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The text evaluates how these approaches address complex global challenges without clear formulation, stopping rules, or definitive solutions.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & 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Tomkinson  \nUniversity of Manchester, UK  \nThe worldfaces a number of complex challenges that are sometimes referred to as ‘wicked problems.’Universities have been relatively poor at preparing graduates for such challenges, yet it will be the future professionals who need to tackle the problems. This essay looks at two related projects that have attempted to advance the skills training of graduates for a complex world, in the context of educating engineers and scientists in sustainable development.  \nA Delphi study conducted in the UK suggested that systemic, student-centred approaches were vital to the appropriate development of undergraduates to become engineers with skills in sustainable development. Apilot project sponsored by the UK Royal Academy of Engineering developed an interdisciplinary course unit, using student-centred principles, to embed the principles of sustainable development, in its broadest sense, in the curricula of engineers and scientists. The essay includes an evaluation of this approach.  \nIntroduction  \nGlobal warming has begun to feature strongly in  \neveryday life, but it is by no means the only‘wicked’ global problem. The oft-cited Brundtland Report (1987) identifies a number of such issues, including:  \n• the burden of debt in the developing world, inequitable commercial regulations, and a  \ngrowing number of the world’s population living at or below subsistence level;  \n• overuse of non-renewable resources, growing competition for limited water supplies, and threats of armed conflict over access to water;  \n• reduction of biodiversity and continuing desertification;  \n• pollution of air, water, and soil, affecting the  \nglobal environment and climate change;  \n• continuing growth of the world’s population, coupled with additional economic pressures caused by increased life expectancy; and  \n• increasing nationalistic, political and religious extremism, terrorism, armed conflict, mass migration and social disruption.  \nTo some, these are problems of global societal responsibility, and to others, problems of sustainability: concepts of sustainable development and global citizenship overlap, which represents many of the complex challenges that the world faces.  \nWe sometimes refer to these issues as ‘wicked,’ in the sense introduced by Rittel and Webber (1973), whose view of a wicked problem was that it featured many of the aspects of:  \n• having no definitive formulation;  \n• having no clear end, no stopping rule;  \n• having a solution that is ‘good or bad’ rather than right or wrong;  \n• having no immediate or ultimate test of its resolution;  \n• having consequences to every solution – thereis no possibility of learning by trial and error;  \n• not having a well-described set of potential solutions;  \n• being essentially unique;  \n• being a symptom of another problem;  \n• having causes with no unique explanation; and  \n• bringing expectations that its ‘owner’ will find the ‘right’ answer.  \nAlthough not all of these have to be present for a problem to be ‘wicked,’ it is equally clear that many of the issues that we are describing will align with these determinants. Tackling such issues requires a different outlook, and universities have a role in shaping future graduates to face such global challenges.  \nThis essay reflects on the implementation of a project, with financial assistance from the UK Royal  \nAcademy of Engineering, to embed some of these approaches in the curriculum and develop in students the skills necessary for operating in a complex ‘wicked’ world. To this is added the results of a Delphi consultation (which involves a series of structured conversations between leading experts with the aim of reaching a group consensus – see Delbecq, Van de Ven, and Gustafson (1975) for a description of this approach to garnering expert opinion), supported by the Higher Education Acad","cbCaiqkXxxtbom7l","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiqkXxxtbom7l","pdf",190488,"English","# Introduction\n## Wicked problems and sustainable development\n## Delphi consultation and pilot course unit\n## Problem-based and inter-disciplinary learning","[{\"question\":\"What does the essay mean by “wicked problems”?\",\"answer\":\"“Wicked problems” are described as issues lacking definitive formulation, clear stopping rules, and definitive right-or-wrong solutions, with consequences that make trial-and-error learning impossible.\"},{\"question\":\"Why are universities said to be challenged in preparing graduates?\",\"answer\":\"Universities are characterized as having been relatively poor at training graduates to tackle complex global challenges, which future professionals must confront in the real world.\"},{\"question\":\"What projects and methods does the essay use to improve graduate skills?\",\"answer\":\"It draws on a UK Delphi study and evaluates a Royal Academy of Engineering-sponsored interdisciplinary course unit built on student-centred principles and problem-based learning to embed sustainable development in curricula.\"}]","Dealing with Wicked Global Problems - An Inter-Disciplinary Approach | PDF",1792087266,23]