Global Diversity and Inclusion in Engineering Education: Developing Platforms toward Global Alignment

Abstract

This paper presents an exploratory investigation of global scale diversity and inclusion efforts within engineering education. The content is an expansion of work that was shared at the 2015 World Engineering Education Forum’s first special session on “Diversity & Inclusion in Global Engineering.” Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) are contextualized topics that shift objectives from country to country. The role of D&I in engineering education and practice has gained prominence in recent years due to the fact that engineers are facing increased need for global collaborations and are expected to be able to work in highly diverse teams and within different cultures. D&I initiatives in the field of engineering generally include gender, ethnicity, and national origin, and may include persons who are economically underprivileged and persons with disabilities. While the prominence of D&I has increased, international learning outcomes and collaborations within these efforts are limited. Within a global community a common platform would allow for the sharing of best practices and maximize learning opportunities and impact. By examining models from around the world, we can begin to consolidate, optimize, and disseminate the global benefits of D&I. In this work, various programs are reviewed as success cases because they have increased the numbers of underrepresented students who enroll in and graduate from STEM programs. The potential for solidarity amongst Diversity & Inclusion initiatives and programs in different regions of the world is explored. Efforts are made to determine what can be learned from synergies across D&I activities.