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

AN OVERVIEW OF ENGINEERINGthe Second World War or during the first post-war big-scienceperiod who were about to retire. Other factors reinforcedthese concerns such as demographic trends, the increasinglytechnology-intensive nature of national economies (for examplethe growth in new information and communication technologies)and some disturbing signs of decreasing interest inS&T careers among young people. At the same time, however,there were concerns that other changes such as economicrestructuring and the downsizing of defence industries insome countries might in fact lead to a surplus of highly-skilledengineers and technicians.None of these problems really came about. The enrolmentsin S&T studies continued to grow in absolute terms (thoughwere decreasing in relative terms) compared to other studyopportunities. ‘Untapped’ labour resources, such as womenand minorities, who in the past had acquired S&T competencebut may never have taken up jobs in the sector (the ‘leakypipe-line’), integrated into the S&T workforce. The so-called‘brain-gain’ continued in several industrialized countries,either by way of immigration of trained specialists or throughlarger numbers of international students who then stayed intheir host country after graduation.Many of the concerns were without doubt based more onanecdotal evidence than on solid data. No internationalagency was, at the time, able to provide policy-makers with relevantinformation and statistics. This drove the OECD , in closecooperation with Eurostat, to develop in 1989 another set ofguidelines and indicators to assess the total national stocksand flows of highly qualified persons. The new guidelines weresimilar to its other manuals on measuring S&T activities butwent well beyond the coverage of the Frascati Manual for R&Donly. In the specifications for the new indicators, it was clearlyasserted that no new data surveys should be initiated. Instead,work would only draw on the deployment and scrutiny ofalready existing data sets (such as education and labour forcestatistics), though it was recognized from the start that thesedata had never been intended to serve as a basis for specificS&T analysis. The same approach has been suggested for someof the other subsequent OECD manuals on measuring scienceand technology activities (see Box).After several years of intense work and discussions, a newmanual was approved at an experts’ meeting in Australia in1994. In recognition of the support of the national authorities,it came to be known as the Canberra Manual.For the purposes of the Canberra Manual, a new term ‘HumanResources in Science and Technology’ (HRST) was coined. Onceagain, all guidelines proposed were strictly in line with internationalstandards to account for as many aspects as possibleof supply ( education, in terms of qualifications) and demand(occupation, in terms of jobs or posts) of highly skilled personnel,allowing for possible cross-classifications between the two.It was not possible to give priority to any of the two criteria;both features had to be exploited for the HRST exercise (crossclassificationsaccording to ISCED-1976 and ISCO-1988).The broad and general definition of the HRST reads as follows:‘HRST are people who fulfil one or other of the following conditions:successfully completed education at the third level inan S&T field of study; or not formally qualified as above, butemployed in an S&T occupation where the above qualificationsare normally required.’Paragraph 49 of the 1995 Canberra ManualThis description of course is still rather vague and therefore isaccompanied by a number of supplementary criteria. ‘Stocks’provide a snapshot of the HRST situation at a specific momentin time whereas ‘flows’ refer to movements in or out of thestock over a given time period (generally a year).For these variables the Canberra Manual suggests the followingdefinitions:■ HRST stock: ‘...the number of people at a particular pointin time who fulfil the conditions of the definition of HRST’(paragraph 107 of the 1995 Canberra Manual). For example,the number of PhDs in physics employed in a country andsector on a fixed date.The ‘Frascati Family’ of guidelines for the measurement of science and technology activities■■■1990: Proposed Standard Method of Compiling andInterpreting Technology Balance of Payments Data –the TBP Manual ( OECD, 1990)1993: Proposed Standard Practice for Surveys ofResearch and Experimental Development – the FrascatiManual, fifth edition ( OECD, 1993)1994: Using Patent Data as Science and TechnologyIndicators (revision underway 2008) – the PatentManual ( OECD)■■■1995: Proposed Standard Method of Compiling andInterpreting Technology Balance of Payments Data –the TBP Manual ( OECD, 1990)The Measurement of Human Resources devotedto Science and Technology – the Canberra Manual(OECD/Eurostat 1995)2005: Guidelines for Collecting and InterpretingInnovation Data – the Oslo Manual, third edition(OECD/Eurostat 2005)■2005: Using Patent Data as Science and TechnologyIndicators – Patent Manual ( OECD, 1994) (revisionunderway 2008)■ Measuring Globalisation – OECD Handbook onEconomic Globalisation Indicators ( OECD, 2005)75