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Educating the Engineer of 2020 Adapting Engineering Education to the New Century (2005) / Chapter Skim
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2 The Past as Prologue
Pages 13-16

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From page 13...
... That change must be encouraged and facilitated by changes in engineering education, but in contemplating such changes, we are sobered by two realities: first, that scattered interventions across engineering education over the past decade or so have not resulted in systemic change, but rather only in isolated instances of success in individual programs, on individual campuses; and second, that the disconnect between the system of engineering education and the practice of engineering appears to be accelerating. This is due to the explosion of knowledge, the growing complexity and interdependence of societal problems, the worldwide reach of those problems, and the need to operate in a global economy.
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From page 14...
... (See the brief history provided by Bruce Seely in Appendix A.) As a student of this history, Seely suggests points of continuity between this initiative and efforts in past eras, including: · an explicit desire to increase the public recognition of the role of engineering professionals, to enhance the social status and prestige of the community by depicting a compelling vision of engineering; · a clear recognition of the need to attract and sustain the interest of students from the groups continually and currently underrepresented in the study and practice of engineering; · the complex relationship between academic engineering, the corporations and large industrial concerns that employ the great majority of engineering graduates, and the nation's economy; · a continuous and sometimes contentious debate about the role of liberal studies (humanistic and social science courses)
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From page 15...
... It is our belief that many, if not all, of these factors are presently in play, which yields a sense of optimism that meaningful reengineering of engineering education can occur in the near future to allow effective preparation of engineering graduates who will be in the most productive phase of their careers in 2020.
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Key Terms

  • engineering professional
  • engineering profession
  • engineering practice
  • systemic change
  • engineering education

  • individual campuses


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