Engineering: issues, challenges and opportunities for development ...

ENGINEERING AROUND THE WORLDdissatisfied with the academic and employability educationprovided by the technical institutions, and several strategieshave emerged to bridge the gap such as ‘finishing schools’, cocurricularexperiences and similar. Attrition rates in severalindustries are high, and talent management, which involvesstrategies for identifying, attracting, retaining and managingtalent, is important.Figure 1: R&D Expenditure by sector, 2000–2002GRI IHL Private1.000.000900.000800.000While the fruits of globalization have benefited the burgeoningmiddle class, who are able to take advantage of technologicaladvances including the Internet and mobile phones, a largeproportion of the population remains illiterate and unable toafford such technologies, and is yet to experience prosperity.This has resulted in great inequalities in education, technology,information and quality of life. Furthermore, India already facessevere shortages in several critical resources covering energy,water and qualified personnel. Future challenges exist in severalareas such as ensuring balanced development that benefitsas much of the population as possible, adopting a sustainabledevelopment path, ensuring access, equity and quality in allsectors of education, ensuring employment and employ abilityfor the population, and enhancing literacy and science andtechnology literacy among the population, among others.Still, world-class accomplishments have been achieved inengineering, in areas such as space science and technology,information technology services, biotechnology, technologyenhancedlearning, renewable energy technologies, and soon. The use of new fuels for transportation and of renewableenergy technologies for power, cooking, heating and cooling isincreasing. And industry is coming to appreciate the imperativesof a ‘triple bottom line’. Expectations from engineering inIndia are indeed considerable.MalaysiaAzni Idris and Rohani HashimThere are significant social and economic inequalities betweendeveloped and developing countries. Many of the underlyingcauses of these differences are rooted in the long history of acountry’s development and include political, historical, social,cultural, economic and geographical factors, and also theirrelations with other countries.Expenditure (RM million)700.000600.000500.000400.000300.000200.000100.00002000 2002 2000 2002 2000 2002 2000 2002Information, Comp.& Comm. Tech.In developing countries, economic growth – and, more widely,human development – can be enhanced by a comprehensivescience and engineering policy. However, science and engineeringcan play their role in development only when the integrityof the whole sector ( research institutions, universities, researchpriorities and human resources involving creative scientists) ispreserved. Thus, the strategy in developing countries is one ofincreasing funding for research and development, and to setpriorities for the science and engineering sectors with short,medium and long-term plans.Many developing countries have made important contributionsto the development of science and technology. The practicalapplication of science through engineering has createdan environment for the pursuit of science and engineeringeducation in developing countries where funding scientificand engineering enterprises is widely accepted as a vital andlong-term investment.Engineering research and developmentApplied Science &TechnoEngineeringSciencesField of Research and YearSource: MOSTI, 2005GRI: Government Research Institution, IHL: Institution of Higher LearningAgriculturalThese inequalities are also brought about by the importantdifferences in their scientific and technological infrastructureand their implementation of science and engineering policies.An essential prerequisite to a country’s technological developmentis the necessity of a good education system and effectivehuman resources in engineering (key factors that, for example,contributed significantly to Japan’s economic success after theSecond World War).Malaysia is a country that has undergone rapid changes in theway industrial and technological research is conducted, whichgive birth to a strong, developing economy. Federal fundingon research in Malaysia was RM1.2 billion (US$340 million)during 2001 to 2005. This is a ratio of about 0.69 per cent GrossExpenditure on Research and Development as a proportion ofGross Domestic Product (GERD/GDP). This is low in contrastto Malaysia’s more developed neighbours, such as Australia223