Sustainable Development Goals in Construction Engineering Education: Comparison of Current Curricula in Denmark, Finland, and Belgium

The construction industry plays an important role in achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda. Therefore, both knowledge, skills and innovative solutions among practitioners within the construction industry are required. Limited research exists on how sustainability is implemented in construction educations. This study aims to clarify how three construction engineering programs at bachelor level in Denmark, Belgium and Finland implement social, environmental and economic sustainability in their curricula. The learning objectives of the curriculums were first mapped according to their contribution to environmental, economic and social sustainability. Then, the objectives were analyzed according to the SOLO taxonomy to determine the students’ expected level of understanding of the topics. Lastly, the aspects of sustainability addressed in the three curricula were compared and discussed in relation to their contribution to the SDGs. The results can contribute to the understanding of the level of implementation of sustainability in the construction educations, hereunder which SDGs that are used in the educations. The results also provide insights into the sustainable knowledge and skills graduates are expected to offer to tackle construction industry’s challenges and sustainability in an European perspective.