Embedding ethics into the engineering and product design curriculum: a view from the UK

In recent years there has been a notable emphasis from professional bodies on embedding professionally relevant issues, such as sustainable development and ethics into academic courses for engineering and product design. For instance the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) recently published its curriculum map for introducing ethics into the engineering curriculum for courses that do not explicitly cover this at present. The guidelines include a suggested three step approach, including an audit of current methods, a plan of action for the future and the implementation of the plan. The authors are attempting to begin the process of introducing ethics into its engineering and product design courses using these three stages. Currently, the team is about to enter the final and potentially most challenging stage of the process. This paper is presented as a case study, giving an overview and evaluation of the experiences of this team thus far, with reference to other case studies from overseas and our own experiences in the UK.