Circular economy for water education: Job market expectations and higher educational offerings in Finland

Research Paper Recommended citation: Baldasso, V., Peña-Torres, D., Sundman, J., Taka, M., & Mikola, A. (2025). Circular economy for water education: Job market expectations and higher educational offerings in Finland. In Kangaslampi, R., Langie, G., Järvinen, H.-M., & Nagy, B. (Eds.), SEFI 53rd Annual Conference. European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI), Tampere, Finland. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17631654. This Conference Paper is brought to you for open access by the 53rd Annual Conference of the European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI) at Tampere University in Tampere, Finland. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License. Circular economy for water education: Job market expectations and higher educational offerings in Finland V. Baldasso a, 1 , D. Peña Torres b, J. Sundman c, M. Taka d, A. Mikola e a Aalto University, Espoo, Finland, ORCID 0000-0003-4107-1078 b Aalto University, Espoo, Finland, ORCID 0000-0002-1705-0018 c Aalto University, Espoo, Finland, ORCID 0000-0003-2590-632X d Aalto University, Espoo, Finland, ORCID 0000-0002-6147-9137 e Aalto University, Espoo, Finland, ORCID 0000-0002-1629-9276 Conference Key Areas: Sustainability and society in engineering, and Engineering skills, professional skills and transversal skills. Keywords: Education for circular economy, engineering education, circular economy competencies, curriculum design. ABSTRACT The transition to a circular economy (CE) is crucial for sustainability, particularly in the water and environment sectors. This study investigates the alignment between CE competencies required by the job market and those provided in higher education curricula in Finland using a mixed methods approach. The stakeholders survey revealed that CE competencies, such as problem-solving, critical thinking, and knowledge of water and environmental services, are highly valued by the market. It also revealed that graduates lack proficiency in areas like economic aspects and best available technologies. In addition, the analysis of master’s-level course offering on CE identified significant gaps in specific thematic areas, such as water education, and CE competencies. While general CE principles and communication skills were well covered, knowledge of best available technologies and economic principles, among others, were insufficiently addressed. These findings highlight the need for stronger CE curriculum integration to better prepare graduates for evolving market demands. By implementing holistic CE courses that blend interdisciplinarity with discipline-specific needs, higher education institutions can equip graduates with the necessary skills to contribute effectively to the CE transition. 1 Corresponding Author V. Baldasso veronica.baldass[email protected] 1 INTRODUCTION The transition to a circular economy (CE) is widely recognized as a viable strategy for building a more sustainable society in response to escalating climate, resource, and environmental concerns (Geissdoerfer et al., 2017). CE represents a paradigm shift from the traditional linear “take-make/use-dispose” to a more sustainable model based on three principles: (i) designing out waste and pollution, (ii) keeping products and materials in use, and (iii) regenerating natural systems (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2024). As this transition reshapes how societies produce, consume, and manage resources, it also poses new demands to current and future professionals across sectors – particularly engineers, who play a central role in designing systems, technologies, and infrastructures that enable innovative and sustainable solutions. Higher education institutions are crucial in preparing these professionals by equipping them with the necessary theoretical knowledge and practical skills (Giannoccaro et al., 2021; Paullet, 2020). In the context of CE transition, curricula must be restructured to foster the competencies required by the evolving job market (Acerbi et al., 2024; Ho et al., 2024; Janssens et al., 2021). Although sustainability and CE concepts have been increasingly integrated into higher education curricula over the past decade (Mesa & Esparragoza, 2021; Sanchez-Romaguera et al., 2016) it often lacks a cohesive method or a comprehensive understanding of their holistic implications (Garcia-Saravia Ortiz-de-Montellano et al., 2023; Renfors, 2024; Waite et al., 2024). Our existing efforts are fragmented and limited in scope (Mesa & Esparragoza, 2021) and only limited studies document how CE competencies can effectively be taught in engineering education, with pedagogical frameworks for this purpose remaining limited (Kirchherr & Piscicelli, 2019). This calls for further exploration of how CE competencies are addressed in engineering education, particularly in fields like water and environmental engineering, where circularity is closely tied to professional practice. 1.1 Circular economy for water education CE principles are particularly relevant to the water sector, where increasing pressure on freshwater resources and growing wastewater volumes demand more sustainable and resource-efficient approaches (Lazarova, 2022; Mannina et al., 2022). For example, in the urban water systems, CE involves rethinking water management and treatment strategies to develop decentralized networks, enable digitalization for smart water systems, maximize resource efficiency by reducing, reutilizing, and recovering resources (Avellán et al., 2021; Rebello et al., 2024). This model has become strongly supported by political leaders and authorities worldwide (European Commission, 2020; European Commission, 2019; Prieto-Sandoval et al., 2018; Ministry of the Environment, & Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, 2021). In fact, this shift is expected to enhance environmental sustainability, resilience and robustness of water infrastructures (Korhonen et al., 2018). For this reason, professionals are expected to have a solid foundation in CE, and its integration in the current water management and treatment strategies (Degerman et al., 2023; Giannoccaro et al., 2021; Sitra, 2021; The International Water Association, 2016). The importance of CE proficiency for professionals, especially engineers, in a rapidly evolving job market is internationally acknowledged and supported (OECD, 2019; UNESCO et al., 2016; World Economic Forum, 2025). Even though there is still little understanding on the type of workforce that CE implementation will require (Burger et al., 2019), the key CE competencies focus on (i) efficient resource management and impact assessment, including efficient materials and resource re/use, evaluating alternatives and their impact on the environment; (ii) systems thinking, referring to a systemic approach for investigating the complexity of CE associated challenges (systems and their interactions); and (iii) circular business models, including the identification, design and development of custom business models (Giannoccaro et al., 2021; Janssens et al., 2021; Renfors, 2024). However, the geographical and fieldsensitivity of relevant CE competencies reflects the need to identify and assess casespecific CE requirements, as is done in this paper (Acerbi et al., 2024; Aranda-Usón et al., 2018; Nikitaeva et al., 2024). Nevertheless, technical proficiency continues to be critical and should remain intact, with CE skills and competencies serving as an added value, enriching one’s expertise (Janssens et al., 2021). 1.2 Circular economy in higher education curricula Today, given the growing pressures for the CE transition, there are strong efforts to identify the best frameworks and strategies to develop holistic CE courses for targeted fields (Kirchherr & Piscicelli, 2019; Whalen et al., 2018), especially in engineering education (Mesa & Esparragoza, 2021). This field specific knowledge and technical skills education should be targeted at the master’s level (Nikitaeva et al., 2024; Wang & Van Bueren, 2018). Furthermore, it is essential to evaluate current educational offering together with the job market expectations and pinpoint existing gaps. To the authors’ knowledge, there are only a few studies that have investigated higher education offerings related to CE and whether they adequately meet the demands of the current and future job market (Acerbi et al., 2024; Giannoccaro et al., 2021), primarily focusing on selected countries. In the Finnish context, however, no studies have addressed this issue. Given the Finnish government’s support towards education and CE transition, it is imperative to address this research gap in Finland, especially considering the potential for developing specialized CE courses tailored to the Finnish context. Thus, this study aims to answer the following research questions: 1. What are the CE needs and expectations of the Finnish job market in the field of water and environmental engineering? 2. How are CE-related needs and expectations of the job market addressed in master’s level education in water and environmental engineering in Finland? 2 METHODOLOGY This study is part of a broader on-going interdisciplinary research project that focuses on developing effective integration of CE concepts into engineering education, with a particular focus on the water and environmental sector. The research adopts a mixed methods design to gain an understanding of the alignment between job market expectations and educational offerings related to the CE in the field of water and environmental engineering. We used the same competency lists for both survey and course offering mapping. 2.1 Data collection Survey of stakeholders To gain a holistic understanding of the CE needs and expectations within the Finnish job market for water and environment professionals, an electronic survey was developed and administered to selected stakeholders. The participants were sourced from a pool of stakeholders from the research group’s network using purposive sampling (Patton, 2002). This ensured the inclusion of professionals involved in water and environment fields, potentially dealing with CE aspects, within Finland-based companies and/or organizations. The survey comprised five sections: (i) demographic and professional background information, (ii) current CE skills and competencies required in the job market, (iii) proficiency of recent graduated professionals in CE skills and competencies, (iv) future expectations of CE skills and competencies for the job market, and (v) the role of higher education institutions in facilitating the transition towards a CE. The survey was developed utilizing Webropol survey tool and shared via email with the participants, together with the study’s information, ethics approval and privacy notice. (This is an ongoing study; thus, the pool of potential participants will expand to include members of the Finnish Water Association and other professionals identified through snowball sampling.) The 19 survey respondents represented professionals including engineers, consultants, managing directors, CEOs, and government officials. The respondents were aged from 25 to over 65 years old (with 64% being 35–54 years old), with 79% being male. They all held a higher education degree (63% master’s degree and 32% a doctoral degree; 95% related to engineering and technology disciplines), and over 50% of participants had more than 20 years of experience in the field of water and environment, while the remaining had between 6 to 20 years of experience. All participants stated that their work was from minimally (21%) to highly (32%) related to CE, with their involvement in CE projects either being constant (16%) or increasing (84%) throughout the past 5 years. Online data collection on course offering To systematically identify and analyse course offering related to CE, we reviewed publicly available course catalogues on the official websites of Finnish higher education institutions. The scope of the search was limited to master’s level course offering within science and technology fields, either completely dedicated to CE or included CE-content in their curriculum, including related tools and software. Each institution's official course catalogue website was systematically explored and courses fulfilling the research criteria were selected for further analysis. To ensure consistency, a standardized template was used to record information for each course (e.g. course contents, intended learning outcomes, teaching and assessment methods), and the findings were discussed within the research team. 2.2 Integrated data analysis The quantitative survey data collected through survey were analysed with descriptive statistics using the Webropol reporting tool and Excel. The data collected from the higher education institutions’ websites were analysed with basic initial content analysis, involving categorization followed by qualitative assessment. The data were categorized based on the key thematic features related to course content and learning outcomes. Intended learning outcomes were classified/clustered by literature-based CE competencies and skills. The qualitative assessment focused on evaluating the frequency of these features and identifying potential gaps in the master’s level offering on CE for the field of water and environmental engineering. 3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION CE competencies: needs and expectations in the job market This subsection presents insights from professionals on the importance of CE competencies in the current job market and the proficiency of recent graduates in water and environment sectors (Table 1). All CE competencies and skills were considered important, with average scores exceeding 3 out of 5. The three most valued CE competencies for the current job market were problem solving (4.6), critical thinking (4.4), and knowledge on water and environmental services (4.4). The most valued CE skills were transversal skills, specifically communication, teamwork, and lifelong learning (each 4.3), aligning with recent literature on CE competencies (Janssens et al., 2021; Renfors, 2024). Other key competencies included knowledge of best available technologies (4.3), knowledge of climate change, water scarcity and resource scarcity (4.3), and basic economic principles (4.2). Despite generally meeting current job market requirements, professionals identified proficiency gaps among graduates, particularly in economic aspects for the environment/ecology, decision making, policy/regulatory awareness, leadership, stakeholder engagement and resource management. However, transversal skills like resource management and stakeholder engagement are expected to be developed progressively throughout one’s career, so recent graduates are not expected to be fully proficient in them in entry-level positions. Looking ahead, expected CE competencies largely align with current CE competency needs. However, knowledge of best available technologies and the economic aspects of the environment/ecology remain critical gaps. These findings support previous research in education for CE (Acerbi et al., 2024; Giannoccaro et al., 2021; Janssens et al., 2021; Renfors, 2024), which highlights a growing demand for economics-related competencies (business models, economic analysis, and economics of environment/ecology), problem-solving and critical thinking skills. CE course offerings: competency alignment and gaps An analysis of 30 higher education institutions in Finland found that only 11 offer master’s-level courses on CE, totalling 52 courses. Due to possible variations in course naming, keywords or recent updates, the list may be incomplete. Figure 1 presents the primary thematic areas covered by these courses, with general CE principles, business, and materials and waste being the most frequent. However, life cycle analysis and other CE tools – critical for CE strategy assessment – were less frequently covered. Most notably, there is a lack of courses on CE for water education, despite the intrinsic circularity of water and environment systems and their global significance. An analysis on the competencies addressed by these courses revealed discrepancies between CE competencies emphasized in the courses and those prioritized by stakeholders (Table 1). While courses effectively cover CE principles and communication skills, they insufficiently address knowledge of best available technologies, basic economic principles, and policy/regulatory awareness. These gaps are particularly evident in engineering disciplines that have yet to fully integrate CE into their curricula in a holistic manner, as shown also by previous studies (Weissbrodt et al., 2020). To meet evolving market and societal needs, higher education institutions must strengthen the integration of CE into engineering curricula (Tiippana-Usvasalo et al., 2023). This involves addressing current CE competency gaps by embedding interdisciplinary, field-specific courses that reflect the complexity of real-word CE challenges. For example, course design could incorporate modules focused on critical and scarcely covered CE competencies and skills (Table 1) targeting interdisciplinary CE themes and including collaborative, project-based learning experiences codeveloped with industry partners, bringing real case scenarios into the classroom. Accordingly, course design should integrate technical knowledge with transversal CE skills, which are essential to tackle CE challenges. These strategies, among others (Mesa & Esparragoza, 2021), will help prepare graduates for their professional roles and support the broader CE transition. Table 1: Average scores (1–5) for the significance of CE competencies and skills in the current job market and the proficiency of recent graduates. There are also the topranking CE competencies and skills for the future (% of participants, n=19) and the course coverage of these competencies and skills (% of courses, n=52). Current importance for the job market (-) Proficiency of recent graduates (-) Most relevant for future job market (%) Course offerings (%) Competencies Knowledge of circular economy principles 4.0 3.9 58 100 Knowledge and understanding of best available technology in the field 4.3 3.6 53 13 Knowledge on water and environmental services 4.4 3.8 0 13 Knowledge on climate change, water scarcity, and resource scarcity 4.3 3.9 42 15 Knowledge of the economic aspects of the environment/ecology 4.2 3.2 47 29 Problem-solving 4.6 3.9 58 40 Systems thinking 4.1 3.6 11 60 Circular thinking/design 3.6 3.3 11 65 Circular business models 3.7 3.0 16 29 Circular collaboration 3.4 3.3 11 12 Strategic thinking 4.1 3.4 11 46 Value thinking 3.9 3.4 11 2 Critical thinking 4.4 3.8 58 48 Creativity 3.8 3.8 5 13 Innovation thinking 3.8 3.6 37 21 Decision-making 4.1 3.1 11 33 Technical skills Knowledge and application of circular economy “Rs” Strategy 3.5 3.3 3.5 19 Environmental awareness and application of sustainability principles 3.8 3.9 3.8 79 Policy and regulatory awareness 3.8 3.1 3.8 25 Performing Life Cycle Analysis 3.3 3.3 3.3 37 Performing Environmental Assessments 3.3 2.8 3.3 8 Knowledge of industrial symbiosis approach 3.7 3.3 3.7 10 Optimization of process/production flow 3.7 3.1 3.7 12 Modelling and simulation skills 3.3 3.3 3.3 8 Definition of system and its boundaries 3.5 3.3 3.5 27 Data analysis (simple and statistical) 3.8 3.6 3.8 6 Basic economic principles/analysis 4.1 3.3 4.1 19 Evaluation of uncertainty 3.7 3.4 3.7 NA Research skills 3.3 3.4 3.3 12 Transversal skills Planning and implementation 3.8 3.4 3.8 33 Communication (oral and written) 4.3 4.1 4.3 100 Leadership 3.8 2.7 3.8 19 Teamwork 4.3 4.3 4.3 25 Multidisciplinary view 3.9 3.7 3.9 15 Sectoral view 3.6 3.2 3.6 27 Resource management 3.8 3.1 3.8 15 Stakeholder engagement 3.8 3.0 3.8 21 Flexibility and adaptability 4.1 3.8 4.1 NA Lifelong learning 4.3 4.2 4.3 NA Figure 1: Key contents of the circular economy (CE) courses identified. Results are represented as a percentage (%) of total courses (n=52). LCA = Life-cycle assessment. 4 CONCLUSIONS This study underscores the growing importance of CE competencies and skills in the water and environment sectors while identifying key proficiency gaps in economic aspects, best available technologies, decision-making, and policy awareness. Although some CE competencies are adequately covered, a more holistic integration into discipline-specific curricula – particularly in water and environmental engineering – is needed. Strengthening CE education will better equip graduates for the job market and enhance their ability to drive the CE transition. 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This research was supported by Profi6 T3 Co-innovating circular systems, funded by the Research Council of Finland.