Continuing Engineering Education and Environmental Management: How to Satisfy New Demands by New Settings—AnExample/Zusatzqualifikation 'Umweltmanagement in Bahia’—für Ingenieure und diejenigen, die mit ihnen zusammenarbeiten

SUMMARY

The need for a more sustainable development is commonly acknowledged, but there are considerable problems for meaningful operationalization. This is still true today, even though relevant legislation is increasing, more suitable technologies are available and more financial resources can be called upon. Thus, the real stumbling blocks seem to be a lack of knowledge in various aspects: knowledge of new demands regarding one's own professional activities: comprehensive understanding of complex (eco)systems; and networking knowledge of how to secure inter-institutional and interdisciplinary communication and cooperation. To transfer the lacking knowledge—in most cases during an individual's working life and not before—requires both new contents and dimensions of flexibility and effectiveness not common to traditional teaching structures. Therefore, suitable learning infrastructures and methodologies have to be developed. Also, traditional knowledge selection and acquisition behaviour and established roles in knowledge transfer have to be questioned. As an example for tackling the problem in an innovative and efficient way, this article describes an environmental management course in the Brazilian state of Bahia. Participants have to hold an academic degree and have to be economically active to take part in the course. Learning on the course and working are interlinked so that one benefits the other. The keys for achieving this goal are the modular structure of the course, and a modified role of the participants, their employers, the tutors and professors. Many participants have an engineering and technical background, but they also have natural and social scientists, administrators, journalists and teachers as classmates.