On 14 February 2013, the Quality Engineering for Sustainability initiative was launched by the German Foreign Office, to support sustainable engineering education and North-South-South partnerships. This initiative, created by the Association of German Engineers (VDI) and the German Commission for UNESCO in partnership with nine leading German tertiary educational facilities and five German companies (Bayer, Robert Bosch, E.ON, TÜV Rheinland, and Volkswagen), supports the mandates of the UNESCO Engineering Initiative.

The objective of the Quality Engineering for Sustainability initiative is to improve engineering education in the global South by supporting ‘hands-on’ training in secondary schools and developing industrial partnerships with targeted tertiary educational institutions. Some of the universities that will participate in this initiative are:

• Argentina (Universidad Nacional de Cuyo in Mendoza, Instituto Tecnológico de Buenos Aires, Universidad Nacional de San Martín)
• Brazil (Universidade Federal do Paraná, Universidade em São Paulo, Universidade Federal de Campina Grande, Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná, Universidade Federal de Itajubá)
• China (Beijing Institute of Technology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University)
• India (Indian Institutes of Technology in Bombay, Roorkee, Madras, Kharagpur, Delhi and Kanpur)
• Mexico (National Polytechnic Institute, National Autonomous University, Tecnológico de Monterrey)
• Thailand (Thamassat University, Khon Kaen University)
• Vietnam (Vietnamese-German University)

At these tertiary educational facilities, the Quality Engineering for Sustainability initiative will support undergraduate, graduate and doctorate theses as well as lectures and seminars on a variety of engineering fields, such as water technology and management, electrical engineering and information technology, environmental engineering and industrial engineering. Also, through the international corporate ties provided by the German companies, students from the global South will have opportunities to undertake internships and research contracts.

The Quality Engineering for Sustainability initiative aims to encourage North-South-South partnerships and to support sustainable development through the active synergies of VDI, UNESCO and the participating German educational institutions and industrial organisations.