Ethics in the engineering curricula: Topics, trends and challenges for the future

Abstract

This paper presents an introduction to and an overview of the papers in a special section of this journal for which we acted as guest editors. As guest editors, we have aimed at presenting a collection of regional papers that together give an overview of the present state of the teaching of ethics in the engineering curricula in three continents: the USA, Europe and Australia. In our own paper, we provide historical information concerning the motivation for and the development of engineering ethics, point to important topics and trends that arise from the regional papers, and identify the main challenges for the future.