Abstract:

Context:
Air transport sector significantly contributes to the global economic and social growth, by creating employment, enabling trade and tourism and supporting global sustainable development initiatives. An increasing number of higher education institutions have been incorporating the principles of sustainable development into their curricula, research, activities and evaluations. This article investigates the implications of aviation education on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Agenda introduced by the United Nations in 2015, outlining which are the proposed initiatives, study programs and courses implemented within UNESCO Chair “Engineering for Society” of University Politehnica of Bucharest (UPB). The dynamic labour market in air transport demands highly-prepared specialists, able to employ the new concepts, findings and technologies, therefore modularity and interdisciplinary within study programs can increase the ability to understand and meet the complex challenges the world currently faces.

The aim of this paper is to analyse learning outcomes and university courses which can contribute to the achievement of as many SDGs as possible, by presenting some initiatives and solutions proposed and implemented by UNESCO Chair of UPB.

Methodology:
We conducted a qualitative study through the reading and processing of technical, economic, social and sustainability reports of United Nation, EC, EUA, EASA, ICAO mainly about sustainable development goals, education, green and smart transports and digitalization in air transport. The research was supported also by the results of an European Erasmus+ project, namely 2 reports on occupations and qualifications in air transport industry, followed by the design and development of an innovative international master program for air transport digitalization, “IT applied in aviation”.

There were identified and described 2 ways of concur to the 17 SDSs using educational pathway in the aviation sector: whether through interdisciplinary study programs or by introducing some new disciplines in the existing curricula, such as: aviation and environment, strategic management, ethics, intelligent interfaces, smart data processing, cyber-security system management in aviation.

The main results of our research are: the establishment of the curricula and learning outcomes for 3 interdisciplinary master programs by professors and specialists from Romania and Europe, followed by improvement proposals from relevant stakeholders,one week training for teachers from different cultural contexts, extended course description, highlighting the contribution to one or more sustainable development goals from Agenda 2030 and the deployment of the interdisciplinary master programs, using new ways of delivery.

Conclusion:
Using the sustainability framework on the Agenda 2020, in this paper we analyse how courses within the aviation field contribute to the achievement of the SDGs, showing also how the initiatives were developed and are being implemented within the UNESCO Chair and, with the support of several international universities and organizations. The graduates acquire skills and knowledge in sustainable transports or in air transport digitalization, being able to comprehend sustainability issues at a more deeper level, to make appropriate decisions on these and take actions to address them.

Keywords:

Agenda 2030, sustainable development goals, education, aviation, curricula, digitalization.