An international Master's program in green ICT as a contribution to sustainable development

Various principles of sustainable development are currently being integrated into national policies and programs. Such principles relate to a range of aspects of human activities requiring urgent attention, including heating, mobility, food security, and sustainable agriculture. One of the fields contributing to the transition towards a sustainable society is that of green information and communication technologies (ICT). Therefore, the implementation of educational programs in green ICT is important in ensuring further ICT development around sustainability concerns. This article describes the development of an international Master's degree program named “Pervasive computing and communications for sustainable development” (PERCCOM) by an international consortium, which aimed to combine advanced ICT with environmental, economic, and social awareness. The article presents background information regarding the role of the ICT sector in environmental challenges, and a review of the literature, in order to understand what is required of ICT and green ICT graduates. The curriculum of the PERCCOM program is then described and findings on program improvement are reported. The article is aimed at academic and research professionals in the fields of sustainable development and green technologies, with the goal of improving educational initiatives to address the societal demand for sustainable development. The findings reported here contribute toward the search for a solution for sustainability, especially regarding environmental issues, among educating professionals with high expertise in networking, computing, and programming, who are able to design, develop, deploy, and maintain both pervasive computing systems and communication architectures for sustainable development.

[1]  Keiichi Nakata,et al.  The Evolution of Green ICT Practice: UK Higher Education Institutions Case Study , 2011, 2011 IEEE/ACM International Conference on Green Computing and Communications.

[2]  Can B. Aktas,et al.  Developing a university-wide course on sustainability: a critical evaluation of planning and implementation , 2015 .

[3]  Kaisu Sammalisto,et al.  Education for sustainable development and quality assurance in universities in China and the Nordic countries : a comparative study , 2015 .

[4]  Tzung-Shi Chen,et al.  The study on integrating WebQuest with mobile learning for environmental education , 2011, Comput. Educ..

[5]  Ireland Forfás.  Addressing Future Demand for High-Level ICT Skills , 2013 .

[6]  Walter Leal Filho,et al.  Future sustainability scenarios for universities: moving beyond the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development , 2016 .

[7]  Janet L. Bailey,et al.  Industry perceptions of the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed by computer programmers , 2001, SIGCPR '01.

[8]  Karel Mulder,et al.  HOW TO EDUCATE ENGINEERS FOR/IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT? 10 YEARS OF DISCUSSION, WHAT CHALLENGES REMAIN? , 2012 .

[9]  Panagiotis Tzionas,et al.  A model supported interactive virtual environment for natural resource sharing in environmental education , 2013, Comput. Educ..

[10]  Zainab Ifeoluwa Matemilola.  Sustainable Computer Science Education , 2015 .

[11]  Stephen Potter,et al.  Design of higher education teaching models and carbon impacts , 2015 .

[12]  Dean Knudson,et al.  Investigating the skill gap between graduating students and industry expectations , 2014, ICSE Companion.

[13]  Alok Mishra,et al.  A Curriculum on Sustainable Information Communication Technology , 2015 .

[14]  Kavita Suryawanshi,et al.  EVOLUTION OF GREEN ICT IMPLEMENTATION IN EDUCATION SECTOR: A STUDY OF DEVELOPED AND DEVELOPING COUNTRY , 2013 .

[15]  Rudolf van der Velden,et al.  The flexible professional in the knowledge society : new challenges for higher education , 2011 .

[16]  Donald Huisingh,et al.  A review of commitment and implementation of sustainable development in higher education: results from a worldwide survey , 2015 .

[17]  Lorenz M. Hilty,et al.  ICT for Sustainability: An Emerging Research Field , 2015, ICT Innovations for Sustainability.

[18]  Yoshiyuki Shimoda,et al.  Educational initiative of Osaka University in sustainability science: mobilizing science and technology towards sustainability , 2009 .

[19]  Tomayess Issa,et al.  Sustainability and green IT education: Practice for incorporating in the Australian higher education curriculum , 2014 .

[20]  Christian Tilk,et al.  Supporting the Use of Environmental Information Systems and Services - Experiences with a Course for Postgraduate Professional Education , 2011, ISESS.

[21]  T. Worthington.  A Green computing professional education course online: Designing and delivering a course in ICT sustainability using Internet and eBooks , 2012, 2012 7th International Conference on Computer Science & Education (ICCSE).

[22]  Eileen M. Trauth,et al.  Critical Skills and Knowledge Requirements of IS Professionals: A Joint Academic/Industry Investigation , 1995, MIS Q..

[23]  Kaisu Sammalisto,et al.  Process framework for identifying sustainability aspects in university curricula and integrating education for sustainable development , 2015 .

[24]  Geoff Scott,et al.  Tracking and Profiling Successful IT Graduates: An Exploratory Study , 2002 .

[25]  Paulo G. Pereirinha,et al.  Learning Energy Storage in Hybrid/Electric Vehicles: Erasmus Mundus Master Course in Sustainable Transportation & Electrical Power Systems , 2016, 2016 IEEE Vehicle Power and Propulsion Conference (VPPC).

[26]  Agneta Sundström,et al.  Implementation of sustainability in universities as perceived by faculty and staff – a model from a Swedish university , 2015 .

[27]  Birgit Penzenstadler,et al.  Teach sustainability in software engineering? , 2011, 2011 24th IEEE-CS Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training (CSEE&T).

[28]  Antoine Dechezleprêtre.  Fast-Tracking 'Green' Patent Applications: An Empirical Analysis , 2013 .

[29]  John D. Fernandez,et al.  Evaluating computing education programs against real world needs , 2006 .

[30]  Samuel Mann,et al.  Educating for ICT4S: Unpacking sustainability and ethics of ICT student intakes , 2015, EnviroInfo/ICT4S.

[31]  Lakisha L. Simmons,et al.  Gaps in the computer science curriculum: an exploratory study of industry professionals , 2010 .

[32]  Eric Brechner.  Things they would not teach me of in college: what Microsoft developers learn later , 2003, OOPSLA '03.

[33]  B. Venkataraman.  Education for Sustainable Development , 2009 .

[34]  Eric Rondeau,et al.  Designing green network architectures using the ten commandments for a mature ecosystem , 2014, Comput. Commun..

[35]  Ben Amor,et al.  Integration of sustainable development in higher education – a regional initiative in Quebec (Canada) , 2015 .

[36]  James F. Allen,et al.  The Flexible Professional in the Knowledge Society , 2011 .

[37]  A. Wals.  Sustainability in higher education in the context of the UN DESD: a review of learning and institutionalization processes , 2014 .

[38]  Yolanda León-Fernández,et al.  Environmental management and sustainability in higher education: The case of Spanish Universities , 2015 .

[39]  Jorge Aguilera,et al.  Video-sharing educational tool applied to the teaching in renewable energy subjects , 2014, Comput. Educ..

[40]  Lorenz M. Hilty,et al.  An Annotated Bibliography of Conceptual Frameworks in ICT for Sustainability , 2013 .

[41]  Martijn Warnier,et al.  Green ICT & energy : from smart to wise strategies , 2013 .

[42]  Lucie Pekárková,et al.  A Framework for Monitoring and Evaluation of Learning Processes , 2013, ISESS.

[43]  Cathy A. Rusinko,et al.  Integrating sustainability in higher education: a generic matrix , 2010 .

[44]  Werner Geiger,et al.  Comparing the effects of mobile computers and traditional approaches in environmental education , 2010, Comput. Educ..

[45]  Kavita Suryawanshi,et al.  Green ICT implementation at educational institution: A step towards sustainable future , 2013, 2013 IEEE International Conference in MOOC, Innovation and Technology in Education (MITE).

[46]  Janet Davis,et al.  Computing and sustainability: evaluating resources for educators , 2010, SGCS.

[47]  Yu Cai.  Integrating sustainability into undergraduate computing education , 2010, SIGCSE.

[48]  Karl R. B. Schmitt,et al.  Student expectations from CS and other stem courses: they aren't like CS- majors! or (CS !=Stem-CS) , 2013 .

[49]  Walter Leal Filho,et al.  The future we want: Key issues on sustainable development in higher education after Rio and the UN decade of education for sustainable development , 2015 .

[50]  Taina Kaivola,et al.  Education for Global Responsibility : Finnish Perspectives , 2007 .