{"id":1505,"date":"2026-05-06T08:03:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T06:03:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kth.se\/blogs\/itm-management\/?p=1505"},"modified":"2026-05-06T14:51:48","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T12:51:48","slug":"when-cdios-roots-are-given-the-right-environment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kth.se\/blogs\/itm-management\/2026\/05\/when-cdios-roots-are-given-the-right-environment\/","title":{"rendered":"When CDIO\u2019s roots are given the right environment"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Woman<\/a>
Does mastering an air plane requires an engineering mindset? Pernilla Ulfvengren on a Tuesday at work.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In English further down.<\/p>\n

N\u00e4r CDIO:s r\u00f6tter f\u00e5r r\u00e4tt milj\u00f6<\/h2>\n

H\u00e4rliga tider, str\u00e5lande tider \u2013 det \u00e4r v\u00e5r! Och f\u00f6r\u00e4ndringarna h\u00e4nger i luften, som Fredrik skrev i sin h\u00f6stblogg. Med systemt\u00e4nk f\u00f6rst\u00e5r jag att det alltid \u00e4r en f\u00f6rdr\u00f6jning fr\u00e5n det att styrningen \u00e4ndrats tills det sipprar ner till skolor och sen PA och sen utbildningsplaner och sen kursplaner och sen undervisning och sen l\u00e4rande och sen kanske \u00e5tg\u00e4rdsplan…<\/p>\n

Peter Sellers roll som tr\u00e4dg\u00e5rdsm\u00e4stare i Mr Chance, f\u00f6rstod vikten av att l\u00e5ta r\u00f6tterna vara kvar och att tillv\u00e4xt kr\u00e4ver t\u00e5lamod genom \u00e5rstidernas v\u00e4xlingar. Mr Chance konstaterar att s\u00e5 l\u00e4nge v\u00e4xter f\u00e5r r\u00e4tt v\u00e5rd och milj\u00f6 kommer de att frodas\u2026 En fin analogi och modell.<\/p>\n

Men styrning hinner ibland \u00e4ndras innan tidigare fr\u00f6n hunnit gro och frodas. Sedan styrning mot CDIO och ingenj\u00f6rsm\u00e4ssighet introducerades runt 2000 i KTH:s program, har den ambitionen (i alla fall f\u00f6r mig) levt kvar. Men under min tid som vice GA har jag ocks\u00e5 f\u00f6rst\u00e5tt att CDIO f\u00f6r m\u00e5nga idag endast \u00e4r synonymt med utv\u00e4rdering av h\u00e5llbar utveckling i v\u00e5ra ingenj\u00f6rsutbildningar. F\u00f6rhoppningsvis finns det CDIO-r\u00f6tter kvar som kan orka komma igen!<\/p>\n

KTH:s ledning har nyligen uttryckt att KTH inte anv\u00e4nder CDIO som styrning l\u00e4ngre. Men det g\u00f6r vi ju! Fast vi till\u00e4mpar formellt endast den del av CDIO:s standard 3.0 som riktar sig mot h\u00e5llbar utveckling<\/a>, n\u00e4mligen \u00a0standard nummer 13. De \u00f6vriga 12 som ing\u00e5r i CDIO Standards 3.0<\/a> diskuterar vi d\u00e4remot inte och vare sig dem eller CDIO Syllabus 3.o<\/a> syns i KTH:s styrning. Varf\u00f6r d\u00e5?<\/p>\n

Jag m\u00f6ter ibland skepsis och kritik mot att vilja st\u00e4rka fokus p\u00e5 ingenj\u00f6rsm\u00e4ssighet. Kritiken kopplas ofta till det som kallas \u201dtraditional engineering\u201d. F\u00f6r mig k\u00e4nns denna kritik som ett halmgubbeargument. Jag uppfattar att kritikerna menar att ett fokus p\u00e5 ingenj\u00f6rsm\u00e4ssighet egentligen handlar om att bevara ett gammalt status quo, som de ser som n\u00e5got negativt.<\/p>\n

Sj\u00e4lv f\u00f6rknippar jag ingenj\u00f6rsm\u00e4ssighet med f\u00f6rm\u00e5ga och en genuin vilja att l\u00f6sa m\u00e4nskliga problem och g\u00f6ra v\u00e4rlden b\u00e4ttre genom teknik. Det \u00e4r ocks\u00e5 det jag hoppas att de flesta t\u00e4nker p\u00e5 n\u00e4r n\u00e5got beskrivs som ingenj\u00f6rsm\u00e4ssigt. Varf\u00f6r vi tolkar begreppet s\u00e5 olika vet jag inte.<\/p>\n

Om vi enas om en o\u00f6nskad ingenj\u00f6rsm\u00e4ssighet som \u201dbad practice\u201d s\u00e5 borde vi ocks\u00e5 vara eniga om CDIO:s ramverk, med b\u00e5de syllabus och standards, som f\u00f6respr\u00e5kar (modern?) ingenj\u00f6rsm\u00e4ssighet och \u201dgood practice\u201d. Kritik av ingenj\u00f6rsutbildningar har lyfts fram sedan 40-talet d\u00e5 man menade att ingenj\u00f6rsutbildningar i allt f\u00f6r stor utstr\u00e4ckning var baserad p\u00e5 naturvetenskap. Detta gjorde att de som utbildades gled ifr\u00e5n ingenj\u00f6rspraktiken och ingenj\u00f6rsm\u00e4ssighet. \u201dEngineers that can engineer\u201d. Ett av sk\u00e4len var att f\u00e4rre och f\u00e4rre av fakulteten hade praktiserat som ingenj\u00f6rer eller hade ingenj\u00f6rsbakgrund och d\u00e4rmed inte kunde fungera som mentorer och handleda i utveckling av praktiken. Detta var ocks\u00e5 startpunkten f\u00f6r CDIO och att, denna utveckling till trots, kunde kompenseras med en gemensamt framtagen kravspecifikation att f\u00f6rh\u00e5lla sig till, som kunde s\u00e4kerst\u00e4lla att utbildningarna f\u00f6rdes n\u00e4rmare ingenj\u00f6rspraktiken och ingenj\u00f6rsm\u00e4ssighet.<\/p>\n

Min f\u00f6rhoppning \u00e4r att vi till n\u00e4sta \u00e5rs programanalys har kommit en bit n\u00e4rmare att styra mot ingenj\u00f6rsm\u00e4ssighet genom att under v\u00e5ren och sommaren ge CDIO:s r\u00f6tter r\u00e4tt v\u00e5rd och milj\u00f6 att frodas i.<\/p>\n

Glad v\u00e5r och sommar!<\/p>\n

\/Pernilla Ulfvengren, vice grundutbildningsansvarig p\u00e5 ITM-skolan<\/p>\n

When CDIO\u2019s roots are given the right environment<\/h2>\n

Wonderful times, radiant times \u2013 it is spring! And change is in the air, as Fredrik wrote in his autumn blog. From a systems-thinking perspective, I understand that there is always a delay between a change in governance and when it finally reaches schools, then programme administrators, then programme syllabi, then course syllabi, then teaching, then learning \u2013 and perhaps eventually an action plan.<\/p>\n

Peter Sellers\u2019 character, the gardener Mr Chance, understood the importance of letting roots remain and that growth requires patience through the changing seasons. Mr Chance observes that as long as plants are given the right care and environment, they will flourish. A beautiful analogy and model.<\/p>\n

However, governance sometimes changes before previously planted seeds have had time to germinate and grow. Since governance towards CDIO and engineering mindset was introduced in KTH\u2019s programmes around the year 2000, that ambition has, at least for me, remained alive. But during my time as Deputy Head of First and Second Cycle Education, I have also come to realise that for many today, CDIO has become synonymous solely with the evaluation of sustainable development in our engineering programmes. Hopefully, there are still CDIO roots left that are strong enough to grow back.<\/p>\n

KTH\u2019s leadership has recently stated that KTH no longer uses CDIO as a governing framework. But in practice, we do! Formally, however, we apply only the part of CDIO Standards 3.0 that addresses sustainable development<\/a>, namely Standard 13. The other 12 standards included in CDIO Standards 3.0<\/a> are not discussed, and neither they nor the CDIO Syllabus 3.0<\/a> are visible in KTH\u2019s governance. Why is that?<\/p>\n

I sometimes encounter skepticism and criticism when I argue for strengthening the focus on engineering mindset. This criticism is often linked to what is referred to as \u201ctraditional engineering.\u201d To me, this feels like a straw man argument. I interpret the critics as suggesting that a focus on engineering mindset is really about preserving an old status quo, which they view as something negative. Personally, I associate engineering mindset with the ability and a genuine desire to solve human problems and to improve the world through the possibilities and potential of technology. That is also what I hope most people think of when something is described as being engineered in an \u201cengineering-minded\u201d way. I do not know why we interpret the concept so differently\u2026<\/p>\n

If we can agree that there exists an undesirable form of engineering mindset as \u201cbad practice,\u201d then we should also be able to agree on CDIO\u2019s framework \u2013 both the syllabus and the standards \u2013 which promotes (modern?) engineering mindset and \u201cgood practice.\u201d Criticism of engineering education has been raised since the 1940s, when it was argued that engineering programmes were too heavily based on natural sciences. As a result, graduates drifted away from engineering practice and engineering mindset \u2013 engineers that can engineer<\/em>. One reason was that fewer and fewer faculty members had practised as engineers or had an engineering background, and therefore could not act as mentors or supervise the development of practice. This was also the starting point for CDIO: despite this development, it was possible to compensate by jointly developing a specification of requirements to relate to, ensuring that education was brought closer to engineering practice and engineering mindset.<\/p>\n

My hope is that by the time of next year\u2019s programme analysis, we will have moved a step closer to governing towards engineering mindset, by giving CDIO\u2019s roots the right care and environment to flourish during the spring and summer.<\/p>\n

Happy spring and summer!<\/em><\/p>\n

\/Pernilla Ulfvengren, Deputy Head of First and Second Cycle Education at ITM<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In English further down. N\u00e4r CDIO:s r\u00f6tter f\u00e5r r\u00e4tt milj\u00f6 H\u00e4rliga tider, str\u00e5lande tider \u2013 det \u00e4r v\u00e5r! Och f\u00f6r\u00e4ndringarna h\u00e4nger i luften, som Fredrik skrev i sin h\u00f6stblogg. Med systemt\u00e4nk f\u00f6rst\u00e5r jag att det alltid \u00e4r en f\u00f6rdr\u00f6jning fr\u00e5n det att styrningen \u00e4ndrats tills det sipprar ner till skolor och sen PA och sen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1529,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[73,74],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deaputy-head-of-first-and-second-cycle-education","category-pernilla-ulfvengren"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6P3xp-oh","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kth.se\/blogs\/itm-management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kth.se\/blogs\/itm-management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kth.se\/blogs\/itm-management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kth.se\/blogs\/itm-management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1529"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kth.se\/blogs\/itm-management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1505"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.kth.se\/blogs\/itm-management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1505\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1508,"href":"https:\/\/www.kth.se\/blogs\/itm-management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1505\/revisions\/1508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kth.se\/blogs\/itm-management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kth.se\/blogs\/itm-management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kth.se\/blogs\/itm-management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}