Limited Integration of Transdisciplinary Skills in German mechanical engineering education – Insights from Thematic Analysis of Module Handbooks

Engineers require the transdisciplinary skills and competencies to tackle the wicked problems encountered in real world situations, such as system transitions involving aspects of sustainability, society and technology. State of the art knowledge indicates that relevant skills and competencies for transdisciplinary engineering are inter- and intrapersonal competencies; reflection of values, normativity and biases; stakeholder engagement and management; systems thinking; skills for dealing with wicked problems; skills for whole-systems engineering design; and skills for implementation and demonstration of new socio-technical system designs. However, it is unclear if and to what extend current engineering education embeds the identified skills and competencies for transdisciplinary engineering in the curricula. This article investigated the transdisciplinarity of engineering curricula for German TU9 universities of technology. Thematic analysis of undergraduate and postgraduate module handbooks was carried out using a novel framework for transdisciplinary engineering skills and competences. The analysis of 17 module handbooks revealed that the integration of transdisciplinary skills in mechanical engineering programmes is unevenly distributed across TU9 universities. While skills for real-world practice are commonly addressed, skills for dealing with the ambiguity of wicked problems and for whole-systems engineering remain underrepresented in the curricula.