Asee peer logo

Aligning International Development Funding For Engineering Education

Download Paper |

Conference

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Honolulu, Hawaii

Publication Date

June 24, 2007

Start Date

June 24, 2007

End Date

June 27, 2007

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

Technical Capacity Building for Developing Countries

Tagged Division

International

Page Count

9

Page Numbers

12.194.1 - 12.194.9

DOI

10.18260/1-2--3037

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/3037

Download Count

500

Paper Authors

author page

Diane Willkens Development Finance International, Inc.

author page

Emilio Bunge Development Finance International Inc.

Download Paper |

Abstract
NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract

Aligning Available Development Funding for Engineering Education

Abstract

It may be hard to imagine there is much in common between an engineering department in an American college, a cooperative of female basket weavers in Zambia, a local government-owned utility company, and the World Bank, but there is: the potential to improve directly the lives of the poor in the developing world. And although at first glance it appears that there is too much geographical and cultural distance to forge a meaningful partnership between these players, International Funding Organizations and corporate foundations are making major funding investments to bring world-class engineering training and expertise to the doorsteps of government agencies, universities and training institutes, businesses, and local groups of non- governmental organizations in the developing world.

Spurred in part by global forces and “brain drain” realities, international development agencies are allocating hundreds of millions of dollars annually to support competitiveness efforts in poorer countries, which include cultivating knowledge-based societies through investments in science and technology (S&T), innovation, and productivity enhancements. In fields as diverse as education, infrastructure, and information technology, development funds are flowing to engineering expertise that can work with players in developing countries not only to support concrete projects, but ultimately to build the local capacity of policy-makers, educators, and the private sector, without which the sustainability of any progress is compromised. It is this latter effort – the process of capacity building and the role of the engineering education sector – that is particularly exciting for the American engineering education community.

This paper will outline the confluence of economic drivers and development challenges that today foster international development funds flowing into engineering education. The authors will outline effective strategies that can be adapted by companies and academic institutions to (a) identify initiatives funded by international financial organizations that rely on the expertise of engineering communities and its educators, including from multilateral and bilateral agencies and foundations; (b) forge strategic partnerships with domestic and international stakeholders to ensure successful positioning with the funding institutions and ultimate success in program delivery; and (c) highlight the benefits – financial and non-financial – that accrue to universities and companies who engage in such partnerships.

The Need for Engineering Talent

If science is the building block that investigates, discovers, and demonstrates new knowledge in different fields and disciplines, technological innovation is the process by which new knowledge can be applied to solve real life problems and situations, create new products and services, and produce socio-economic development. Engineers are the “translators” between science and technology to allow for that process to happen.

Willkens, D., & Bunge, E. (2007, June), Aligning International Development Funding For Engineering Education Paper presented at 2007 Annual Conference & Exposition, Honolulu, Hawaii. 10.18260/1-2--3037

ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2007 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015