Development Strategies of Engineering Education in Globalized ...

Development Strategies of
Engineering Education in
Globalized Economy
Jianzhong Cha
UNESCO Chair Holder on Cooperation between
Engineering Education and Industries
Professor, Beijing Jiaotong University
Board Member and Guest Professor
Group T University College Leuven, Belgium
UNESCO, SOI Lecture Series
August 26, 2009 Beijing

Outline
UNESCO Chair on University-Industry
Cooperation
Integrated Strategies of Engineering
Education reform
Case study of the Best Practice

Introduction on
the UNESCO Chair
1.Initiated and supported by Minister of
Education of China, Dr. Zhou Ji
2.Aim at strategic study for Chinese
engineering education reform
3. To make use resources of UNESCO
4. UNESCO Four Pillars:
Learn to Know, Learn to Do
Learn to Live together, Learn to Be

Macro Control Model for
Engineering Education
Driving force
Policy
Leadership
Resurces
…
Engineering Education
institutions
Program, Curricula,
Teachers, Pedagogic method,
Contents
Engineer Profession
Society needs
Key stakeholders’needs
Strategies and
measures
for improvement
assessment
Student
Program
University
Employment rate and quality
Of graduates
Skills and attributs required by
Engineer profession

Stakeholder Analysis for the
Goal of Engineering Education
Government
Industry
Student/P
arents
University
/
college
Policy/funding/lea
dership
Professional
context
for
engineering
education
High employment rate, social
stability/security, high speed
steady development of
economy, taxation
Large qty. high quality talents
for competitiveness
In worldwide market
Tuition /time Skills and attributes for
Education
resource
facility
and
professional career and good
job
High employment rate and
quality of graduate,
outstanding alumni, good
reputation in society

The goal of engineering education
(1)To meet the requirement of industry on
talents – Cradle of Engineers
Providing graduates with abilities according to
standard of engineering profession
(2) To satisfy needs of students on jobs –
Career-oriented education
making students more competitive in world job
market
(3) To meet strategic target of building
innovative society of the government

Assessment on performance of
engineering education
Investing requirements of abilities from industry
Assessing education quality from engineering
profession
Analyzing gap between graduates’ abilities and
industry needs
Investing and assessing from industry sets up
base for continuous improvement

New needs on engineering talents
from global economy
“The world is flat”: : industry, resources and
products transit worldwide
Industry transition & upgrading bring up new
challenge and opportunity to engineering
education
Developed countries:upgrading upgrading to the highest
end of industry (innovation/entrepreneurship)
Emerging countries (China, India):
):upgrading
to middle and high end of industry – OEM to
ODM

New Requirements on Talents
Internationalization:cultivating talents
by international standard (e.g.,
Washington Accord)
Quality upgrading:to meet needs of
industry upgrading
Quantity increasing:most engineering
talents switch to service sectors of
industry from pure technology field

Industry needs in qty.
in China:
- multi-nation companies (280k, 3% of total) need 750k
quality graduates in 5 years, 60% total available resource;
Other 40% of graduates for domestic companies (97% of total)
- short of 500k IT talents every year, annually increased
by 20%, but only 120K per year come out from colleges
in Europe: : short of 2.5 million engineering related
professionals for next 5 years
in USA, , workforce for science and engineering increased
1.5 times in 20 years, but enrollment of engineering study for
citizen and PR decreased by 20%
Same phenomena in Japan, Taiwan, South Korea
Worldwide shortage of quality engineering talents

Desired attributes of an engineer
source: Boeing Management Company
A good understanding of engineering science fundamentals
A good understanding of design and manufacturing process
A multi-disciplinary, systems perspective
A basic understanding of the context in which engineering is
practical
Good communication skills
High ethical standards
Ability to think both critically and creatively-independently independently and
cooperatively
Flexibility: the ability and self-confidence to adapt to rapid or
major changes
Curiosity and desire to learn for life
A profound understanding of importance of team work

Root causes for the gap between
talent supply and demand
Short supply of enginering students in
developed world
Divorce of education and industry
Engineering education in China
Rich quality student resource+ largest
engineering education scale + huge human
resource market
Instruction-based top-down pedagogic
methodology
Unclear goal of engineering education in the market
Learn to take exams, not learn to do
Inaccurate assessment on engineering education

Main Quality Problems
Lack of basic abilities required by engineering
profession(e.g., e.g., learning、problem solving, team
working, communication, ethic and professionism)
Lack of innovation(out out of 32m. technology personnel,
only.25% engaging innovative work)
Low entrepreneurship(

Strategies for Engineering
Education Reform
Learning
by doing
World standard
talents
U-I
Co-op
International
lization
U/I Co-Op Education-Mechanisms
Internationalization- Strategic Goal
Learning by Doing- Pedagogic Methodology (CDIO)

Application and Promotion
Apply to higher vocational education first, which
closer to the industry and need reform theory
Best practice study by setting up research bases
Distinguish generalized principles and specialty in
practice, to promote successful general models: Job-
oriented, Co-Op Education, learning by doing and
globalization
Publicizing through media and academic publications
Propose to Ministry of Educaiton for policy making

Best Practice of Engineering
Education
Co-Op Education Program in 1500 univ./college in 43
countries:University of Waterloo of Canada
200K college students join Co-Op program under
support of 120K companies in USA
Group T of Belgium; WPI of USA
109 Demonstrative Higher Vocational Tech. Colleges
succeed on implementing “Job-Oriented/ Co-Op/
Learning by doing” model in China
37 Demonstrative Software Engineering Schools
succeed with model of “Career-oriented/ Univ.-
Industry Coop/ Project-based Learning/
Internationalization” , become cradle of competitive
software engineers

“If we teach today as we taught
yesterday, we rob our children
of tomorrow
—John Dewey
We must continuously improve our
education!

联 合 国 教 育 、 科 学 、 文 化 组 织
Thank you for your
attention!
Q&A

Salary change of different
education in USA
来 源 :Michael E. Porter, “THE COMPETITIVENESS INDEX:WHERE AMERICA STANDS”,Council on competitiveness

Student Resource for
Engineering Education
2006: 70k engineers from USA, 700k from China
China: Enrollment for engineering study
800k college students
1 million students of higher vocational institutes
Percentage of engineering study in higher
education
China>35%
Japan

250,000
# of engineering Bachelor
offered by countries
人
200,000
150,000
100,000
50,000
0
1985
1987
1989
1991
1993
1995
1996
1997
1998
2000
中 国
美 国
日 本
韩 国
英 国
德 国

60.0%
Rate of Engg. Bachellor vs.
All Bachelor
比 例
50.0%
40.0%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0%
1985
1987
1989
1991
1993
1995
1996
1997
1998
2000
中 国
美 国
日 本
韩 国
英 国
德 国

NOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF
ENGINEERING EDUCATION
Personal and
Interpersonal
Skills, and
Product,
Process, and
System Building
Skills
Pre-1950s:
Practice
1960s:
Science &
practice
2000:
CDIO
1980s:
Science
Engineers need both dimensions, and we need to develop
education that delivers both
Disciplinary
Knowledge

Employable rate by multi-national
companies among applicants
地 区
国 家
工 程 师
金 融 / 会 计
通 才
中 欧 和 东
欧
亚 洲
拉 美
南 美
匈 牙 利
捷 克
波 兰
俄 国
马 来 西 亚
印 度
菲 律 宾
中 国
墨 西 哥 2
巴 西
50
50
50
10
35
25
20
10
20
13
50
40
30
20
25
15
30
15
25
13
30
20
15
10
20
10
25
3
11
8
1. Suitability rates empirically based on 83 interviews with human-resources (HR) professionals working in countries shown.
2. Mexico is the only country where interview results were adjusted to 20%(form 42%) for engineers and to 25%(from 35%)
for finance/accounting employees-since interview base was thinner and risk of misunderstandings high.
Source: Interviews with HR managers, HR agencies, and heads of global-resourcing centers; McKinsey
Global Institute analysis

各 国 工 程 师 达 到 国 际 标 准 比 例
出 处 :Michael E. Porter, “THE COMPETITIVENESS INDEX:WHERE AMERICA STANDS”,Council on competitiveness

Strategy 2: Internationalization
Making use of the best student resources and
education facilities for global engineering talent
market
Core: to cultivate talents by international
standard
RMIT:Fostering global citizen and professionals,
globally employable
India:350K/year engineers enter global market,
will be 1.4 million/per year from 2015 on (Tony
Blair)
Leaders and teachers with global vision, capacity
and strategy (Group T) T
Globalized university-industry industry cooperation:
RMIT,WPI)

International exchange and cooperation,
(Shanghai Jiaotong U./ U.of Michigan)
Student mobility: building up on-campus
international environment to accommodate
foreign students
USA: 40% of graduate students from abroad;
Oxford: 25% of students from 130 countries;
Tokyo Univ.:2000 foreign students from 60
countries;Group T:15% T
of students from abroad
Native students will be most benefited by multi-
cultural environment on campus too!

Strategy 1 :Univ. Univ.- Industry Coop
1.To form a complete chain for talent cultivation
• To meet requirements from Industry
• To introduce industrial profession into education as its
context (outcomes, curricula, teaching resource,
assessment,….)
• Industry should contribute to education as its human
resource strategy
• Government/industry/education/students & parents wor
together for talent cultivation
This is responsibility of whole society!
Complete talents cannot be fostered
in isolated education institution!

Tips for Cooperation with
Industry
Mutual Interest driven - win-win situation
Reinforced management on Co-Op Education
Cost increase – diversified fund reources
# of enterprises / # of students ≥ 1/3
Policy to encourage from government

Univ.-Industry Coop cont.
2. . To form a complete industrial innovation chain
• New mechanism for innovation
• Industry- main body for industrial innovation
• Government—Policy
making,services and initial
fund
• University- main body for knowledge innovation
• Research institute- bridge between knowledge
innovation and industrial innovation with tech.
transfer

Strategy 3:Learning 3
by doing
Learning methodology suggested by John
Dewey in 1920’s
Project based learning:Version of LbD for
engineering education
CDIO:a a systematic model of PbL
CDIO (Conceive,Design,Implement,Operate(
Conceive,Design,Implement,Operate) ) :
represents lifecycle of engineering project
(product, process, system, and service)

BEST PRACTICE: THE CDIO
STANDARDS
1. The Context
Adoption of the principle that product. Process, and
system lifecycle development and deployment are the
context for engineering education
2. Learning Outcomes
Specific, detailed learning outcomes for personal,
interpersonal, and product,.process and system
building skills, consistent with program goals and
validated by program stakeholders
3. Integrated Curriculum
A curriculum designed with mutually supporting
disciplinary subjects, with an explicit plan to integrate
personal, interpersonal, and product, process, and
system building skills
4. Introduction to Engineering
An introductory course that provides the framework for
engineering practice in product. Process, and system
building, and introduces essential personal and
interpersonal skills
5. Design-Implement Experiences
A curriculum that includes two or more designimplement
experiences, including one at a basic level
and one at an advanced level
6. Engineering Workspaces
Workspaces and laboratories that support and
encourage hands-on learning of product, process, and
system building, disciplinary knowledge, and social
learning
7. Integrated Learning Experiences
Integrated learning experiences that lead to the
acquisition of disciplinary knowledge, as well as
personal, interpersonal, and produc, process,t and
system building skills
8. Active Learning
Teaching and learning based on active experiential
learning methods
9. Enhancement of Faculty Skills Competence
Actions that enhance faculty competence in personal,
interpersonal, and product and system building skills
10. Enhancement of Faculty Teaching Competence
Actions that enhance faculty competence in providing
integrated learning experiences, in using active
experiential learning methods, and in assessing
student learning
11. Learning Assessment
Assessment of student learning in personal,
interpersonal, and product, process, and system
building skills, as well as in disciplinary knowledge
12. Program Evaluation
A system that evaluates programs against these 12
standards, and provides feedback to students, faculty,
and other stakeholders for the purposes of continuous
improvement

CDIO Standard 1 -- The Context
Adoption of the principle that product, process, and
system lifecycle development and deployment --
Conceiving, Designing, Implementing and Operating --
are the context for engineering education
• It’s s what engineers do!
• Provides the framework for teaching skills
• Allows deeper learning of the fundamentals
• Helps to attract, motivate, and retain students

Unchanged characteristics of
context in eng’g profession
Focus on the needs of the customer and society
Delivery of new products, processes and systems
Role of invention and new technology in shaping the
future
Use of many disciplines to develop the “solution”
Need for engineers to work together, to communicate
effectively
Provide leadership in technical endeavors
Need to work efficiently, within resources and/or
profitably

New characteristics of context of
engineering profession
A change from mastery of the environment to stewardship of
the environment
Globalization and international competition
Fragmentation and geographic dispersion of engineering
activities
The increasingly human-centered nature of engineering
practice
Increasing emphasis on service-oriented engineering industries
Rapid evolution of technologies, so, future engineers also need
to be quick learners
companies want their new hires to be productive from the first
day on the job.

Case of the Best Practice
University of Waterloo, the flag of
Co-op op Education
Co-op op Education since funded (1957-2008
2008)
50% of students participate(10000), switch
between school and industry every 4 months
3500 partners from industry
High employment rate:97.6
97.6%,
high rate of
permanent position 91.1% vs. national wide
average 77.9%)
Most innovative univ. . in Canada, and most
appreciated by industry (Bill Gates)