Training complete engineers: Global enterprise and engineering education

Abstract

For the past few years a discussion has been going on about the speci c skills and knowledge a complete engineer should possess. Apart form this discussion, a separate debate has focused on the content of an engineer's education. This article is a combination of two joint papers bearing on these respective subjects, presented by the authors at the SEFI 2000 conference in Paris. The demands from industry that engineers of the future will have to meet are summarized and related to characteristics of modern training methods. It is argued that a new view on the content of the engineer's education implies, at least to a certain extent, a new set of educational tools.

Sustainable Design Education to Meet the Ever- Changing Worlds of Civil Engineering and Urban Infrastructure Systems

“…The modern day engineers can no longer appeal to the wider community with just their analytical and problem solving skills as they are also increasingly needed to demonstrate a deep sense of socio-environmental consciousness [10][11][12][13] . The modules presented in this paper do address these needs as the academics delivering these modules are mindful of the recommendations of 'Education for Sustainable Development Toolkit 14 ' , which states:…”

Respaldo al investigador que es también docente

“…A key message from E2L was that teaching must address the needs for student professional skills development, especially in global and leadership contexts (see e.g. De Graaf and Ravesteijn (2001);Fenner et al (2006); Pritchard and Baillie (2006)). Indeed, students themselves often comment on the desire for such development as well as greater involvement in the research around them; see e.g.…”

Research and Innovation of Engineering Education in Europe the contribution of SEFI

“…When they are hiring engineers, employers tend to look for more than just technical skills and competencies. In a paper on Engineering competencies De Graaff and Ravenstein point out that multinational technology companies, 50 such as Shell specifically search for graduates distinguishing themselves in the area of interpersonal skills, besides of course a satisfactory level of engineering skills [2]. An engineer must be able to cooperate effectively in a multi-disciplinary team, and quite often these days also be able to operate in a multi cultural environment and most importantly to prepare for a career of life long learning.…”