The effective integration of environmental engineering principles (EEPs) into national systems is a critical lever for achieving sustainable development goals. This study investigates the systemic barriers and enabling strategies for incorporating EEPs into a key sector—higher education—within the context of Uzbekistan. A mixed-methods approach was employed, utilizing surveys and semi-structured interviews with 300 professors, administrators, and postgraduate students. The results reveal a significant gap between awareness and implementation: while 65% of faculty and 82% of administrators demonstrated high awareness of sustainability concepts, only 8% perceived the current curriculum integration as comprehensive. Critical barriers were identified, including an overcrowded curriculum (rated 4.6/5), a deficit in faculty expertise (4.4/5), and a lack of localized teaching resources (4.2/5). Conversely, stakeholders strongly favored (92% support) solution-oriented strategies such as project-based learning addressing real-world environmental problems. The study concludes that successful integration necessitates a systemic overhaul, not merely curricular additions. Key recommendations for policymakers and institutional managers include strategic curriculum redesign, substantial investment in faculty capacity building, and the development of context-specific educational resources that address Uzbekistan's pressing environmental challenges, such as water resource management and climate change mitigation. This systemic analysis provides a transferable framework for embedding sustainability principles into national educational structures to foster environmentally literate professionals. © 2025, Ecozone, OAIMDD. All rights reserved.
Author Keywords
Index Keywords
