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

ENGINEERING CAPACITY: EDUCATION, TRAINING AND MOBILITY7.3 Transformation of engineering education7.3.1Problem-based LearningAnette Kolmos, Mona Dahms andXiangyun DuIs there a need for change?Is there a need for change of engineering education towardsmore student centred learning methods? Yes, would be themost common answer. However, if we start counting thenumber of institutions that have really changed to a new institutionalmodel, these will only present a very low percentageof the total number of engineering education institutions.Engineering education is a foundation for the development ofsociety. Without technological innovations, there will be noproduction of new goods, no economic growth and no humandevelopment. Innovations are part of market mechanisms toestablish new markets. Markets, as drivers, call for rapid developmentof innovations and thus for technological and scientificknowledge.in volving issues such as environment and social responsibility.There is a need for change if engineering education is notaddressing these elements.New skillsThese new challenges are integrated into the American ABET(Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology) criteriaand the European EUR-ACE (European Accreditation Boardfor Engineering Education) criteria for accreditation of engineeringeducation. Both accreditation institutions have formulatedrequirements for skills that go far beyond technicalknowledge. Some of the ABET criteria are:■■■An ability to function on multi-disciplinary teams.An ability to identify and solve applied science problems.An understanding of professional and ethical responsibility.This creates a lot of challenges for engineering education:■An ability to communicate effectively.■Knowledge might be outdated within a few years, whichcreate challenges for engineering education all over theworld. Knowledge about yesterday’s mobile phone mightbe outdated by tomorrow’s communication technology –and so there is a great deal more to teach both studentsand educators.■ We know from research that innovation is no longer basedon individual knowledge but on collaborative knowledge(Sawyer, 2007). 24 This is one of the conclusions arising fromanalysing innovation processes.■ Another conclusion from the literature on innovation is thatthe collaborative knowledge construction is getting moreand more complex. Partly because globalization calls fornew ways of sharing the work between east and west andbetween south and north and thus involves interculturalunderstanding of international collaboration (Friedman,2005). 25 Partly because complexity involves interdisciplinaryknowledge constructions.■Furthermore there is a huge challenge in making thisfast technological development much more sustainable■ The broad education necessary to understand the impact ofsolutions in a global and societal context.■■■A recognition of the need for, and an ability to engage inlife-long learning.A knowledge of contemporary issues.An ability to use the techniques, skills, and modern scientificand technical tools necessary for professional practice.EUR-ACE defines a variation of transferable skills that covermore or less the same aspects as the professional skills,although there is more emphasis on the intercultural part(Kolmos, 2006). 26 Embedded in these criteria might also be therequirement for complex knowledge constructions cross culturesand disciplines and involving sustainable issues. However,these are not formulated in a transparent way. The awarenessof complex knowledge and what this involves in a globalizedworld is slowly merging. Engineering knowledge has alwaysbeen system-based knowledge where engineers are workingwith the phenomena of black boxes in their design. The newchallenge is not to work with the black boxes, but to do workwithin a collaborative intercultural and interdisciplinary team.24 Sawyer, K. 2007. Group Genius – The Creative Power of Collaboration, Basic Books, NewYork.25 Friedman, T. L. 2005. The World is Flat – A Brief History of the Globalized World in theTwenty-First Century, London: Allen Lane.26 Kolmos, Anette. 2006. Future Engineering Skills, Knowledge, and Identity. EngineeringScience, Skills, and Bildung, Aalborg: Aalborg University Press, pp.165–185.337