Didac Ferrer-Balas

An international comparative analysis of sustainability transformation across seven universities

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the key aspects of transformation of universities towards sustainability, such as the ideal characteristics of the “sustainable university”, and the drivers and barriers in the transformation, by comparing the strategies of seven universities world-wide. Design/methodology/approach – A systems transformation analysis of seven case studies has been applied through a self-evaluation based on the tridimensional Framework-Level-Actors (FLA) method. Findings – The study shows that none of the three dimensions of change is predominant over the others. The main barrier to be overcome is the lack of incentive structure for promoting changes at the individual level. The main drivers for change are the presence of “connectors” with society, the existence of coordination bodies and projects, and the availability of funding, all of which are important for progress. Enhancing interdisciplinarity is a strategic objective at almost all of these universities, while transformative learning is less present. A common characteristic for most of the institutions is establishing and supporting networks of expertise within the universities. These universities show important strategic efforts and initiatives that drive and nucleate change for sustainable development, the result of a combination of drivers. Practical implications – The FLA-method has proved useful for being used at the level of comparing case-studies through a bird’s-eye perspective. Originality/value – The paper demonstrates the application of a simple tool that gives a global perspective on transformational strategies used in seven cases world-wide in the search for commonalities and differences.

Influence of annealing on the microstructural, tensile and fracture properties of polypropylene films

Abstract The influence of annealing temperature on the fracture properties of iPP films (one homopolymer and two propylene–ethylene block copolymers) is presented. The fracture behaviour is studied by means of the Essential Work of Fracture (EWF) procedure, and is complemented by the study of the effect of thermal treatment on tensile properties and microstructure, using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS). It is shown that the initial metastable phase of quenched iPP films, widely known as smectic, transforms gradually into the monoclinic form as the annealing temperature is increased, resulting in an important improvement of the tensile properties, whereas the fracture parameters have different evolutions depending on the ethylene content. The reasons for a decrease in the essential work term and an increase in the plastic term as the crystal perfection grows are discussed on the basis of the microstructural changes of the crystalline phase and the smectic–monoclinic strain-induced phase transformation.

Embedding sustainability in higher education through interaction with lecturers: Case studies from three European technical universities

In this paper, three universities compare their work on the integration of sustainable development into their educational programmes. The purpose is to show examples of how this can be done and to illustrate important generalised success factors. Methods used to achieve embedding of sustainability in curricula through individual interaction with teachers and other actors are described. The three universities are all technical universities with relatively high ambitions for their activities in relation to sustainable development.

How to Educate Engineers for/in Sustainable Development: Ten Years of Discussion, Remaining Challenges.

Systematic analysis of what should be Engineering Education in Sustainable Development has been taking place since the end of the 1990s.This paper addresses what the main challenges have been and what educational research is still required. To provide more and better solutions for the sustainability challenges of our time engineering education should adapt and open itself to social science driven approaches and active experiential learning in order to make the engineer a valuable SD problem solver. But how to educate the engineer for that task? This paper provides an overview of main questions that were analyzed: 1. What should engineers learn on SD? 2. How to trigger institutional change within engineering schools: topdown or bottom-up? 3. How to trigger cultural change, how to win the hearts and souls of the faculty? 4. Curriculum change: starting new programs or changing existing ones? 5. The contribution of active learning and project based learning?

Conceptual maps: measuring learning processes of engineering students concerning sustainable development

In the 1990s, courses on sustainable development (SD) were introduced in technological universities. After some years of practice, there is increased interest in the evaluation of the most effective ways for teaching SD. This paper introduces the use of conceptual maps as a tool to measure the knowledge acquired by students when taking a Sustainability course. Pilot measurements have been made to evaluate the concepts and their interrelations in order to evaluate the students’ learning. These measurements were carried out using a sample of more than 700 European students. To measure the learning outcomes of courses, the evaluation is done twice. Before the course starts, the students’ previous knowledge on sustainability is measured; once the students have completed the course they are evaluated again. By comparing conceptual maps drawn by each student, the improvement of the students’ knowledge is evaluated. This paper shows the measuring process, and points out the suitability of using conceptual maps for research in education. Moreover, the correlation between the learning outcomes the pedagogical techniques used in each course may indicate the effectiveness of the pedagogical strategies in education for sustainable development.

On tearing of ductile polymer films using the essential work of fracture (EWF) method

Abstract The essential work of fracture (EWF) technique has been well established and accepted for the fracture characterization of ductile polymer films under in-plane (mode I) loading. In the present study, the technique has been further developed for the characterization of out-of-plane (mode III) tearing fracture of some ductile polymer films including PETG (polyethylene-terephthalate-glycol), PP homopolymer (H0) and a PP copolymer (C1). A two-zone model was proposed to describe the deformation and fracture behaviour of the tearing ligament. In the first zone, which is called zone A and is adjoining the initial crack-tip, the outer plastic zone height increases with the torn ligament length. At the end of zone A, the height of the plastic zone has saturated, and the deformation has entered zone B. The height of the outer plastic zone remains constant with further increase of torn ligament length. The zone B model is applicable to films with a large stabilized plastic zone (such as H0 and C1). It is observed that the tearing specific essential fracture work as measured from the zone A and zone B models are similar confirming the EWF concept can be applied to the mode III out-of-plane tearing of polymer films.

Essential work of fracture on PET films: influence of the thickness and the orientation

Abstract This paper presents the fracture behaviour of films of a bioriented poly(ethylene terephthalate) (BOPET), that was studied by the Essential Work of Fracture (EWF) method. The influence of specimen thickness and molecular orientation was investigated. The results show that this method is a useful alternative for studying the plane-stress fracture of this material, finding that the specific essential work of fracture is strongly affected by the orientation [ w e was smaller in the direction of extrusion (MD) than in the perpendicular one (TD)], but independent of the specimen thickness in a range from 50 to 250 μm. On the other hand, the plastic work item is sensitive to variations of thickness but does not depend on orientation.

Advances in education transformation towards sustainable development at the Technical University of Catalonia, Barcelona

This paper presents methodological and strategic results of the first two years of the implementation of the second environmental plan (2002‐2005) at the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC) and discusses the benefits and difficulties of new strategies adopted. Particularly, the focus is pointed to the introduction of environmental aspects into technical education, in the framework of an integral university approach that combines simultaneous actions in the areas of education, research, university life and communication in order to develop a consistent and synergetic model. The paper describes and discusses the strategies that have been adopted for accelerating the transformation of the university towards a sustainable university, which include: to create useful tools for decision making, particularly strategic planning indicators; to introduce environmental indicators into university mainstream processes; to assess the transformation potential through an environmental research map; and to work synergistically through “linking initiatives”.

Global Environmental Planning at the Technical University of Catalonia.

In 1996 the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC) adopted an Environment Plan which incorporated classical technical education, promoting multidisciplinary environmental research, and improving the environmental performance of university life as a whole. This paper outlines the first environment plan (1996‐2001). It discusses its encouraging results and consequences, and describes how it was the main motivation for the design of a second environment plan for the period (2002‐2005). The paper pays special attention to the curriculum greening experience of UPC: six years ago the university decided to start greening its entire range of courses, over a wide range of technical and scientific areas. The paper explains the most relevant projects, and attempts to evaluate their effectiveness in improving the environmental performance of the university.

Being Scared is not Enough! Motivators for Education for Sustainable Development

This chapter presents an overview of positive motivators for students, lecturers, and educational managers to prioritize Sustainable Development in education. Very often, we implicitly assume that students and colleagues should all be motivated by the great challenges that the world faces. And if they appear not to react sufficiently to these challenges, we sometimes tend to give these challenges an apocalyptic character. But is this the right motivator for students and colleagues to work on Sustainable Development? We all know that if you only use a stick and no carrot… So why don’t we use more carrots? The bureaucracy that comes with tools for checking/auditing/evaluating the (SD content of) programs/curricula is not particularly a strong motivator for university lecturers. And building courses that add another subject to the erudition of the graduate might not be the right motivators for students that want to make a difference. We are often still in the process of convincing university managers to add SD to the curriculum, convincing colleagues to address SD, and convincing students to pick SD electives and address SD in their projects. How to motivate them to do this when this gives them no direct personal reward and even might increase their workload? The paper will explore options to develop motivating educating by reviewing case studies on educational renewal in four universities. It concludes that there are various options for more motivating education. However, to fully utilize these options, more priority should be given to education.