One of the goals of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) is to promote engineering education, capacity building and applications for poverty eradication and sustainable development.
Noting the recommendations of the World Engineers’ Conventions in Hanover, 2000 (“Humanity, Nature and Technology”), and Shanghai, 2004 (“Engineers Shape the Sustainable World”), regarding the importance of engineering in social and economic development and the need for capacity building, and noting that the third World Engineers’ Convention was held on December in Brasilia in 2008 (“Engineering: Innovation with Social Responsibility”). These recommendations highlight the need for the promotion of engineering education for development, with direct implications in the training of people for autonomy and sustainable development.
CDIO, as a framework to produce the next generation of engineers, provides students with an education stressing, beside others, operating real-world systems. Engineering education must take into account the surrounding environment, namely the goals set by international organizations and governments as they will represent additional opportunities for students at the labour market.