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

ENGINEERING: ISSUES CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR DEVELOPMENTdomestically and the denationalization of some dynamic technologicallyproductive sectors. Many highly qualified Brazilianengineers moved or have been transferred to other countries,usually the most developed. Outside the country, althoughBrazilian engineering companies were doing business on allcontinents, they had a modest presence when compared withthe presence of engineering firms from nations such as Chinaand India.Another Brazilian engineering challenge – and indeed apolitical challenge – is the necessity to increase the exportsof products with a higher technological content or addedvalue. Though more than half of Brazilian exports are manufacturedproducts, a great proportion has low technologicalcontent or depends on imported technologies and components.This decreases national economic gains and meansthat job creation and private investment in the country arenot reaching their potential. In a global economy, wherethe complexity of the interactions among distinct playersis increasing at an unprecedented rate, engineering hasbecome a special tool for sustainable development, andmainly for developing nations. The social and environmentalchallenges of the twenty-first century cannot be metwithout a new breed of professional engineers who have abroader vision for society.VenezuelaVladimir YackovlevVenezuela has an area of 916,000 square kilometres and apopulation of 28 million people. It has a literacy index of 93per cent (2004), and 83 per cent (2006) of the population hasaccess to treated water. The GNP per capita is US$6,209 withan annual growth rate of 5 per cent. The official figures forinflation and unemployment are 17.3 per cent and 10.5 percent respectively (2008), although there is a high rate of selfemploymentin the informal sector of the economy. The mainindustrial activities are oil refining, metallurgy, iron and steelindustries, food processing and the chemical industry.The country has some 180,000 engineers and architects who,by law, have to be registered in the Colegio de Ingenieros deVenezuela in order to be able to work as professionals. Thisrepresents 6.5 professionals per 1,000 population. The growthof engineering professionals is 6.7 per cent annually, which ismuch higher than the population growth of the country at1.3 per cent.The Colegio de Ingenieros de Venezuela is the professionalsociety that serves as the guardian of public interest, acts asan advisor to government, promotes the progress of scienceand technology and supervises the professional activities ofits members. Engineers contribute through their professionalactivity in the design, construction, operation and maintenanceof infrastructure, and through industry, educationalinstitutions and engineering enterprise. However, it must bepointed out that infrastructure is deteriorating rapidly in allareas and that attention should be paid to this looming problem.In September of 1998, the National Congress passed a law creatingthe ‘National Academy of Engineering and the Habitat’.This is an academic corporation with thirty-five permanentmembers and three corresponding members from each stateof the country. Its main purpose is to contribute to scienceand technology in the different disciplines of engineering andthe habitat, and to conduct studies on the development ofthe country.Undergraduate engineering studies are offered in forty universitiesin the country, and some of these institutions haveseveral campuses in different cities. About 47 per cent ofthese universities are supported by the state and 53 per centare private institutions. The growth of private universities is arecent phenomenon that has developed in the last quarter ofa century. According to the latest statistics provided by theplanning office for the university sector, there are a total of87,020 students studying engineering. Of those, 2,906 are registeredin the agricultural and forestry sectors, whilst the restare studying in more traditional areas such as civil, mechanical,chemical engineering, among others. A noteworthy statisticis that 41.3 per cent of the total number of students studyingengineering are women.Engineering studies are normally completed in a period of fiveyears and graduates are awarded a professional qualification,such as ‘Mechanical Engineer’. Venezuelan universities offergraduate studies in engineering, leading to M.Sc., ‘Specialist’,Dr.Sc. or Dr.Eng. degrees. There are 290 graduate programmescurrently being delivered, of which 47 per cent are programmesleading to the ‘Specialist’ degree, 48 per cent are M.Sc. programmesand 5 per cent are doctoral programmes.ArgentinaConrado Bauer, Mario Telichevsky andMiguel YadarolaArgentina is the eighth largest country in the world with anarea of 2.8 million square kilometres. It has a population ofaround 40 million, a GDP of US$245.6 billion and GDP per capitaof US$6,548 (2007). The literacy rate is 97 per cent (2003).The number of practicing engineers in Argentina is estimatedat 115,000.242