Professions and public credibility: An assessment of a course to evaluate ethics, environment, economics and engineering

This paper reviews an undergraduate block-course in engineering that was established at Wismar University and RMIT University in the late 1990s. The course had three primary objectives: (1) to deliver an ethical and environmental framework for engineering undergraduates; (2) to actively benchmark degrees in Germany and Australia (using this course); and (3) to deliver the course in English by a native English speaker. That the course has been successfully delivered for more than twelve years is testament to its effectiveness; indeed, rather than being focused only on engineering, the course is currently offered as a multidisciplinary elective and is now taken by a wide range of students, resulting in participants developing a broad understanding beyond their chosen discipline of issues pertaining to the environment, ethics, economics and engineering. The paper analyzes the special rôle that scientists, engineers and associated professionals have in society and concludes with an assessment of some of the key ethical issues that existed in the 1990s and the outcomes of these. It then considers selected ethical and environmental issues that may arise in the next decade.