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Session 2560

An Integrated Approach to Engineering Education Worldwide

Gerald Frederick, Benjamin Koo University of Nevada, Las Vegas/University of Toledo

INTRODUCTION In this era of rapid advancement and near explosive growth of technology, their impacts on the well-being of society world-wide increasingly depends upon the quality of the engineers it produces. Thus, engineering education incorporating a global perspective becomes a priority. This paper focuses on the close relationship of universities, engineering societies/institutes, international corporations to meet the demands of the 21st century. Moving toward the new century and beyond, global competition will become more intense, particularly in the areas of business and technology. These conditions, viewed in the light of limited human and natural resources, will call for engineering innovation. This will require co-operation and collaboration among the nations of the world. Now is the time to address changes to engineering education incorporating global perspectives in response to these new challenges. The key action items serving as a guide for revamping or reforming the system are close relationships among universities, engineering societies/institutes, international corporations and governmental agencies. While many far-sighted advocates of engineering education have already begun restructuring their programs, this presentation attempts to extend that effort to a much wider community through the American Society for Engineering Education.

UNIVERSITIES Each university should identify and establish a long-range global vision through self- examination of its academic activities, indicating their strengths and weaknesses. In the area of curricula enhancement, strategic planning must accentuate courses including foreign languages, cultural development, social and political sciences, psychology, behavioral science, business management and ethics. It is recognized that many of these courses can be included within ABET guidelines as well as within a general education core which is required at many universities. However, the breadth necessary is likely to exceed the minimum requirements. These topics are necessary to ensure that students are prepared for the broadened world of engineering in a global environment following their educational experiences. These programs should be subjected to periodic review for modification and/or remodeling. An external advisory panel comprising practicing engineers would be helpful for this review; these panels should be formed for each discipline of engineering on a campus and should meet regularly to provide input to the departments. University administrators should develop methods to recruit and retain international students. Over the years of their college education, international students can assist in liberalizing and broadening the concepts and outlooks of American students. They can help promote and instill in the American students an understanding and awareness of the international aspects of global conditions, particularly as related to engineering(1). This will serve as an introduction to other cultures and, upon graduation, these former students can assist engineers and their organ- izations as they become involved in global projects. A feasible plan to accelerate cultural exchange is to encourage students to live in dormitories with intermingling of international and

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Frederick, G. R., & Koo, B. (1997, June), An Integrated Approach To Engineering Education Worldwide Paper presented at 1997 Annual Conference, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 10.18260/1-2--6627