Sustainability competency

Therefore, it is argued that systems competency should be a part of the DNA of mechanical engineering education based on the mental model presented earlier of content and competency mastery. A continuing examination of planning for the future of mechanical engineering education is presented. A second competency gap, the sustainability competency, is described next. 

Sustainability is defined as the ability to endure, literally meaning to hold up over time (Wikipedia, 2012). The term is commonly used in relation to environmental standing, but it can also be used in relation to a variety of other venues including financial and psychological 

Sustainability competency requires knowledge of ethics tenets. However, ethical competency encumbers more than knowledge of what ethics are, it also includes valuing and using ethical parameters in practical situations. The disposition of ethics is evident when enacted in values 

Organizations Green Jobs, the World Resources Forum, and the Decade of Education in Sustainable Development, to name a few. The United Nations has defined Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) as encouraging changes in behavior that will create a more sustainable future in terms of environmental integrity, economic viability, and a just society for present and future generations. This defines the crux of sustainability competency for mechanical engineering education. 

SustainaUi Radical resource productivity 1 Whole system desi n I Biormnicty Green diemisiry lnduslrialecolo y Renewable enei y Green nanotechnolojy 

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Employers Need for Sustainability Competency, Employers are increasingly interested in and concerned about sustainability competency in the workplace. For instance, engineering codes and standards are either viewed as needing more depth of understanding (40% of respondents) or more breadth of understanding (35% of respondents). And while approximately 50% of respondents reported that technical fundamentals were adequate, 50% reported a concern for either more depth or breadth. 

These concerns by society for sustainability competency are identified within the Global Challenges set out by the Millennium Development Project (http //www.millennium-project.org/millennium/challeng.html) in 2011. In fact. Sustainable Development and Climate Change is the most highly ranked problem facing humanity today while a 2003 report by the US National Council for Science and the Environment noted that baseline information about the status of sustainability education and practice in any nation is largely absent. 

In order to advance science and technology to a level where sustainability is possible, it is important that the mechanical engineering workforce of the future is prepared to lead this charge. In this sense, preparation of the engineering workforce in sustainability competency becomes one of the central strategies of accomplishing sustainability itself. 

Phase of learning outcomes Sustainability competence-students demonstrate Systems competence-students demonstrate Ethics competence-students demonstrate ... 

Dispositions is able to develop original sustainability solutions when a lack of sustainability competence is present and exhibits a strong commitment to an active role in sustainability in the world, and Applications exemplifies mastery of sustainability competence through modeling the competency, teaching others and demonstrating sustainability competence leadership in society. 

Sustainability competency pulled by Lean Engineering Education... 

The pursuit of perfection is a lean principle that engages the tools and thinking of continuous improvement to create value by eliminating wastes. Lean specifies nine deadly wastes as overproduction, transports, inventory, motions, waiting, over-processing, defects, knowledge and energy loss. These wastes are clearly related to sustainability competency. For example, consider environmental waste, as defined by the US-EPA (2007, p. 2) as... 

It was a victory for sustainability Sally, what are your thoughts on the sustainability competency ... 

For a local Cape Town SME, I was tasked with devising a stan-dard operating procedure for their assembly operation, and to demonstrate the improvement of the SOP compared to the previous working approach. The company provided products that can best be described as High Variability, Low Volume (HVLV), while delivering against internationally accredited codes and standards for subsea operations. I used sustainability competency and identified opportunities for standardization. 

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