Abstract:

Our society is moving towards sustainable development. In 2015, the UN approved the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development, an opportunity for countries and their societies to embark upon a new path towards improving the lives of all, leaving no-one behind. The Agenda has 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). SDGs address the global challenges we are facing today, including the eradication of poverty and hunger; the fight against climate change and raising awareness to adapt and mitigate climate change; ensuring quality education and gender equality; and protection of the environment, amongst others. Each of the SDGs has specific targets that should be reached by 2030 (1). For several years, universities have been informing and raising awareness about the need to achieve these goals However, only 8 years from the date set to achieve these objectives, we are still far from achieving them (2). Thus, orienting the activities of the university classroom to the achievement of the SDGs seems to be a good strategy not only to make them known, but also to make future professionals aware of their importance, and above all, to give them tools so that from the exercise of their profession can contribute to achieving them. In this line, an intervention proposal was made with the students of the First of Agronomic Engineering of the Polytechnic University of Valencia who are studying the Food Industries subject. In this subject, students must carry out a simplified engineering project for a new food industry. With the aim of advancing in the reflection on the tools that are available from engineering and the food industry to contribute to the SDGs, in the 2021-2022 academic year they were asked to contribute to the SDGs through their project, leaving them freedom in the number of SDGs included, in which ones and how they were going to apply them. At the end of the course, the students presented their projects, and the suitability of their proposals, their novelty, and their degree of contribution to the SDGs were evaluated. In addition, at the end of the subject they were given a survey asking about the contribution of this activity to enhance their awareness of the SDGs, to provide them with tools... The results showed that despite the training received during the subject and in previous courses on the importance and typology of the SDGs, most of the students focused only on the most obvious ones, such as achieving the end of poverty by creating new jobs, or reducing hunger through creating new food. Only a few groups delved into how they could contribute to the reduction of electricity consumption and the sustainability of the processes through the choice of equipment or new technologies. This shows that despite the awareness campaigns, there is still a long way to go so that new professionals know how to integrate the achievement of the SDGs into their professional practice.

Keywords:

Sustainable development, engineering, project-based learning.