Engineering Education for Sustainable Futures through Curriculum Renewal Aligned with the EAC Manual 2024

Abstract

Engineering education is undergoing rapid transformation driven by Industry 5.0, digitalisation, sustainability imperatives, and growing expectations for ethical and human-centred practice. This structured review examined how global curriculum-renewal trends align with the Engineering Accreditation Council (EAC) Manual 2024. A systematic search of Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar covering 2015–2025 identified 423 records, of which 92 full-text articles were screened and 48 met the inclusion criteria for thematic synthesis. Five dominant domains emerge, namely digital and artificial intelligence fluency, sustainability and ethics, human-centred learning, interdisciplinary and entrepreneurial mindsets, and flexible micro-credential pathways. Mapping these domains to the eleven Programme Outcomes in the EAC Manual 2024 revealed strong alignment in sustainability, ethics, teamwork, and societal responsibility, but weaker integration of digitalisation, AI-enabled problem solving, and lifelong-learning structures. The review proposes guiding principles for strengthening curriculum renewal, emphasising ethical integration, sustainability orientation, digital empowerment, human-centred learning, interdisciplinary synergy, and reflective quality management. These insights provide an evidence-based foundation for Malaysian engineering programmes seeking coherent, future-ready curriculum transformation consistent with global developments and accreditation expectations.