Bridging Borders and Disciplines: A Systems Thinking Approach to International Education in Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering

Graduates in sustainable chemistry and engineering increasingly require advanced multicultural and interdisciplinary competencies, yet traditional curricula often fail to provide these. Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) offers an accessible, scalable solution. This article analyzes the outcomes of two interventions connecting Chemistry undergraduates (University of York, UK) with Chemical Engineering postgraduates (University of Zaragoza, Spain). The objective was to foster these transversal skills alongside a holistic, systems-thinking understanding of biorefinery concepts. Over 6-week projects, two cohorts worked in international, interdisciplinary pairs, including both fully remote “e-pairs” and co-located “in-place” pairs, to produce scientific media. The findings demonstrate exceptional student engagement and the cultivation of a systems-thinking approach. The model fostered sociocultural competencies: non-native speakers enhanced professional fluency, while native speakers learned to moderate their language for inclusive communication. Critically, this study revealed that fully remote “e-pairs” outperformed co-located “in-place” pairs in digital-age skills, notably in their proactive use of social media for dissemination and their intuitive creation of more inclusive, accessible outputs. This work validates the COIL framework as an alternative to physical mobility, concluding that a well-structured virtual exchange can be effective for cultivating the digital and intercultural competencies required by the next generation of global scientists and engineers.