Albuquerque, New Mexico
June 24, 2001
June 24, 2001
June 27, 2001
2153-5965
12
6.829.1 - 6.829.12
10.18260/1-2--9725
https://peer.asee.org/9725
364
Session 2255
Re-Engineering Higher Education for Responsive Engineering and Technology Leadership D. D. Dunlap, 1 M. J. Aherne, 2 D. A. Keating, 3 T. G. Stanford, 3 M. I. Mendelson 4 Purdue University 1/ University of Alberta 2 / University of South Carolina 3 Loyola Marymount University 4
Abstract Today, global economic competitiveness and public policy responsiveness are primary driving forces for continuous technological development and innovation in engineering and technology professional practice. A new model of purposeful, systematic technology innovation has evolved and regional industries and government must continuously develop their innovative capacity (intellectual property) to stay competitive and sustain economic growth. Graduate education must reflect this change, understand the new relationships between customer needs, directed scientific research, and engineering/technology leadership. For the U.S. to sustain global competitiveness, traditional graduate studies must undergo educational reform. The three broad mandates for this collaborative effort are: • To create new models of needs-driven, professionally oriented graduate education through the master and doctoral levels that better support engineering and technology innovation. • To involve industry and government as key partners in this advancement for both national and regional economic development. • To provide new mechanisms for sustained collaboration among the participating universities, by using a new internet-based communication that enables collaborative scholarship without regard to geographical location. The strengths of the alliance are the critical mass effect for educational change that results through multi-university collaboration, and the rapidity for the exchange and sharing of new ideas, experiences, and scholarship through the use of electronically mediated communication, which is required to make this transformation a collective reality. 1. Introduction The purpose of this paper is to describe a new collaborative alliance among universities across the U.S. and Canada, which has been purposefully formed in 2000 as an outgrowth of ASEE’s Graduate Studies Division to address this needed transformation in higher education. The authors of this paper submit that a myriad of complex and increasingly interdependent economic, technical, social, and political forces are driving an expectation for greater accountability and responsiveness from engineering and technology leadership (ETL) professionals. Equally, we expect that a key responsiveness issue for the North American higher-education enterprise involves transforming roles, responsibilities, and relationships related to engagement of the ETL communities it serves. Ultimately, we are calling for a dialogue leading to the re-engineering of ETL graduate professional education and other continuing professional development so it is responsive to the needs of working ETL professionals and closely aligned with actual processes of industrial innovation and technology development.3 We submit that re-engineering ETL graduate professional education is an appropriate and necessary engagement strategy for Proceedings of the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright 2001, American Society for Engineering Education
Stanford, T., & Aherne, M., & Dunlap, D. D., & Mendelson, M., & Keating, D. (2001, June), Re Engineering Higher Education For Responsive Engineering And Technology Leadership Paper presented at 2001 Annual Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico. 10.18260/1-2--9725
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