The importance and relevance of incorporating ethics as part of engineering education-A position paper

Abstract

Most classical university educations include ethics as an integral part of the curriculum requirements. Education for both medicine and law have strict legal requirements where ethics are compulsory subjects. Both professions follow up with further requirements for continuing education in ethics. At least in Norway, parallel requirements are not present for engineering education, despite the existence of a "National framework for engineering educations". The need for ethical behaviour amongst stakeholders in society is timelier than ever. Engineers and designers are societal stakeholders. There is a need for discussion amongst educators on how to provide young professionals with the moral ballast and motivation to act as the future professional exemplars, needed in society. This article investigates alternative strategies for incorporating ethical awareness and training in education, based on a discussion of published research. The driving force is the continuously on-going quality assurance of our own engineering education programme. In the lack of general requirements for the implementation of ethics in engineering education, the conclusions from this investigation will be implemented in the continuous revision of the education at our own university; as a minimum through the teaching practice of the involved authors. It is our intention to follow up by evaluating effects over time, through surveys and further assessments. Thus, through the discussion partly referred to in this paper, we clarify and state our position in this important discussion. The conclusion is meant for acting as a summary for further debate.