Research in Engineering Education Symposium 2011 - rees2009

Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) Página 892 de 957
Arguing from a hypothetical viewpoint, let us suppose that novice engineers graduating
from institution A are widely regarded as being fully competent professionals, equivalent
to leading
professionals with many years of experience, and needing no investment in workplace
training. Let us also suppose that novice engineers graduating from institution B are
known to be (initially) one third as productive as professionals with many years of
experience, and they require 1 hour of daily guidance to develop their professional
competence over four years. Then, we could estimate the investment needed to convert ‘B’
graduate novices to the level of ‘A’ graduates.
In reality, no education program could achieve the hypothetical result of ‘A’ above, if only
because novice engineers (like any other people) need to learn the context of their work in
a specific enterprise to be productive. However, we could argue about the effectiveness of
education in terms of the time needed to acquire sufficient contextual learning. The time
will also influence the enterprise investment required to achieve this level of competence.
Recent engineering education research has provided some interesting insights into some
economic factors. Matusovich, Streveler and Miller (2010) in a longitudinal study of
engineering student motivation provided a qualitative analysis of student perceptions of
benefits and costs. It is clear from their research that a majority of engineering students
valued engineering in terms of attainment in problem solving, intrinsic interest, and future
earning capacity. Student choices to study engineering were significantly influenced by
perceived costs: "For example, the costs of being an engineering student might include
heavy course loads or the emotional and psychological toll associated with the financial
burden of paying for engineering courses." (p297) Anticipated career costs also played a
part, with some anticipating having to work long hours in remote locations and having less
time to pursue other interests.
Labour market economics also can tell us that salary levels reflect the marginal product of
employees. Education influences the marginal product and hence the earning capacity of
an individual, represented in terms of both personal earnings and productive capacity for
the enterprise. These benefits are well known, explaining why families are willing to invest
in their children’s education and why enterprises are willing to contribute to education
through taxation and other means.
Other contributors seem to skirt around these issues, mostly in silence. For example, in an
extensive review of three decades of change in higher education, including engineering
education, Bowden (2009) has not once referred to economic issues or student benefits
and costs other than an oblique reference to the transformation to "mass education".
Most studies on economic issues in engineering education have focused on quantitative
cost factors most evident to faculty members. Several discussions on academic budgets
have referred to competing time demands on faculty members in research and teaching,
for example Wankat (1999), yet seem to avoid a deeper or more detailed discussion of
economic factors. While Snyder (2001) presented a detailed analysis of institutional
engineering education costs in an Australian engineering school, his contribution has not
Proceedings of Research in Engineering Education Symposium 2011
Madrid, 4 th - 7 th October 2011