Is industrial ecology a proper way to introduce sustainability into technical universities

Abstract

Industrial Ecology (IE) started as an emerging field in the seventies of the twentieth century in countries such as Japan and USA. Following this example, other countries have developed initiatives and methodologies in order to introduce Industrial Ecology principles in their academic backgrounds. In this manner, concepts of IE have been spreading continuously worldwide.

Thus, a comparison is made among academic backgrounds of IE which are taught in technical universities of Europe and Latin America, by comparing technological universities of Sweden (Royal Institute of Technology), Italy (Politecnico di Torino), Spain (UPC of Catalonia) and Peru (Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina and Universidad Nacional Del Santa). These universities are chosen because they are located in countries that represent different levels of implementation of IE policies, from the official educational backgrounds of north Europe to first attempts of Latin America.

Our study is based on the quantification and qualification of diverse parameters. Such parameters include the existence of educational programmes, specialized departments and their projects, events and publications. Finally, an investigation of the existence of congress, conferences and public workshops is researched.

This article aims to determine academic differences between Europe and Latin America to reveal a scale of implementation of actual methodologies. Moreover, we propose the means to improve a comparative methodology of study and the possibilities to develop a multidisciplinary and multicultural scientific discipline, which is Industrial Ecology, as a way to introduce sustainability concepts into programmes of technological universities.