DEVELOPING STUDENT SUSTAINABILITY KNOWLEDGE, COMPETENCIES AND SKILLS THROUGH PRODUCT & SYSTEM DESIGN

As the world continues to take more responsibility and confront a diverse range of sustainability challenges, including zero waste, dematerialization, resource efficiency, zero emissions, and social equity, designers and engineers are being called to action. As such educators need to adapt and integrate sustainable values/processes into the curriculum. With the worlds finite resources strained by population growth and lifestyle changes, minimizing impact is crucial, therefore this has driven designers to focus on designing sustainable products and consider the entire product life cycle. This paper builds on a previous case study where first-year BSc Product Design students at [Anonymised University] acted as design consultants during a “Sustainability Week” (SW), engaging with local communities/businesses. Initially, the focus was on integrating sustainability teaching within the product design curriculum for specific outcomes, however our latest case study focuses on students working as design consultants for larger organisations/public sector institutions. Design decisions often exacerbate social inequalities, environmental degradation, and economic disparities; therefore, student groups were challenged to identify problems related to sustainable design problems on [Anonymised University] city campus. Students addressed issues related to the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s), defining their design challenges and proposing solutions to enhance [Anonymised University] sustainability/carbon footprint. The ongoing integration of SW has improved student knowledge in sustainable product development and systems design. Taught content focused on sustainability themes, promoting knowledge acquisition, skills development, and positive attitudes towards global issues. A pre/post-Sustainability Week survey showed significant improvements in students’ sustainability knowledge, competencies, and skills.