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1
The History of Technical
Institutes
In 1956, Smith arid Lipsetti stated that "although the present day
technical institutes can trace their history back to the founding of the
Ohio Mechanics Institute in 1828, the past twenty-five years have
undoubtedly seen a more rapid development of the technical institute
movement than any other quarter century. " Today, the same statement
holds true, but for different reasons.
From 1931 to 1956, the most significant developments in the growth
of technical institutes included the Wickenden study conducted for the
Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education [SPEE); the accred-
itation of technical institute curricula by the Engineers Council for
Professional Development [ECPD); the establishment of the Technical
Institute Division of the American Society for Engineering Education;
the accumulation of a growing body of literature on the technical insti-
tute movement; the granting of the associate's degree for two-year
technical institute programs; and the establishment of the McGraw-
Hill Award to outstanding technical institute educators.
One of the major benefits of these efforts was the collection of data on
the current status of technical institutes, allowing educators and prac-
titioners to document growth and determine future directions. For
example, only 9 of the 34 institutions listed in the 1931 SPEE study
were predominantly technical institutes. The others were regular
degree-granting colleges or universities or "industrial schools of mixed
character." However, the Seventh Annual Survey of Technical Insti-
4
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HIS TOR Y OF TECHNICAL INS TITUTES
5
lutes, conducted in January 1951 by Smith and Lipsett, showed a major
increase in the numbers of technical institutes:
· State and municipal 22
· Privately endowed 12
· Extension divisions of colleges and universities 12
· Proprietary institutions 22
· YMCA schools 2
Since 1956 the technical institute movement has continued to grow.
The most significant developments include the offering of engineering
technology programs in the expanding community college movement,
the "vacuum" created lay engineering colleges as they tend to shift
toward engineering science, the introduction of four-year bachelor's
degree programs, and the certification of technicians. [A history of the
development of the baccalaureate degree in engineering technology can
be found in the dissertation by Mallonee.2) Four specific areas of devel-
opment accreditation, the roles of professional associations and of
junior colleges, and continued data collection are highlighted below.
Accreditation
ECPD inaugurated its accreditation activities for engineering pro-
grams in 1932. In 1945 its accreditation of associate degree programs
began with visitations to the Bliss Electrical School and Capital Radio
Engineering Institute, both in Washington, D. C., and Wentworth Insti-
tute of Technology in Boston. Accreditation of baccalaureate engineer-
ing technology programs began in 1967 with a Brigham Young
University program. The fifty-first annual meeting of the Accreditation
Board for Engineering and Technology (the successor to ECPD)
reported that in 1983 there were 195 institutions with 731 programs
being accredited.3
Associations
The Technical Institute Division [the name was changed to the Engi-
neering Technology Division in 1971 ) of the American Society for Engi-
neering Education [ASEE) met for the first time in 1941.4 ASEE also
established the Technical Institute Council Now the Engineering
Technology College Council in 1962, as a parallel organization to the
Engineering College Council primarily for administrators in engineer-
ing technology. A review of the ASEE's annual program shows that
engineering technology educators and engineering educators have
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6
ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION
arranged simultaneous programs of about equal magnitude. The mem-
bership of ASEE is now approximately 10,000; 2,800 have identified
engineering technology education as their main interest.
The Engineering Technology Leadership Institute [ETLI) was estab-
lished in 1976 and subsequently has met annually to provide leadership
development programs to engineering technology faculty and adminis-
trators. The three groups, the Engineering Technology Division (for
faculty), the Engineering Technology College Council (ETCC) [for
institutionalrepresentatives), and the Engineering Technology Leader-
ship Institute have issues and members in common. Many concurrent
cooperative activities are now planned, and a study group is consider-
ing the merits of merging ETCC and ETLI.
Development of the Junior College
Junior colleges originally were established to offer primarily two-
year terminal programs to a large proportion of their students. Cur-
rently, however, many junior college programs are similar to the first
two years of a four-year liberal arts program, and ample evidence indi-
cates good articulation for transfer to four-year institutions for quali-
fied students. Junior colleges have recognized the need to prepare youth
for industry, and some now offer three types of technology related
programs: ;aJ two-year terminal programs in engineering technology,
[b) two-year programs designed as the first two years of engineering
programs, and (c) two-year programs in industrial technology.
Programs designed primarily as the first two years of engineering
education are reasonably well defined. But problems of definition exist
for programs in engineering technology and industrial technology.
These definition issues cause continuing confusion in the categoriza-
tion and reporting of enrollments and degrees in the three types of
programs at both junior colleges and technical institutes.
Continued Data Collection
Through the efforts of the Engineering Technology College Council
of ASEE, a network of state representatives has been established to
report the names of institutions and their programs in engineering
technology. Using this network and through a cooperative effort with
the Engineering Manpower Commission, more complete enrollment
and degree data can be obtained from the institutions to provide infor-
mation on the current status of the technical institutes and of technol-
ogy education.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
technical institute
