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Session # 2560

Technical Capacity Building in Developing Countries to Promote Economic Development

Russel C. Jones, Ph.D., P.E. President, Committee on Capacity Building World Federation of Engineering Organizations

Abstract

In the pursuit of a more secure, stable and sustainable world, developing countries seek to enhance their human, institutional and infrastructure capacity. To do so they need a solid base of technologically prepared people in order to effectively improve their economies and quality of life. Such a base of qualified engineers and technologists will facilitate the infusion of foreign capital through attraction of multinational companies to invest in the developing country, assist in making the most of foreign aid funds, and provide a basis for business development by local entrepreneurs. In a coordinated approach, UNESCO and the World Federation of Engineering Organizations are mounting major efforts at technical capacity building in developing countries.

Introduction

Economic development for developing countries can be effectively stimulated by building the technical capacity of their workforce, through quality engineering education programs. A competent technical workforce base can then provide several paths to economic development: attraction of technically oriented multi-national companies, who can invest effectively in the developing country once there is a cadre of qualified local employees available; effective utilization of foreign aid funds, providing a legacy of appropriate infrastructure projects and technically competent people to operate and maintain them; and small business startups by technically competent entrepreneurs. Both UNESCO and the World Federation of Engineering Organizations are currently actively engaged in technical capacity building in developing countries, and their efforts will be reported in this presentation.

High quality engineering education is a necessary forerunner to such economic development; and quality assurance systems such as peer review based accreditation are needed to promote such high quality education programs. Such quality assurance systems can then provide the basis for cross-border recognition systems, permitting the flow of services and goods across national boundaries. This presentation provides the rationale for quality assurance systems in promoting effective technical capacity building for economic development, and reports on one interesting effort currently underway (“Engineering for the Americas”).

Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition Copyright © 2005, American Society for Engineering Education

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Jones, R. (2005, June), Technical Capacity Building In Developing Countries To Promote Economic Development Paper presented at 2005 Annual Conference, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--15360