Engineering education developed ver

Engineering education developed very differently on the Continent and in the UK. On the Continent, engineering and technical sciences were set up in technical universities, while in the UK engineering departments were set up in multi-discipline universities. As a consequence, engineering education developed on the Continent as a more professionally oriented subject, while in the UK the emphasis was on engineering science. Perhaps because of their size and their more professional engineering-oriented courses the Continental technical universities have developed a much closer relationship with industry. In Germany, the Herr Professor is also likely to be a Herr Director and there are many visiting industrial professors, who will spend a day a week in the University. In France much of the lecturing is provided by staff from the appropriate industries. There is nothing similar in UK engineering departments.

The question is what is to be done about engineering education in the UK? In the opinion of Britain’s specialists, 70 to 80 engineering faculties in English universities and polytechnics should be condensed down into 20 or so major technical universities. They should become more industrially-oriented.

Lastly, the objective of engineering education and training should be recognized. So what should be the objective of undergraduate education? It is to educate and train people to think and search out knowledge for themselves, and to have the self-assurance to apply it to the job in hand. Many of the courses are now much too intensive and students have too little time or encouragement, to read and think for themselves. The solution is to recognize that it is impossible to cover all the subjects which an engineer may find useful in a lifetime, and realize that if he has been correctly educated he can read up on subjects which he may need as he progresses in his career.

However, industry must recognize that a graduate will need training in the specific area in which he is working, and must also be prepared to encourage him to attend continuing education courses and/or seminars and conferences as appropriate. It is clear that there is to be much more interchange of staff between industry and higher education.

The education and training of engineers must be a partnership between industry and higher education, which extends from undergraduate education and training through to post-graduate short and long courses and research.