There are today more challenges than ever facing organisations. To tackle these wicked problems which are characterised with high level of complexity, there is also a need for the higher education system to revise its curriculum for engineering education integrating theory, practice and reflexivity.

There has been a debate at universities for many years, about what technical and personal abilities students from universities need – when industry brings up concerns, on a regular basis, about the students’ lack of communication and teamwork skills, as well as their inability to have a broader perspective of subjects that concern their profession, such as social, environmental and economic issues, and how to apply their knowledge in practice.

The purpose of this chapter is to understand how competences for professional practice could be developed at university, when increasing students’ engagement and motivation through applied projects using the pedagogical ideas of design-based learning. © Yufeng Zhang 2024

In contemporary society, digital competence has become increasingly important for people in everyday life as well as in working life. Hence, it is vital that today’s higher education contain an appropriate degree of digitization both in terms of content and approaches, something which is particularly important in higher education, where there is a pronounced expectation of what one should be able to handle in terms of digitization when one enters the workplace. Drawing on insights from previous research, this study seeks to explore the integration of digital elements in higher education pedagogy via students’ perceptions of digital integration in their education and evaluate their assessments of teachers’ digital competence. Special attention is given to collaborative learning practices facilitated by digital technologies. The research questions posed to guide the aim are: How do university students perceive the integration of digital elements within their education, and what are their assessments of their teachers’ digital competence in utilizing these technologies? The results show that teachers’ digital competence varies across disciplines which might influence their utilization of digital pedagogical methods and tools. Moreover, both engineering and non-engineering students reported varying levels of usage of digital collaborative learning methods which might reflect discipline-specific preferences and practices in collaborative learning. Also, despite high confidence levels in using digital tools, students exhibited limited awareness of existing digital functionalities. These results seek to inform pedagogical practices, institutional policies, and professional development initiatives to cultivate a digitally proficient educator workforce and have relevance globally for all involved in teaching and learning in higher education.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to address the need to rethink the traditional approach to education in the university engineering curriculum. The paper examines two engineering projects led by university students in Sweden: the design and construction of a solar-powered car taking part in the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge and the creation of a business model for the ownership phase of an electric car together with Polestar.  

Design/method – An extensive literature review was conducted. Students were interviewed and surveyed on their impressions of their learning experience in the two projects and student logbooks reviewed. Problem-based learning, the CDIO approach, and the ABCD-procedure are used. Results are compared to theories from the literature.

Results – Project-based learning in real-world settings can increase engineering students’ technical knowledge and improve their technical skills as they solve complex problems or propose solutions to such problems. Such projects also strengthen students’ commitment, self-confidence, and self-esteem as well as promote co-operation and creativity. These are soft skills largely absent from traditional engineering education.  

Originality/value – This research offers a timely perspective on an issue of current interest in engineering education: student-led learning vs. teacher-led learning. The paper also provides two illustrative student-led projects that focus on sustainability and mobility. 

Practical implications – Innovative, student-led learning in the applied engineering curriculum can foster students’ soft skills in ways that teacher-led, lecture-style learning does not.

© 2022, Joakim Tell and Maya Hoveskog.

Companies in the agri-food sector are under increasing pressure to adopt sustainable business models that consider not only economic but also both social and environmental aspects. This paper examines how Swedish food producers use sustainable business models to innovate their businesses. The empirical data comes from a telephone survey with 204 companies and from case studies of 4 companies. A conceptual framework regarding sustainability-oriented innovation (SOI) and a eight sustainable business model archetypes are used to map and analyse the sustainability innovation practices and the sustainable business models. The results show a surprisingly sustainable business focus taken by many companies, which is not only on optimization, but also on organizational transformation and on systems building. The results show the companies vary as far as which archetypes they match. The most common archetype matches are ‘Maximise material and energy efficiency’ and ‘Adopt a stewardship role’. Only 10% measure success solely in financial terms, while 80% measure success in financial terms as well as social and environmental terms. Another conclusion is that companies in the agri-food sector have unique characteristics and the value intention of the entrepreneurs is an important building block in sustainable business model innovation. © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

This article explores the roles of leadership, vision, and empowerment in two Swedish born global companies. Using case studies and interviews with employees and managers, the article examines how managers can lead their companies by creating a vision and empowering their employees. The findings indicate that a company vision should reflect a culture that supports the employees’ daily activities and decisions. A leadership style that features delegation of responsibility and recognition of employee work autonomy empowers employees in a way that can advance the development and internationalization of the born global company, especially in situations when top managers are often away from company headquarters. © 2017 The Author(s)

El presente artículo explora la influencia que ejercen el liderazgo y la visión compartida sobre el empoderamiento en empleados de empresas nacidas globales. Estudios de caso, basados en entrevistas con empleados y gerentes, examinaron la manera como los directivos pueden dirigir y desarrollar sus empresas, a través de la definición de una visión compartida y el empoderamiento de sus empleados. Este estudio indica que una visión compartida de la empresa debe verse reflejada en una cultura que apoya las actividades cotidianas y las decisiones de los empleados. En una empresa nacida global, donde el gerente se encuentra ausente gran parte del tiempo, el estilo de liderazgo debe estar orientado a la delegación de responsabilidades y la autonomía en el trabajo de los empleados, que los empodere para contribuir al desarrollo e internacionalización de la empresa.

The booming Chinese construction market has created both economic growth and environmental problems. Some 65 000 buildings in Europe have been constructed in accordance with the voluntary construction standard called Passive House that aims for energy efficiency. In China, however, by 2015, only twenty such projects were planned and only two Passive House projects were completed. In this paper we identify and describe the barriers to the diffusion and adoption of Passive House construction in China. We review the relevant literature (Chinese and Western) and conduct two case studies of Passive House construction in China. Two broad groups of barriers the bounded rationality of construction developers/managers and the high transaction costs of green innovation are found to be most responsible for the slow diffusion and adoption of the Passive House concept in China. Unless these barriers are overcome, prospects for the advance of green technology in the Chinese construction market are unfavourable. © 2017 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.