Engineering Education and Practice in the United States Foundations of Our Techno-Economic Future (1985) / Chapter Skim
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4. Current Status of Engineering Education
4. Current Status of Engineering Education
Pages 51-85
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From page 51... ...
The educational system is correctly perceived as producing not just the fodder of the technology development process, but its seed corn as well. The training, skills, and knowledge of recent graduates are of critical importance to that development process, and trends that threaten their continued supply to any degree also threaten the foundations of industry and the national economy.
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From page 52... ...
52 1 20,000 1 05,000 it' , 12 F\ ~ ~90,000 UJ us ~75,000 7 ~60000 on ' ~ 45,000 on I I 30,000 _ 1 5,000 ENGINEERING EDUCATION AND PRACTICE First-Year Enrollments / 10 1 I%_ I I I I A I 4/ ~/ BS Degrees _ _~ .' .~ MS Degrees 1945 1950 1955 PhD Degrees 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 YEAR 1 Return ing WW I I veterans 2 Diminishing veteran pool and expected surplus of engineers 3 Korean War and increasing R&D expenditures 4 Return ing Korean War veterans 5 Aerospace program cutbacks and economic recession 6 Vietnam War and greater space expenditures 7 Increased student interest in social-program careers 8 Adverse student attitudes toward engineering, decreased space and defense expenditures, and lowered college attendance Improved engineering job market, positive student attitudes toward engineering, and entry of nontraditional students (women, minorities, and foreign nationals) Diminishing 18-year-old pool A ASEE Evaluation Report recommends greater stress on math/science and quality graduate education FIGURE 5 Engineering degrees and lst-year enrollments: Historical factors influencing changes in engineering enrollments.
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From page 53... ...
Critical Areas Faculty If there is one immediately pressing problem in engineering education, it is the current shortage of engineering faculty. Estimates of the severity of the shortage range from 1,567 to 6,700 (1,567 is the number of unfilled positions reported in a survey of engineering deans in 1983, and 6,700 is the number necessary to restore the student/faculty ratio to the levels of 1967-1969 and 1975-1976; see the Report of the Panel on Graduate Education and Research)
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From page 54... ...
Some have argued that engineering schools should be able to handle increased student loads through increased productivity of existing faculty with no loss of educational quality. Greater use of teaching assistants is one conventional approach for reducing a professor's per-class workload.
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From page 55... ...
SOURCE: Engineering Manpower Commission, AAES, 1983. grants for 2 summer months, salary comparisons should reflect that augmentation {i.e., a multiplier of 11/9 must be applied)
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From page 56... ...
However, the committee concludes that advancing technology will cause industry demand for engineering Ph.D.s to increase steadily throughout the coming years. In addition, about 40 percent of the Ph.D.s graduating in recent years have been foreign nationals on temporary visas.
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From page 57... ...
Data from 1953- 1976 supplied by Engineering Manpower Commission, New York, N.Y. Data for 1977-1979 from Engineering ManpowerBulletin #50, November 1979, Engineers Joint Council, New York, N.Y.1980- 1983 data from Engineering Manpower Commission.
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From page 58... ...
students who are foreign nationals in the United States on temporary visas rose from about 14 percent in 1970 to about 42 percent in 1983 {Report of the Panel on Graduate Education and Research)
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From page 59... ...
graduates to a more specialized role closer to the research-oriented work of Ph.D.s. Thus, this degree offers a versatility that is becoming increasingly important in light of the multidisciplinary and complex nature of much engineering work today.
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From page 60... ...
corporation recently reported that, upon visiting his alma mater, he found engineering students in the laboratory using the same equipment he had used in the 1930s. The useful life span of laboratory equipment is currently considered to be about 10 years.
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From page 61... ...
Three decades of rising annual funding fostered a group of research universities or institutions the first-tier schoolswhose graduate and research programs became heavily dependent on contract research. This system of government grants and contracts has greatly benefited many engineering colleges, but its focus has been almost exclusively at the graduate level.
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From page 62... ...
Because government and industry focus on research and graduate education, colleges that have as their primary focus undergraduate education in engineering have not enjoyed the advantages just described. They occupy a second tier within the engineering educational system.
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From page 63... ...
The most noticeable change has been in the enrollment of women students, which has risen steadily in recent years from about 1 percent in 1970 to 15 percent ~ 1983-1984) of the roughly 400,000 full-time undergraduate engineering students nationwide {Engineering Manpower Commission, 1984a)
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From page 64... ...
In 1982-1983, blacks accounted for only 4.4 percent of engineering students {EMC, 1983a)
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From page 65... ...
While they make up only 1 percent of the general population {Census, 19841. they account for 3.9 percent of engineering students ~ 1982-1983 data; EMC, 1983a)
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From page 66... ...
Efforts such as these, vigorously pursued, can help to remove some of the invisible barriers that prevent the nation from gaining full access to the potential engineering talent embodied in large segments of the population. By 1992, major demographic changes are very likely to cause a subst~ntial drop in the number of qualified students entering engineering colleges in 38 states.
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From page 67... ...
Dual-degree relationships between liberal arts and engineering colleges have existed for at least two decades. They have enabled a few students, some from minority groups, to earn B.S.
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From page 68... ...
A broad engineering education leaves engineers better prepared to communicate with each other, to avoid technological obsolescence, and to learn new skills as technology a(lvances. Extensive, in-ilepth disciplinary specialization does not
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From page 69... ...
Of the 404,000 engineering students nationwide, approximately 37,400 (or some 9 percent) participate in co-op programs.
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From page 70... ...
Accordingly, the committee strongly recommencis that the National Academy of Engineering and the professional societies take the initiative in bringing together representatives of industry, academe, and government to develop better work-study programs. Means should be found to eliminate the cyclical nature of support for these programs and to make it feasible for a much larger fraction of the engineering student cohort to participate.
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From page 71... ...
To meet the demand for continuing educational opportunities, new instructional sources have sprung up. A major provider is industry itself, which offers short courses and ongoing training programs in subject areas of interest to the individual company.
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From page 72... ...
on Engineering Employment Characteristics)
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From page 73... ...
The result is that competition for places has been strong for several years, and engineering students nationwide are among the most able in their age cohort. This fact is illustrated by data for 1982, when, for the first time, average combined SAT scores of entering engineering students surpassed those of all nonscience/mathematics majors {National Science Board, 19831.
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From page 74... ...
The predominance of such young people in engineering schools is now very strong. On balance, they have a richer educational and cultural background and are more confident, more assertive than engineering students of years past.
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From page 75... ...
of these programs is indicated by the fact that, between 1971 and 1983, the number of bachelor of engineering technology degrees awarded increased 79 percent {to 9,200) {Engineering Manpower Com mission, 1984c)
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From page 76... ...
What is clear in any event is that contemporary engineering work in nearly every field requires some theoretical understanding of computers and programming. It is widely accepted that the use of computers must eventually pervade all fields of engineering education.
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From page 77... ...
The federal RED tax credit has been invaluable in helping to stimulate all these forms of industry support of research in engineering schools. The use of adjunct faculty from industry to augment engineering faculties is a traditional concept, although its value is generally limited to instruction alone, and does not extend to full participation in other campus responsibilities.
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From page 78... ...
Findings, Conclusions, and Recommendations 1. A broad engineering education leaves engineers better prepared to communicate with each other, to avoid technological obsolescence, and to learn new skills as technology advances.
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From page 79... ...
~ The lack of sufficient high-quaTity faculty is the most important factor currently limiting attempts to increase the quality, scope, and number of engineering programs. Increasing the supply of highly qualified' U S residents Toddling the Ph D would help to alleviate the pro blew (Restoration of the 1975-1976 student/facu~tyratio, however, worst require even further funding of graduate programs J Universities, for theirpart, must make engineering faculty careers more attractive than at present in order to fill vacant faculty positions Salaries need further improvement, adequate facilities are necessary, and current teaching overloads should be reduced 9.
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From page 80... ...
There is great variability among engineering technology programs in terms of entry requirements, standards of achievement, curricula content, semester hours required, and overall quality. However,this diversity serves a useful purpose, given the diversity of industrial needs in different regions.
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From page 81... ...
To increase their effectiveness and enhance their role, co-op and other work-study programs need to be strengthened A considerably stronger commitmen t from industry and educa lion is required to e~iminate the boom or bust cyclical nature of support that tends to characterize these programs The committee strongly recommends that the National Academy of Engineering and the professional societies take the initiative in bringing togetherrepresentatives of industry, academe, antigovernment to develop betterwork-studyprograms Means should be found to eliminate the pro blew of cyclical support and to make it feasible for a much larger fraction of the engineering student cohort to participate 5. By 1992, major demographic changes will cause a substantial drop in the number of qualified students entering engineering colleges in 38 states.
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From page 82... ...
citizens into graduate programs in engineering. To attract top students into graduate work, doctoral fellowships should carry stipends equal to at least half the starting salary of a new B.S.
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From page 83... ...
The federal government and industry should recognize and support innovative programs in '~nclergra~luate engineering education in the second-tierinstitutions. First, to ensure that the program qua~ityof primarily undergraduate-oriented engineering colleges continues to meet the needs of a technology-based economy, these colleges must have access to new and ad~tiona]
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From page 84... ...
73, July. Engineering Manpower Commission.
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From page 85... ...
Report of the Panel on Engineering Employment Characteristics, in preparation. Report of the Panel on Graduate Education and Research, in preparation.
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