Internationalization in the Classroom - Sustainable, international competence for first-year engineering students

Global challenges today demand global sustainable solutions, and higher education institutions are expected to produce such competence to address these challenges (cf. Sustainability Hub Norway, 2020). UNESCO (2017) has defined eight key competencies for sustainability, including critical thinking and collaboration skills. These competencies are essential for sustainable development and encompass abilities such as learning from others, understanding and respecting others' perspectives, and engaging in constructive and empathetic interactions (SDG, 2020). In other words, competencies like critical thinking, collaboration skills, and intercultural competence serve as a "foundation" for engineering students to build on specific sustainable expertise.

Therefore, higher education institutions should have such competencies as goals for future engineering education. The main purpose of this project is to develop first-year engineering students' sustainable and international competence through student projects and formative peer assessments in collaboration with international students in the Norwegian Language and Society for Foreign Students program. By redesigning, implementing, and enhancing learning methods that emphasize interaction and collaboration between first-year engineering students and international students in the Norwegian Language and Society for Foreign Students program, the project will contribute to promoting these competencies. This project is financed by UiT's Program for Educational Quality 23.