Enhancing pro-public-good professionalism in technical studies

In a university environment dominated by a traditional way of understanding knowledge, we argue that it is possible and necessary to foster capabilities among engineering students. Capabilities are understood as reasoned and substantive freedoms to lead the kind of life that people value, within a framework of respect for the core values of human development. In this sense, enhancing capabilities means fostering pro-public-good professionalism. With insight from an interview study conducted at the Universitat Polit,cnica de Val,ncia, in Spain, we will argue how formal and informal spaces have the potential to foster capabilities such as participation, commitment, empathy, intercultural respect, critical thinking and self-reflexivity. 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