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

ENGINEERING CAPACITY: EDUCATION, TRAINING AND MOBILITYActors on the Continuing Engineering Education stage *EngineersThe obsolescence of knowledge, and the limited ‘shelflife’of a degree is a statement frequently made. While itis widely appreciated that knowledge is increasing andengineering practices and techniques are evolving, a firstdegree is vitally important in laying the foundations. Theemphasis of these foundations changes, but probablyover a much slower time scale. However what is quiteclear is that while engineering knowledge increases andpractices change, an important part of initial formationis not only teaching young engineers the fundamentals,but also developing the capabilities to think, questionand to express themselves as engineers. It is essential thatthe initial education should be laying the foundationsin this context, which should then on a regular basis befollowed by CEE, to meet their more specialist needs.Unfortunately it is not always seen in this light. Therecan be an element amongst individuals and companiesthat meeting the essential minimum is the target, henceif we are to raise the educational level of the professionit is vital to ensure that all mechanisms that encourageparticipation are explored and put in place.EmployersEmployers of engineers require a professional cadrethat meet their business needs. For those that dependon engineers for their business it is essential that theseengineers are ‘up-to-date’ with the latest techniquesand practices, because it is this that will help maintainthe engineering competence of the organization. Butemployers, be they private companies, governmentalorganizations or non-governmental organizations, allhave budgets, a certain fraction of which needs to beallocated for CPD for the engineers of the company.How much is allocated varies from sector to sector,from company to company and as a function of time.In addition, as education is essentially a net expenditure,which if budgets are tight can be reduced withoutimmediate impact, this makes the continuing educationof engineers subject to turbulence within thebudget cycle. This contrasts with first cycle educationwhere the individual does not immediately notice theeffect of expenditure changes in the same way or to thesame timescales. Thus what one might think idealisticallyas a company meeting its training needs and thoseof its engineers become dependent on the vicissitudesof the financial position. Although fully understandablefrom an educational standpoint, this is unfortunate asideally such development needs to continue irrespectiveof the economic position. It is ironic that the qualityof the education of the workforce, which is one ofthe issues that will help a company to re-orient or surviveduring periods of economic downturn, is one ofthe factors that an employer can easily forget. Anotherchallenging feature of CEE is that during ‘boom’ timesfor a company there may be a reluctance to release staffbecause of the pressure on manpower to meet commitments.Conversely during stringent times it mightbe claimed that staff cannot be released because ofpressure on budgets. There are of course wider benefitsto a company in terms of the development of its owncontacts in the academic institution and a deepeningor widening of its understanding of the institution’sactivities. It is most likely that these are already appreciatedby the more enlightened or ‘blue chip’ companies,but these are not the only employers of engineers and itis with smaller companies that such benefits frequentlyneed to be more strongly highlighted.Professional bodiesMost countries have one or more professional bodiesthat represent engineers. Their activities can take differentforms such as ensuring that there are standardsof professional competence, codes of conduct that areadhered to by members, representing the profession togovernment and working to advance the status of engineers.This is just one facet of activities in addition toacademic, information and publishing activities. Clearlyit is in the interest of such professional bodies to ensurethat professional standards are high and evolving inorder to maintain the standing of the profession. Animportant facet of this must be to ensure that the educationand competence of the professionals it representsis high and continues to develop. Membership ofa professional body usually requires specific admissionstandards and in this context the body will often takea very positive stance to CPD and CEE that can takedifferent forms, from encouraging the maintenance ofCPD logs to recording the educational and developmentalactivities of individual members, or accreditingthe suppliers of CPD and CEE activities to its members(as is also done in medicine and law). Naturally, the roleof professional bodies varies greatly between countries,but it is clear that they can have an important role inthe development of CEE.UniversitiesUniversities are very pluralistic organizations and thevarious parts can have very different perceptions ofCEE, which can manifest itself in various ways. The headof the institution may be supportive of the activitybecause in general it can seem to be appropriate andpart of the institution’s mission, but its profile will quiteunderstandably be low, as more significant and immediateissues both of policy and strategy demand attention.The director of CEE programmes, while wanting toencourage the development CEE activities in universities,may find it challenging to identify appropriatelyinterested faculty, with responses varying from negligibleto enthusiastic, sometimes with very specific objectives.In addition not all faculty members appreciatehow to teach effectively to professionals, as this can bevery different from undergraduate teaching. Departmentaland faculty Heads have to balance demands onstaff time, freedom of academic interest and incomegeneration. These different perspectives, and sometimesconflicting priorities and visions for the activity,illustrate the challenges of generating a balanced andcustomer oriented portfolio of activities from withinan academic establishment. There are advantages fromCEE activities in addition to obvious financial ones, suchas the stimulus they provide for extending professionalcontacts, developing opportunities for research contractsand consultancy, all in ways that otherwise mightnot have occurred. However, despite this, responseswithin the academic institution are not obvious. It isvital, especially in an engineering field, that normalundergraduate and postgraduate teaching reflects thebest of current practices and CEE is one way by whichto gain access to such knowledge. Links between CEEand graduate teaching activities and help integrate academicknowledge and professional requirements.Other providersUnlike the initial education and formation of professionalengineers, in which universities tend to have amonopoly, in CPD and CEE this is not the case. Thereare many other providers, often with special orientationssuch as for petroleum engineering, electronic circuitdesign and testing. In addition some professionalinstitutions offer their own set of activities geared tomembers. In many of these instances the courses arepresented by active faculty-based members, or retiredindustrially-based professionals, with specific expertisewho thus are in a strong position to relate academicknowledge to their on own specific industrial experience.There can be direct competition between privateand public providers in what is offered.* Jones, M. E. 2008. Continuing Engineering Education, Who Needsit? Proc. 11th WCCEE, Atlanta (May 2008).331