Educating the Engineer of 2020 Adapting Engineering Education to the New Century (2005) / Chapter Skim
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Appendix A: Papers Prepared as Input to the Summit
Appendix A: Papers Prepared as Input to the Summit
Pages 59-144
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Appendix A The reports included here were prepared as background information for the consideration of Summit attendees prior to the meeting. They represent the opinions of the authors and are not necessarily endorsed by the Engineer of 2020 Phase II Committee.
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A Brief Summary of Cooperative Education: History, Philosophy, and Current Status Thomas M Akins Georgia Institute of Technology In a recent survey conducted by MonsterTRAK of college graduates in 2004, 74 percent thought relevant work experience was the most important factor in securing employment, and 52 percent of employers agreed.
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62 EDUCATING THE ENGINEER OF 2020 For the purposes of this paper, I use a traditional definition of a cooperative education program adapted from the "The Cooperative System -- a Manifesto," an article by Clement Freund in the Journal of Engineering Education in October 1946. A cooperative education program shall be one: · in which curricula lead to the bachelor's, master's or doctoral degree · that requires or permits all or some students to alternate peri ods of attendance at college with periods of employment in business/industry during a portion or all of one or more curricula · in which such employment is constituted as a regular, continu ing, and essential element in the educational process · that requires such employment to be related to some phase of the branch or field of study in which the student is engaged · that expects such employment to be diverse so that students have a wide range of experience · that expects such employment to have work assignments with increasing levels of responsibility on successive work terms · that specifies as requirements for a degree a minimum number of hours of employment and a minimum standard of perfor mance in such employment SPECIFIC GOALS OF COOPERATIVE EDUCATION Freund also detailed five specific aims of cooperative education that are still embraced today: 1.
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All of this was to be supplanted by an idea that took shape in the mind of Herman Schneider, a civil engineering graduate of Lehigh University who had worked his way through school. Schneider believed that his work experience had given him an advantage upon graduation.
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64 EDUCATING THE ENGINEER OF 2020 schools continue to wrestle with internal problems. As Herman Schneider stated in a speech in 1929, "There are no two cooperative courses the same, and different tactics have to be used in different places.
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A BRIEF SUMMARY OF COOPERATIVE EDUCATION 65 · helps defray the costs of postsecondary education through wages earned · expands after-graduation job opportunities · teaches "soft skills," such as communications, working on multidisciplinary teams, career assessment, resume writing, and interviewing · encourages traditionally non-college-bound students to pursue postsecondary education Advantages to employers · provides a pool of well prepared employees · provides on-the-job performance as a basis for permanent hir ing decisions · enhances relations between businesses and colleges · improves access to permanent employment for students from disadvantaged (underrepresented) groups · makes recruitment and training more cost effective · increases retention rates among permanent employees · provides a means of technology (knowledge)
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. Recent research at Georgia Tech has shown that rising family income levels of entering students and the availability of other options, such as undergraduate research and internships, have been major factors
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Engineering Criteria 2000, which was begun by ABET several years ago, includes students' ability to perform certain functions, such as working on multidisciplinary teams, applying engineering knowledge, and so forth. Consequently, engineering deans and provosts at many institutions have discovered the value of data collected by their co-op programs.
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Maynard, Mass.: Monster. Available online at http://www.monster.com.
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Information Technology in Support of Engineering Education: Lessons from the Greenfield Coalition Donald R Falkenburg Greenfield Coalition Wayne State University Many studies have focused on the impact of information technology (IT)
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70 EDUCATING THE ENGINEER OF 2020 In a National Academy of Engineering workshop, Information Technology (IT) -Based Educational Materials, this future vision was translated into the framework of teaching and learning.
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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 71 approaches form the scaffolding for further modifications to the learn ing environment, enabling the optimization of educational practices for their effectiveness rather than for simple efficiency. The elements that support the learning environment integrate advanced knowledge about technology, people, processes, and organizations.
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72 EDUCATING THE ENGINEER OF 2020 support the learning process? The answer reflects the Greenfield Coalition's values and beliefs about learning: · Learning is a responsibility shared by learner and teacher.
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In Manufacturing Systems, a sophomore-level Greenfield Coalition course developed by Professor Emory Zimmers at Lehigh University, learners are introduced to Colebee Time Management Incorporated, a firm that has determined that rapid order fulfillment is one of their competitive advantages. As they move toward producing more
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74 EDUCATING THE ENGINEER OF 2020 FIGURE 1 Computer resources supporting a Greenfield Coalition case study.
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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 75 customized planners and calendars, they find they need more analysis of the printing cell, because more varieties of products and smaller batch sizes have slowed printing. When a new printing job arrives, it must wait until the current group of jobs is completed.
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76 EDUCATING THE ENGINEER OF 2020 The learners are asked the following key questions: · What strategy did you use to select the parameters to improve operational efficiency? · If you could modify the simulation model to allow more pa rameters to be changed, which parameters would you choose to add?
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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 77 the model are learning activities focused on the process of learning. Learning activities are dynamically configured into sessions, modules, and courses.
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. Because objectives are included in the object structure of a course, it is a straightforward process to produce a tree of learning objectives.
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, metrology, computer-aided design, computer numerical control, and associated math, computer, and communication skills. Greenfield provides an opportunity for graduates of MTI to cap their practical experience with courses that could lead to advanced university degrees.
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They would experience the functional operations involved in production, and they would be exposed to flexible manufacturing system architectures, manufacturing systems design, and process and quality control. Candidates would rotate through positions in production and manufacturing engineering and learn through their experiences.
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Real-World Experience in Learning in Manufactur ing Education Proceedings of the 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition. Montreal, Quebec, Canada: American Society for Engineering Education.
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For example, faculty members who participated in interdisciplinary, integrated curricular activities were involved in mutually supportive, thoughtful discussions with their peers about learning, assessment, and teaching. Another project involved the construction of multidisciplinary design projects that exposed faculty members to multiple disciplinary perspectives on the engineering design process.
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Through the EEC Program, groups of universities and colleges with different characteristics formed coalitions for the purpose of becoming agents of change in the engineering education community. Goals for systemic reform included increasing the retention of students, especially students from underrepresented groups, such as white women and minorities; and improving introductory experiences in engineering through active, experiential learning, such as artifact dissection, and multidisciplinary capstone design experiences.
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84 courses database courses design student design vative oaches Engineering ySystem) er inno ycapstone of appr Coalitions ational Deliv longitudinal engineering dissection (N Contributions ajor pedagogical tifact Education ultidisciplinar Education M First-year Assessments Ar NEEDS M SUCCEED Engineering ersity keley Ber lorida and Charlotte of niv Technology bispo ersity U of ersity State O at niv U City niv Carolina ersity U Luis ersity -- F Technology niversity of U the niv aryland ashington ersity ersity niv Agricultural State orth Institutions San ersity of ersity Institute U M ersity California U N York State W at ersity niv niv ersity State niv of of Polytechnic U U niversity niv niversity of niv of U niv ania U U U U niv Contributions ew State U Institute d ersity d A&M U Carolina Carolina College N ersity ersity State ersity ersity war niv assachusetts organ rth niv niv U ampton wa niv State eorgia orth Technical niv and Participating of City Ho M M Pennsylv U U California Cornell H Io Southern Stanfor Tuskegee U Clemson Florida G N No U Institutions College Schools and of rticipating Education w.org)
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85 in efunded listed wer which coalitions y six the entor curricula nly inv (SCEME) , O curricula concept engineering uments of curricula Engineering experiences.
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We chose the word "expectations" instead of out comes, objectives, goals, student outcomes, learning objectives, assessments, or evaluations, all of which might have precon ceived meanings that could interfere with an objective descrip tion of expectations for engineering graduates. Issues associated with expectations include assessment and evaluation, because it must be determined if stated expectations have been met.
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Third, adding new topics may not have appeared to be as pressing a challenge as increasing the number of engineering graduates, raising retention rates for students already in engineering, increasing the percentages of students from traditionally underrepresented groups, such as white women and minorities, and improving students' capabilities in communications, teamwork, problem solving, ethics, engineering design, project management, and lifelong learning. Changes in content would not have addressed these needs.
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Most of the partner institution in the ECSEL coalition developed and subsequently institutionalized a first-year engineering course that emphasized engineering design as a process and enabled student teams to engineer meaningful prototypes. Multidisciplinary design, in which engineering majors from many disciplines, and sometimes other majors, worked together on teams, was a key aspect of activities developed by SUCCEED; partner institutions developed capstone courses in which multidisciplinary teams developed solutions to problems posed by external clients.
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Assessments of student outcomes in engineering design courses, multidisciplinary design courses, and integrated curricula require careful definitions of observable student behaviors (e.g., team skills, design skills, multidisciplinary design skills, communication skills, and linking of concepts) and work products.
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Although outreach and success efforts by EECs did increase participation and the retention of students from underrepresented groups, they were not unique to EEC participating institutions and did not promote systemic reform in engineering education. In addition, most outreach and success efforts did not involve engineering faculty members who were not engaged in constructing these programs.
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THE METHODOLOGY LENS Based on the foregoing description of the expectations for the EEC Program and the degree to which those expectations have been achieved, we can turn now to a brief overview of the approaches used to meet those expectations. Viewed through the methodology lens, we can group the contributions of the EECs into six categories: active, experiential learning environments; student teams; instructional tech
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often worked with other students to understand and complete assigned tasks. Specific innovations that illustrate these learning environments include first-year engineering design courses that focus on design challenges; artifact dissection, in which students disassemble engineered artifacts; problem-based learning environments, in which students start with a problem instead of a concept; cooperative learning environments, in which students work together to achieve learning objectives; and multidisciplinary design projects that bring together students from different educational backgrounds.
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THE SYSTEMIC REFORM LENS In terms of systemic reform, the EEC Program yielded two significant lessons. First, the dissemination of the results of engineering education research and development is far more difficult than was initially understood.
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First, whereas the intended audience for a discipline-specific research publication is researchers actively involved in work in the same or closely related areas, the intended audience for a publication by one or more EEC is the entire engineering education community. However, only a small percentage of engineering faculty members regularly read engineering education publications.
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So, despite innovative and diligent initiatives, the dissemination of results of educational research and development remains a challenge. The Cultural and Faculty Change Challenge The importance of cultural change emerged as the EEC Program shifted its focus from the development of models of curricular renewal on partner campuses to the catalysis of systemic reform.
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CONCLUSION The EEC Program demonstrated that engineering faculty members can construct out-of-the-box, effective models for curricular and systemic reform, and assessment data indicate that they lead to increased retention and improved student learning. However, the EEC Program also demonstrated that institutional and cultural barriers to change are more complex, intricate, and subtle than is often appreciated and that innovative models for reform are seldom enough to overcome the challenges to institutionalizing change.
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THE ENGINEERING EDUCATION COALITIONS PROGRAM 97 matched to the extent, complexity, and dynamics of the system of engineering education must be assembled and deployed through intense, informed, and sustained conversation. REFERENCES Eckel, P.D.
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A fundamental objective of the F.W. Olin Foundation is that Olin College offer all of its admitted students a four-year, merit-based tuition scholarship, not just for the first few years but in perpetuity.
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To establish the initial curriculum, Olin College decided it would be beneficial to invite a group of students to help brainstorm and test concepts. In some respects, these students were considered partners in the development of portions of the curriculum and student life programs.
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The college looked for faculty members with a passion for undergraduate teaching and innovation in engineering education. However, because Olin College is not just a teaching institution, faculty members are also expected to maintain a high level of research, innovative curriculum development, entrepreneurship, creation of intellectual property, and other creative activities.
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These, together with several ad ditional features, will distinguish Olin College from other engineer ing colleges. These anticipated distinctive features of the curricula include the combination of a rigorous science and mathematics core, an integrated project-based design component, a firm grounding in
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Finally, during the test phase, the specific educational materials will be tested with the help of a small group of student "partners" who will be recruited specifically for this purpose and will help with INVENTION 2000 as part of a unique one-year experience at Olin College. Each of these stages will take from four to eight months, with the first (discovery)
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The Bold Goals summarized the curricular objectives at that time and are still used to guide curriculum development: · hands-on design projects in every year · authentic, ambitious capstone senior/advanced-student projects (representative of professional practice) Superb Engineering Arts Entrepreneurship Creativity, Innovation, Design, Philanthropy, Ethics Communications FIGURE 1 The Olin Triangle.
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This group was charged with the task of describing the first Olin curriculum. Three of the five faculty members of the CDMB were elected by the faculty using a Copeland ballot, and two were appointed by the provost.
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In the fall of 2002, Michael E Moody joined Olin College as dean of the faculty and assumed direct leadership of the development of the Olin curriculum.
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Continuous use of teamwork, communication skills, and entrepreneurial thinking give students the tools they need to take their solutions from the research laboratory to the world at large. The Olin curriculum consists of three phases (Figure 2)
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For example, a student particularly interested in entrepreneurship might opt to pursue a given set of physics and math learning objectives while doing a related product-design and development project. An artistically inclined student might enroll in a cohort that uses kinetic sculpture to motivate and reinforce the same physics and math objectives.
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108 EDUCATING THE ENGINEER OF 2020 FIGURE 3 Illustration of the foundation. Although all students are required to meet the same learning objectives, they have many choices for doing so -- free electives and an option structure in the cohorts.
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Olin implemented this program to acknowledge students' passions -- whether they are technical, artistic, or entrepreneurial -- that are important to their personal and professional education and development. Some Olin students might use this opportunity to start a business with the support of an Olin/ Babson hatchery; others might form a string quartet.
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110 EDUCATING THE ENGINEER OF 2020 providing resources and formal recognition via non-degree credit. Students can also opt to pursue independent study and research as part of the Olin curriculum; space is provided for these activities -- either as free electives each year or as passionate pursuits.
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Olin students are encouraged to pass the Fundamentals of Engineering exam, which is designed to encourage selfstudy skills, open the door to professional practice, and provide external validation of a student's proficiency. ABET Requirements The Olin curriculum is designed to satisfy the accreditation requirements of ABET.
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A defining feature of the Olin curriculum, these projects require that students apply math, science, and engineering prin ciples to real problems, consider engineering in a social con text, and develop entrepreneurial skills. Olin students will graduate with extensive experience in applying theoretical knowledge to real problems.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT The authors wish to thank the Olin College faculty for help with this paper. REFERENCES Kerns, D
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This history suggests that there is more self-awareness in the engineering community than in most other professional communities about the educational enterprise that prepares new members to enter the profession. The continuous conversations among engineering faculty members, professional and practicing engineers (especially in leading societies, such as the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the 114
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Although educational institutions played a larger role than is often recognized by providing courses and certificates, and a handful of institutions developed full-blown curricula and degree programs, it was not until after the Civil War, when the Morrill Act led to the establishment of landgrant schools, that the dominant pattern of engineering education shifted from shop floors to classrooms (Reynolds, 1992)
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The leaders of the engineering profession in the last quarter of the nineteenth century had an acute sensitivity to their lack of social position -- at times to the point of an inferiority complex. Engineers frequently asked when they would get the respect they deserved for designing, operating, and maintaining the large systems on which Americans increasingly depended, ranging from water and power systems in cities to massive bridges and railroad networks.
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and unleashed an avalanche of money for university programs, that American engineering schools almost universally adopted engineering science as the core of engineering education. The far-reaching ramifications of this change included the first significant focus on graduate education in engineering schools -- especially at the Ph.D.
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. The proper balance between science, engineering science, and design is only one of the issues engineers and engineering educators have debated at length over the last 125 years.
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. Ironically, almost every engineering college moved toward a postwar curriculum that meant engineering students spent nearly five years in school.
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First, written communication skills were considered especially important for engineers; hence, engineering schools encouraged the teaching of technical writing, and courses in this area were required for most engineering students (Kynell, 1995; Kynell-Hunt, 1996)
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. But the most telling evidence of continuing attention to nontechnical course work for engineering students can be found in the ABETsponsored EC 2000 project, which identified 12 competences engineering students need upon graduation.
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It is hardly accidental, then, that engineering educators and employers have always had close ties. Until the 1950s, engineering faculty members, most of whom had practiced engineering before turning to teaching, considered it their goal to train young men for positions in business and industry.
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. The social activism of the 1960s was felt in engineering schools in several ways.
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In addition, engineering colleges attempted to recruit more diverse student bodies -- especially more women and minority students. The Society for Women Engineers (SWE)
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I do not mean to say that history repeats itself. Social and political contexts change, and the specific circumstances in which engineering schools, faculties, and students find themselves have changed with new technologies and social developments that pose new challenges.
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1991. Engineering schools under fire.
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New York: Engineers' Council for Professional Development, Committee on Engineering Schools. Jackson, J.P.
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1971. The Revolt of the Engineers: Social Responsibility and the American Engineering Profession.
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1903. The advisability of instructing engineering students in the history of the engineering profession.
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Electrical Engineering 64(Febru ary)
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In addition, professional preparation tends to be insular, with no mechanism for learning from other fields to develop strategies for tackling common challenges of professional preparation. The goal of PPP is to raise issues and broaden the frame of reference for leaders and practitioners in all fields of professional education.
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Each study reveals the nature of the signature pedagogies in that field, suggests their power to encourage a particular kind of learning, identifies their limitations -- and suggests creative approaches to overcoming those limitations. Engineering education, for example, is characterized by four very different signature pedagogies, each of them consistent in a particular component of the curriculum (engineering science or "analysis" courses, laboratory courses, design courses, and ethics modules)
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, we took a "big picture" approach to answering questions about teaching and learning practices in engineering education in the United States. We reviewed data from a national survey and ABET self-studies from 40 engineering schools (100 programs)
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Draft chapters addressing the three main components of the curriculum -- analysis, laboratory, and design courses -- are finished, as are detailed outlines of the other chapters. A draft of the full manuscript should be completed by the summer of 2005.
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Mutual recognition and accreditation will not only benefit graduates in a particular country, but will also promote quality control and attract students to national degree programs. It is generally accepted that a competent practicing engineer must have the following qualifications: · a strong education that teaches analytical and theoretical think ing that enables problem solving, innovation, and invention · training in working with people from diverse backgrounds and solving technical problems · work experience, including responsibility for making decisions 135
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ENGINEERING DEGREE PROGRAMS Washington Accord The Washington Accord was signed in 1989 by the groups in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States responsible for accrediting professional engineering degree programs in their countries. The accord recognizes "substantial equivalency" of the programs accredited by the signatories and satisfaction of the "academic requirements for the practice of engineering at the professional level." The accord states that the "processes, policies and procedures" used in the accreditation of academic programs are comparable and "recommends that graduates of accredited programs in any of the signatory countries be recognized by the other countries as having met the academic requirements for entry to the practice of engineering" (Washington Accord, 2004)
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In addition, the accreditation bodies of India and Bangladesh have recently expressed their intent to submit applications for provisional membership, and Russia and Korea have sent representatives to meetings of the Washington Accord signatories. Alec Hay, chairman of the International Committee of the Engineering Council of South Africa, stated while reporting on a June 2001 meeting on the Washington Accord that "Being a signatory to the WA [Washington Accord]
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Currently, slightly fewer than 30,000 registered engineers have been granted the EUR ING title. FEANI maintains an index of universities and other institutions of higher education and their engineering degree programs recognized as fulfilling the mandatory educational requirements for the EUR ING title.
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. · The National Academic Recognition Information Centers Net work (NARIC Network)
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Current members include the national engineering organizations of Ireland, the United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa, Hong Kong, Australia, and New Zealand. Dublin Accord Signed in 2002, the Dublin Accord, which provides joint recognition of academic programs for engineering technicians, is also based on the Washington Accord and operates in a similar way.
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Council for International Engineering Practice (USCIEP) , which was established to "develop and promote procedures to enable U.S.-registered professional engineers to practice internationally" (USCIEP, 2004)
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Requirements for admission to the USCIEP Registry include licensing in one or more jurisdictions of the United States and the qualifications listed below: · graduation from an accredited program (either via ABET or the Washington Accord) · a passing grade on the Fundamentals of Engineering examination · a passing grade on one or more of the Principles and Practice of Engineering assessment examinations · no sanctions resulting in a suspension or revocation by any ju risdiction of the engineering practice license · at least five references from licensed professional engineers fa miliar with the candidate's work, character, and integrity · periodic updates of the professional activities record and testi monials from professional references · at least seven years of qualifying experience (at least four at the time of initial registration as a professional engineer)
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2001. International Affairs Consolidated Report: Meetings of the Washington Accord, Sydney Accord, Engineers Mobility Forum and Engineering Technologists' Mobility Forum, Thornybush Game Reserve, June 2026, 2001, South Africa.
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2004. Engineering Technologists Mobility Forum, MOU, Signed June 2001 at Thornybush Game Reserve, South Africa.
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