when it comes to mentorship. We don’t have mentors. It makes it easier for us to step into the real world knowing there’s someone shielding us and someone holding us by the hand.”

“ The curriculum is out of date, and we have seen little change over the years.”

“ Industry should infiltrate universities and dictate what they need to see from a student, what they expect a graduate engineer should be and what skills they should have.”

Audience questions

One of the audience’s questions was about how universities will take the steps necessary to implement changes.

Thabelo Mohlala emphasized the importance of more consultation and the need to fill the gaps with knowledge we have already identified, including during this event.

Students agreed that organization experiences are going in the right direction, but they are still not ‘real life’ industry projects or even provided by universities. In addition, there was an awareness of the inequality of the offerings between different universities, particularly between the global north and south.

Maria Laura Polo Gonzalez offered excellent examples of the sustainability knowledge and skills gained during an exchange semester in Belgium, where she found elements of sustainability within all courses, including green marketing.

Jennifer thanked the student panel and audience for their valuable input and perfectly summed up with the following calls to action:

1. Curriculum reform is urgent - more agility and responsiveness are needed.

One delegate asked how much of the student panel’s education had included activities or student group experiences outside the formal curriculum.

2. More mentorship opportunities and greater support from industry are essential.

3. Embed sustainability, professionalism, and problem-solving skills into the current curriculum starting now.

“ We need to design a program that will speak to the future because the complex skills that we are identifying now are skills that we will need in the future, but there is a fear of moving from traditional systems.”

“ Start covering sustainability topics within the subjects we already have.”

“ Students need real-life applications, and the universities still do not provide that enough, so people are looking for those somewhere else.”

Mihai Filimon

“ In the competitive job market, internships are a plus, and students value those experiences highly.”

Methodology

The pilot survey entitled ‘Skills for Sustainability’ was developed by Petrus for Siemens Digital Industries Software to find current student views on improving sustainable engineering education globally.

Phase one and two – literature review and focus groups

The survey was designed following a literature review to enable us to build on existing work in this field and a series of global focus groups to define with students what topics they felt were most important.

One input of particular value was the EU A-Step project - https://www.astep2030.eu/en

Phase three – survey design and fieldwork

• The survey was widely distributed with the support of several student organizations, including the Student Platform for Engineering Development (SPEED), European Students of Industrial Engineering and Management (ESTIEM), Board of European Students of Technology (BEST), as well as Siemens interns and participants from Petrus’ experiential learning Programs and Petrus’ university contacts around the world.

• Respondents were mainly engineering students but also students from broader academic fields, including medical/health sciences, law, arts and humanities, and communications.

• Survey distribution focused on five regions: Africa, Americas, APAC, Europe, and the Middle East, but as a pilot, there was significant focus on the Americas and Europe for practical reasons, something we’d like to expand in the future.

• Respondents were offered a selection of openended and closed questions.

• We asked questions to determine the profile of the respondents in terms of their current status, field of study, highest educational qualification, professional work experience, nationality, gender and age, location of study, and if they belonged to student associations.

• The survey was uploaded to Survey Monkey, and the link was distributed across various Petrus, Siemens, and student organization channels, including social media, websites, and emails, as well as via the Siemens Skills for Sustainability Network, Siemens Campus Ambassador Network, and partner organizations, such as the International Society for Engineering Pedagogy (IGIP) and other contacts.

• All survey questions and related communications were in English.

• ESOMAR standards were followed regarding data protection policy – respondents were asked for their acceptance before asking for their personal information (name and address), which were used for the three prizes - an incentive for completing the survey.

The total number of responses was 1,180, with 667 completed and analyzed, removing any duplicates or incomplete submissions.

Further analysis allowed us to compare the same information for different sub-groups (i.e., all respondents and students/recent graduates only). For a full breakdown of respondents, see Respondent Profiles (p11).

Timing and field work

The survey was developed in October and November 2022. Data was collected between 4 - 22 November 2022, and initial results were presented during the World Engineering Education Forum (WEEF) and GEDC Industry Forum on 1 December 2022. For the questionnaire, see Appendices.

Respondent profile (667 Responses)

Status

What is your current status?

None of the above. Please specify:

Other answers: Faculty educational management (retired)/An academic teacher/ Employee Student and full-time employee (software developer)/Undergraduate/Biochemist/PhD student

Field of study or training

What is/was your field of study or training?

Computer science/… Engineering – Electrical and…

Other

Educational qualification

What is your highest educational qualification?

Work experience

How much, if any, professional work experience do you have? (Including internships, apprenticeships)

Nationality

What is your nationality? (584 responses)

Gender

Your identify your gender as (562 responses)

Age

Which age group are you in? (584 responses)

Region

Which region is your current/most recent university located? (505 responses)

Which, if any, student organization do you belong to? (584 responses)

Other answers:

1. American society of Mechanical Engineers, The Institution of Engineering and Technology

2. Annanalai

3. Association Spatiale Toulousaine de Recherche Etudiante (ASTRE)

4. BHFF

5. Grand Challenge Scholars Program (GCSP)

6. Nigeria Institution of Electrical and Electronics Engineering Students (NIEEES)

7. Nigerian Society for Engineers

8. Nigerian Society of Chemical Engineers (NSChE)

9. NiMeche (Nigerian Institution of Mechanical Engineers) Student Chapter

10. Society of Exploration Geophysics (SEG)

11. Society of Petroleum Engineers-UNILAG

12. Society of Physics Students (SPS)

13. Youngo UNFCCC UNEP

Sustainability-related topics

Q1. To what extent, if at all, have you covered any of the following sustainability related topics in your studies to date?

All respondents

Climate change is by far the topic most covered by respondents (45%), with the next most covered topic six percentage points behind (39%), the largest gap between any of the topics covered. While respondents have covered some nonenvironment related topics such as working rights and conditions, and community impact, the second least covered topic during respondents’ studies to date is the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) . This lack of topic coverage could potentially impact how sustainability is viewed as the UN SDGs make it clear that sustainability is about much more than fighting climate change. They also include critical issues such as quality education and good health and well-being. Further, the SDGs emphasize that these sustainability-related topics are all interconnected.

The rate at which topics have been covered does not change significantly when comparing all respondents to only students and recent graduates .

For all respondents, as well as for students and recent grads, the topic of the circular economy is rated last in terms of coverage. However, students and recent graduates rated the ability to apply lifecycle or circular economy thinking as the fourth most important skill for addressing sustainability-related challenges. This means that over 30% more students and recent graduates thought lifecycle and circular economy thinking were important than the number of respondents who have covered this topic in their education.

Sustainability-related skills

Q2. What are the top 3 skills you think you will need to be able to address sustainability related challenges in your future career? (open response)

Other open response questions on skills: Thinking about what you learnt in the first year of your undergraduate studies, what knowledge or skill did you find MOST useful to you?

Knowledge/Skill (n=266)

Communication

Time management

Engineering (including fields of engineering, software, and tools)

Teamwork

Computer skills

Professional knowledge/skills

Programming

Critical thinking

• Communication, time management, and engineering (including the fields of engineering, software, and tools) were respondents three most useful areas.

• Other areas that were respondents viewed as useful were teamwork, computer skills, professional knowledge, programming, and critical thinking.

Thinking again about what you learnt in the first year of your undergraduate students, what knowledge or skill has been LEAST useful to you? Knowledge/Skill (n=235)

• The most common answers included digital skills/ tools, theoretical knowledge, and language.

Q3. How would you rate the following skills in terms of their importance for addressing sustainability related challenges?

According to all respondents, the three highest-rated skills were sustainability mindset, critical thinking, and creativity and innovation. Overall, expertise in a subject area was less important than transversal skills .

Understanding political, social, and economic perspectives both globally and in your community had the highest percentage of all respondents rating these skills as “not at all important.” Contrast this with what experts stated during a recent webinar on sustainability.

Comparing across regions, problem-solving skills are considered much more important to respondents in Africa and the Middle East (71%) and Europe (84%) as compared to those from the Americas (52%) and Asia Pacific (59 %).

Respondents in Europe consider self-drive and motivation significantly more important than respondents in all other regions (81 % for Europe versus 63% for Africa and the Middle East, 53% for the Americas, and 58% for Asia Pacific).

Understanding of political, social, and economic perspectives both globally and in your community, confidence to change something that you think is not right, and a sustainability mindset were similarly

considered more important in Africa, the Middle East and Europe than in the Americas or Asia Pacific. Intercultural skills, or the ability to work well with people of diverse profiles , are much more important for respondents in Africa and the Middle East (80 %) and Europe (76 %) than in the Americas (52%) and Asia Pacific (56%).

When comparing respondents by field of study, respondents in engineering fields rated understanding of political, social, and economic perspectives less important (62%) than those in computer science and IT fields (67%). This skill also received a relatively high number of “not important at all” responses (4%) from engineering respondents.

Integrity and an ethical approach were rated lower by respondents in computer science and IT fields (53%) compared to those in engineering fields (63%) and all respondents (61%).

Compared to all respondents (62%) and those in engineering fields (61%), respondents in computer science and IT fields rated the ability to work well with people of diverse profiles (intercultural skills) as a highly important skill (72%).

When comparing students and recent grads with all respondents, there is a shift in relative importance ratings of skills.

While empathy was ranked least important (55%) when considering all respondents, it was rated the third most important skill by students and recent graduates (63%). However, critical thinking was

rated as the third least important skill (52%) by students and recent graduates, with a relatively high number of respondents in this group rating “not at all important” (around 5%). In comparison, it features as the second most important skill (66%) when taking all respondents into account.

Sustainability-related activities

Q4. How useful do you think the following activities are for developing the most important skills for addressing sustainability?

According to respondents, the top four most useful activities are all related to applying knowledge and skills in “real world” contexts . This does not change whether considering all respondents or only students and recent graduates.

While 59% of respondents say that projects with a direct link to UN SDGs are useful for developing sustainability-related skills, only about 30% of all respondents say that they have covered the topic of the UN SDGs in their education to date, and 31% of respondents say that they have not worked on any projects with a direct link to the UN SDGs throughout their education.

Despite “Gen Z” being associated with being online constantly, respondents did not rank online apprenticeships, internships, or summer programs as useful in-person experiences. Work on the metaverse or digital twins are rated least useful by all respondents, as well as students and recent graduates only.

Comparing across regions, work or project experience in the metaverse is rated as much less useful by respondents in Europe (30.87%) than those in any other region (65.79% of those in Africa, 51.08% in the Americas, and 61.45% in Asia Pacific). Respondents in the Americas rated community or

volunteer hands-on projects as much less useful than those in all other regions (50.27% versus 75% in Africa and the Middle East, 63.41% in Asia Pacific, and 77.98% in Europe). Despite project work with real-world applications being rated as highly useful by respondents in Africa and the Middle East (82.93%) and Europe (82.04%), respondents in the Americas (53.19%) and Asia Pacific (55.84%) rate the usefulness of this activity considerably lower.

When comparing respondents by field of study, those in computer science and IT fields rated project work with real-world applications as the most useful activity out of all activities for addressing sustainability, as all respondents did. However, a significantly higher percentage of computer science and IT respondents rated this activity as useful (72.73%) compared to all respondents (62.91%) and those in engineering fields (61.99%). A significant percentage of computer science and IT respondents rated developing your skills with engineering tools and software as a useful activity (71.91%) compared to all respondents (60.03%) and those in engineering fields (56.21%). This is also the case for developing your skills with digital tools and emerging technologies (67.39%, 60.07%, and 60.19%, respectively).

Q5. Which if any of the above activities have you had the opportunity to experience as a student, and at what stage of your higher education?

The following table shows respondents’ exposure to sustainability-related activities. In the survey, respondents were asked whether they experienced an activity, and if so, when during their studies. Multiple selections were allowed per activity. The table is organized by activities receiving the greatest number of positive responses, with those receiving

the most at the top. Highlighting has been added to show the top five activities that respondents have experienced early in their studies . This is important because, as discussed during the GEDC Industry Forum panel session with students, sustainability should ideally be embedded in the curriculum from the beginning of a student’s education.

All respondents

The activity experienced most often by respondents is participating in student or youth clubs, teams, and societies which is also by far the activity experienced by the highest percentage of respondents early in their studies . Developing skills with engineering tools and software, competitions, hackathons, innovation and entrepreneurship programs or challenges make up the other two of the top three experienced activities related to sustainability.

Around 20% of student and recent graduate respondents (slightly more than all respondents) state that

they have not experienced project work with realworld applications, nor community or volunteer hands-on projects, despite these kinds of “real world” experiences being rated as highly useful for developing sustainability skills.

As seen in the table, the activities experienced most frequently early in respondents’ studies (those highlighted) correspond closely to the top five most experienced activities, counted by how many times respondents replied that they had experienced an activity at any of the three stages of their

studies (early, middle, end). While this is a positive result, overall, the percentages of activities being experienced early in respondents’ studies are considerably lower than those of activities experienced in the middle or end of studies. Ideally, students would be exposed to sustainability-related activities from the beginning of their studies.

Comparing across fields of study, respondents in the field of computer science and IT reported experiencing working on real business cases at a higher rate than those in engineering fields (only 16.09% of respondents saying they have never experienced this activity versus 26.03%, respectively).

All respondents

Activity felt to be most useful for developing sustainability

skills - Top 6 in green

Project work with real-world applications

In person apprenticeships, internships, or summer programs

Community or volunteer hands on projects

Working on real business case studies

Networking and exchange with professionals in your field

Simulation and future building scenarios

Developing your skills with digital tools and emerging technologies

Developing your skills with engineering tools and software

Competitions, hackathons, innovation and entrepreneurship programs or challenges

Projects with a direct link to the UN SDGs

Mentorship programs where you have a mentor

Participating in student or youth clubs, teams, societies

Studying abroad or exchange programs

Undergraduate research experience

Taking a leadership role in a student or youth organization

Visits to companies’ headquarters/sites

Online apprenticeships, internships, or summer programs

Micro, industry, or other non-degree online credentials or MOOCS

Experience working with digital twins

Work or project experience in the metaverse

Usefulness of activities and exposure to activities

The following is a comparison of how respondents rated the potential usefulness of skill development activities and the level of their exposure to these same activities. The tables are organized by the percentage of respondents rating an activity as useful, from most to least useful, and their opportunity to experience that activity, from most to least again. Highlighting shows the top five activities in terms of what is felt to be most useful, seen again to the right where students have experienced that activity.

Activity most experienced - Top 6 ‘most useful’ in green

Participating in student or youth clubs, teams, societies

Developing your skills with engineering tools and software

Competitions, hackathons, innovation and entrepreneurship programs or challenges

Developing your skills with digital tools and emerging technologies

Taking a leadership role in a student or youth organization

Networking and exchange with professionals in your field

In person apprenticeships, internships, or summer programs

Visits to companies’ headquarters/sites

Community or volunteer hands on projects

Project work with real world applications

Studying abroad or exchange programs

Mentorship programs where you have a mentor

Working on real business case studies

Online apprenticeships, internships, or summer programs

Undergraduate research experience

Simulation and future building scenarios

Micro, industry, or other non-degree online credentials or MOOCS

Projects with a direct link to the UN SDGs

Experience working with digital twins

Work or project experience in the metaverse

None of the top five activities rated as the most useful by respondents are those that respondents are experiencing during their education.

Participating in student or youth clubs, teams, and societies is in the bottom half of the most useful activities, despite it being the activity the most experienced by respondents. The same applies to taking a leadership role in a student or youth organization.

Respondents in engineering fields responded that they have experienced developing their skills with engineering tools and software the most out of all activities (372 times at all periods of study), despite this activity being rated by this group as one of the least useful (56.21% saying that this activity is useful).

Exposure to activities by region

Below, the exposure to activities related to sustainability are compared by region. The percentages shown are a result of calculating the total number of times that a respondent stated they had experienced an activity at any point during their studies (early, middle, end), then dividing this number by the number of respondents in that region to obtain a percentage that could be compared across regions . The activities with the largest discrepancies across regions are in green.

Despite working with the metaverse and digital twins being one of the least experienced activities when considering all regions, these activities are experienced to a much higher degree outside of Europe . Respondents from the Americas and Asia Pacific have the most experience in these areas, followed by those from Africa and the Middle East, followed by (at a significant distance) European respondents.

Respondents in the Americas and Asia Pacific also experienced online apprenticeships, internships, or summer programs to a much higher degree than those in Africa, the Middle East, and Europe.

While participating in student or youth clubs, teams, and societies is an activity experienced to a high degree, when considering all respondents, those in Africa and the Middle East experienced this activity significantly less than their counterparts in other regions

Generation Z characteristics

Q8. The current generation of university students is often referred to as generation Z (born mid-1990s to early 2000s). Rather than using a letter, what 3 words would you use to describe the generation you feel you belong to?

• The most common words used by respondents alluded in various ways to ‘technology’ - including tech-savvy, the Internet Generation, and digital.

• The next most popular words were innovative, open-minded, creative, adventurous, and hard-working.

• Other common suggestions were empathetic, motivated, free, connected, and smart.

• While the majority of students highlighted very positive attributes, there were some common negative traits suggested, including lazy and arrogant.

• ‘Gen Z’ clearly associates themselves with technology. They are the first generation to grow up where computers and technology have played an integral part in all aspects of their lives since birth. While the Millennials before them were ‘digital pioneers’ and witnessed the explosion of technology, ‘Gen Z’ was born into a world of peak technological usage.

Comments and suggestions for leaders

Q9. Do you have any more comments or suggestions for education and industry leaders in relation to sustainability education for you and your generation?

• Students highlighted four main themes:

– Hands-on learning

– Student Creativity

– Embed sustainability into education

– Collaboration and Educational Reform

• Hands-on learning – students want the chance to work on real-world sustainable development projects and learn through practical ‘hands-on’ case studies.

• They are eager to make an impact with ideas they want to share.

• There is a need for more voluntary roles, scholarships, internships, and practical workshops - all offered to students earlier.

“ We don’t learn enough, and we are not ready to take on challenges if they remain hidden to us until they become a newspaper headline.”

“ University students have a lot to offer, and most of them genuinely care about sustainability. They just need to be heard, mentored, given the necessary skills, and overall update.“

“ We need specific classes to address today’s problems we face because this is our future they are playing with.”

•

Utilize students’ creativity - universities and industry leaders to better utilize the natural creativity and passion of students and ensure learning in a creative environment.

• This generation of students feels very responsible for the future of the planet and naturally want to be equipped with skills and knowledge much faster than is currently being achieved.

“ Young minds are the most creative and a breath of fresh air to any organization. You’d be amazed at how effective and efficient we can be when put in the right environment and with the right resources.”

“ Give ideas or inspiration and motivation for new and younger members to create their own ideas.”

“ There seems to be a lot of doomsday fear-mongering going on, but very little sharing with students how they can get involved and help solve the problems.”

•

It is important sustainable development be embedded into learning and taught across many more subjects

“ Sustainability education should be provided to some extent on every course, not just sustainability-related degrees, as these issues are of critical importance to all.”

“ Apply sustainability to most school curriculums in general since sustainability can be studied in almost every field imaginable.”

•

Educational reform needs to include greater collaboration between teachers and industry to be effective.

• Some respondents have suggested that a new generation of teachers is needed to improve the educational system.

• Changes in the curriculum were viewed as critical, specifically the inclusion of humanities and social sciences in engineering education.

• There is distinct criticism that changes in the educational system are not happening fast enough.

“ There is an urgent need for mass collaboration between industry and academia. Enterprises should not focus only on top universities to hire employees but emphasize a holistic approach to training and hiring.”

“ The system is not evolving fast enough compared to how quickly the new generations adapt.”

Other ideas:

• Good communication is necessary on a global scale.

• It is important to strengthen opportunities for exchanges between students from different universities.

• Universities and industry partners should adhere to sustainable practices.

“ Make us communicate with other people, let’s build a single Network. Make us feel how the real world is and teach us how to live in it and change it for the better.”

Appendix 1: survey questions

A few questions about yourself

What is your current status?

• Student

• Postgraduate/research student

• Apprentice or Intern

• Recent graduate

• Faculty member/professor or researcher at higher education institution

• Other professional (graduated 2 or more years ago)

• None of the above. Please specify:

What is/was your field of study or training?

• Arts and humanities

• Business/Finance/Management

• Communication/Marketing

• Computer science/Information technology

• Design

• Engineering – Aeronautical

• Engineering – Aerospace

• Engineering – Aircraft design

• Engineering – Chemical

• Engineering – Civil and structural

• Engineering – Electrical and electronic

• Engineering – Energy/Environmental

• Engineering – Industrial/Manufacturing/ Production

• Engineering – Materials science

• Engineering – Mechanical

• Engineering – Mineral and mining

• Engineering – Petroleum

• Engineering – Other

• Law

• Life sciences

• Medical/Health sciences

• Physical/Natural sciences

• Social sciences

• Other, please specify:

What is your highest educational qualification?

• Have not yet completed or do not intend to complete a formal degree

• Have completed one or more non-degree credential(s)

• Pre bachelors or vocational

• Bachelors

• Masters

• MBA

• PhD

What is your year of study

• Bachelors year 1

• Bachelors year 2

• Bachelors year 3

• Masters year 1

• Masters year 2

• PhD any year

• Other, please specify: ........................................

How much, if any, professional work experience do you have? (Including internships, apprenticeships)

• No professional work experience

• Less than 6 months

• 6 months up to 1 year

• 1 to 2 years

• 2 to 5 years

• 5 to 7 years

• 7 to 9 years

• 10 years or more

Survey questions

Long choice lists randomised in the survey tool

Q1. To what extent, if at all, have you covered any of the following sustainability related topics in your studies to date (on a scale of 1 to 5 where 1 is not at all, 5 is in depth)

• The UN Sustainable Development Goals

• Circular economy

• Decarbonisation

• Community impact

• Working rights and conditions

• Equity and access

• Ownership

• Climate change

• Product lifecycle

• Design for sustainability

• Understanding the potential of emerging technologies such as AI or Quantum Computing

• Fact and science-based communication

• Loss and damage

• Impact assessment

• Sustainable energy production & management

• Working with Digital Twins

• Other – please mention: ....................................

Q2. What are the top 3 skills you think you will need to be able to address sustainability related challenges in your future career? Open ended question

Q3. On a scale of 1 to 5, how would you rate the following skills in terms of their importance for addressing sustainability related challenges?

1 – Not at all important; 2 – Not very important; 3 – Neither important nor not important;

4 – Somewhat important; 5 – Very important

Answer options

Expertise in your subject area

Integrity and an ethical approach

Knowing how to use technology and digital tools

Ability to apply lifecycle or circular economy thinking

Project management (supervising, planning, scheduling, budgeting etc.)

Problem solving skills

Communication skills

Self-drive and motivation

Critical thinking

Creativity and Innovation

Confidence to challenge something you think is not right

Curiosity, willingness to learn and to continue learning

Ability to work in a team

Understanding of political, social, and economic perspectives both globally and in your community

Willingness to take calculated risk

Sustainability mind-set

Ability to work well with people of diverse profiles (intercultural skills)

Complex and data-based decision-making skills

Resilience

Empathy

Please add any skill you feel is missing from the list or any comment on your responses.

Q4. On a scale of 1 to 5, how useful do you think the following activities are for developing the most important skills for addressing sustainability?

1 – Not at all useful; 2 – Not very useful; 3 – Neither useful nor not useful; 4 – Somewhat useful; 5 – Very useful Rotate/Answer options

Participating in student or youth clubs, teams, societies

In person apprenticeships, internships, or summer programs

Online apprenticeships, internships, or summer programs

Community or volunteer hands on projects

Competitions, hackathons, innovation and entrepreneurship programs or challenges

Projects with a direct link to the UN SDGs

Work or project experience in the metaverse

Studying abroad or exchange programs

Micro, industry, or other non-degree online credentials or MOOCS

Networking and exchange with professionals in your field

Project work with real world applications

Visits to companies’ headquarters/sites

Taking a leadership role in a student or youth organization

Mentorship programs where you have a mentor

Developing your skills with engineering tools and software

Developing your skills with digital tools and emerging technologies

Experience working with digital twins

Undergraduate research experience

Simulation and future building scenarios

Working on real business case studies

Q5. Which of those activities have you had the opportunity to experience if any, and when during your studies?

Multiple choice - (list will match the list above)

Selection mechanism allows to indicate early, middle, end of studies or not at all

Please comment on your responses

Q6. Thinking about what you learnt in the first year of your undergraduate studies, what knowledge or skill did you find MOST useful to you?

Open ended question

Q7. Thinking again about what you learnt in the first year of your undergraduate students, what knowledge or skill has been LEAST useful to you?

Open ended question

Q8. The current generation of university students is often referred to as generation Z (born mid-1990s to early 2000s). Rather than using a letter, what 3 words would you use to describe the generation you feel you belong to?

Open ended question

Q9. Do you have any more comments or suggestions for education and industry leaders in relation to sustainability education for you and your generation?

Profile

What is your nationality?

[country list]

Which age group are you in?

• Under 18 years old

• 18-24 years old

• 25-29 years old

• 30 years or older

You identify your gender as

• Male

• Female

• Transgender

• Other

• Do not wish to state

What is the name of your current university if you are still studying, or if you have graduated already, the university you most recently graduated from?

Which country is your current/most recent university located?

[country list]

Which, if any, student organization do you belong to?

• Board of European Students of Technology (BEST)

• European Students of Industrial Engineering and Management (ESTIEM)

• Student Platform for Engineering Education Development (SPEED)

• European Young Engineers (EYE)

• None at all

• Other, please specify

For information only, please tell us how you found out about this survey?

• Email from your university

• Email from your student organization

• Other mailing list (please specify)

• Student organization informal groups (e.g. WhatsApp, telegram, other)

• Petrus social media

• University social media

• Student organization social media

• Other social media (please specify)

• Other (please specify)

• If you selected ‘Other mailing list’, ‘Other social media’ or ‘Other’, please specify.

Data protection

Select the relevant options below:

I am happy to receive information from Petrus and their partners about other relevant opportunities

I am happy to be contacted to participate in follow up research

I would like to receive a summary of the survey report

I would like to be entered into the prize draw for the chance to win one of three €50 amazon vouchers

If you completed any of the previous options, please add your contact details here

Each respondent (same name, same postal address, same email) can complete the survey and participate in the prize draw only once. The organising company reserves the right to perform any necessary checks relating to respondents’ identity, age, postal address, and e-mail address. Each respondent can only win one prize and duplicates will be removed ahead of the analysis and prize draw.

• First Name

• Last Name

• Email Address

• Postal Address

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