DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/10286608.2017.1313246

Summary
The article focuses on the changes in engineering education with the emphasis of systems thinking approach to civil engineering. The civil engineering is different from the other types of engineering disciplines because the scale of the product, the materials, specialized equipment, safety protocols, and environmental impact are the key issues in implementing civil engineering projects. The author discusses the need for change in engineering education, the suggested innovative approaches, system thinking integration in engineering education, and its applicability to civil, chemical, and environmental engineering. It is argued that civil engineering education is challenging from the sustainability perspective and the process of real-life project implementation as usually the projects are related to the existing network (roads, water-supply systems, and similar). This makes it difficult to give students tasks related to solving real-life problems. However, the author states that civil engineering has a critical role within society and therefore the educational system must be modified to apply systems thinking approach and reflect real-world experiences and problems.

Relevance for Complex Systems Knowledge
The author states that engineering education needs to change as it should develop not only knowledge in the engineering fields, but also competences in problem solving, integration, interdisciplinary, socio-technical analysis and systems thinking. The respective skills should enable graduates to better satisfy the needs of the work environment where real-life problems must be solved. It is noted that system thinking is highly related to other mentioned skills and by improving system thinking, the other skills are also developed. The students reach these learning goals by designing and developing projects which require interdisciplinary knowledge and mimic clients’ specifications.
One of the mentioned challenges of solving real-life problems in civil engineering is choosing a proper complexity of the task as students have a limited environment to collect data and test their solutions. Another challenge is assessment as knowledge assessment is not enough and students’ understanding of social-technical relationships, creativity and teamwork skills should also be assessed.

Point of Strength
The author in detail discusses the need of systems thinking in civil, environmental and chemical engineering, and the particular issues related to each field.