From Awareness to Action: An Integrated ENGAGE Framework for Enhancing Engineering Higher Education Engagement in Environmental Sustainability

Higher education institutions are urged to move beyond embedding sustainability awareness in curricula and to translate that awareness effectively into practice. Yet the evidence on how to transfer awareness into actionable practice, particularly within a specific discipline such as engineering, remains uncertain. This paper brings together two independent cross-sectional survey rounds conducted with undergraduate engineering students at the Applied Science University (ASU), Bahrain, to investigate students’ awareness and engagement levels in sustainable development. The study develops a discipline-embedded framework for closing the gap between what engineering students know about sustainability and what they actually do. The first round (N = 44) measured the awareness, attitudes and self-reported pro-environmental behaviour among College of Engineering (CoE) students. Outcomes reveal high awareness and favourable attitudes to sustainability but a self-reported “commitment gap” shown by modest engagement in campus sustainability activities and pro-environmental practices. The second round (N = 45) investigated the barriers to and motivators for participation. Time pressure, limited information about events, lack of interest and uncertain perceived impact were the barriers most often rated major or significant, with small differences between them. Skill development opportunities, personal interest and discipline relevance were the leading motivators. Building on the survey outcomes, and on a three-year review of the CoE’s own sustainability initiatives, the study proposes an integrated ENGAGE framework—Experiential learning, Networked mentorship, Guided curriculum integration, Accessible participation, Grounded communication, and Embedded policy—tailored to engineering education. The study also proposes a three-year monitoring protocol for tracking whether the framework narrows the commitment gap over time. A worked example applies ENGAGE to the redesign of a GIS workshop as a descriptive pilot to illustrate how the framework could be implemented. The novelty of the work lies in an implementation model grounded in a measurement plan and a case example that turns the framework into something that can be evaluated rather than merely advocated.