Sustainability engineering as diploma/graduate programme in engineering and management education

Human civilization is the greatest marvel of nature. No nation can become great or achieve prosperity without its people developing a sense of self-discipline, social responsibility and cooperative attitude. The 21/sup st/ century promises to be a time of scientific and technological growth at a level never experienced before in human industry. The new edge keyed by six mega trends such as globalization, market economy, revolution of information technology, rapid changes in technology worldwide, ecological imbalance and environmental pollution. Due to rapid industrialization and economic growth, engineering and management education is developing faster. Sustainable development has been an important topic for the last decade and continues to be a critical issue into the foreseeable future. The impact and importance of sustainable development has not been covered in engineering and management curricula. The understanding of sustainability engineering, however require a greater maturity than that of most engineering and management disciplines. This paper highlights the role of sustainable development or sustainable engineering as a subject or diploma or graduate programme in engineering and management education.