In this paper, we offer insight into how the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are being integrated into engineering programs. We investigate the question : “what opportunities and barriers should we take into consideration in order to better integrate the SDGs into engineering programs ?” We undertook two exploratory focus group studies with engineering students and academic participants that explored their perception of SDGs’ integration into their programs. Our results show significant differences between the perceptions of students and academics, and this indicates the need for a more comprehensive and balanced integration of the SDGs into engineering curricula. We particularly recommend a transdisciplinary teaching approach involving a close relation between technical and human disciplines.