Engineering education at Luleå University of Technology in Sweden started in the beginning of the 1970s. There was a local need for higher education within engineering relating to natural resources and the nearby industry. For almost 30 years, the university could remain local. Now the university is transforming all education and curricula in agreement with the European Bologna process, while entering the global market. The purpose of this paper was to catch the ongoing changes and the driving forces behind this transformation from the perspective of a former local university in the periphery. The global efforts could be seen through academic cooperation and alliances, industrial cooperation and internationalization, and the use of technology. Conclusions drawn from the study were that today's engineering education must prepare the student for life long learning and employability all over the globe at any moment.