Quelle place pour les enjeux environnementaux dans les formations d’ingénieurs en Algérie ? Le cas de l’École Nationale Polytechnique d’Alger

Abstract

While environmental issues have become an essential part of contemporary engineering education in France and Europe, what is the situation in North African countries confronted even more brutally with the impacts of global warming? This paper proposes a study of engineering education in Algeria, and the place reserved for environmental issues. It is based on an analysis of the training programs of the École Nationale Polytechnique of Algiers and on interviews conducted with teachers from 2018 to 2020. It shows how curricular production is carried out in a leading engineering school, by whom and with what debates. The study demonstrates some teacher autonomy, as they are not constrained by reference frameworks and prescriptions, but face other types of constraints in terms of institutional organization and resources. These teachers are introducing environmental courses into their programs, but in a way that is limited in relation to their training ambitions. They agree that there are a multiplicity of emergencies, the environmental emergency being only one of them.

Keywords

• Algeria
• curriculum
• engineering education
• environmental issues