The Future of Engineering Education

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• The Future of Engineering Education
• Where do we go from here?
• Peter Goodhew FREng
• University of Liverpool

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The context

• In future, graduate working lifetimes are likely
  to be gt50 years
• There will be regular national and international
  crises
• There will be rapid change in ways we cannot
  today imagine
• The laws of physics will not change

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Current crisis The recession

• My first priority has been to identify
  efficiencies in spending programmes supported by
  DIUS which do not directly contribute to the
  frontline delivery of teaching and research, and
  the targets set out below reflect the significant
  savings I intend to achieve in these areas.
• I would like you to look critically at the
  funding you provide for bodies that do not
  directly deliver teaching and research.
• John Denham, UK Secretary of State for
  Innovation, Universities and Skills letter to
  HEFCE, 6th May 2009.

Support for change may (temporarily) disappear
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In the next 50 years

• There will be more knowledge
• Information will be readily accessible, by almost
  anyone
• There will be new engineering disciplines
• Biology will be more important, and more
  controlled
• Engineers will be even more crucial to the
  operation of society
• The rate of change will be higher (Moores law
  for engineering?)
• There will be a number of grand challenges
  (global warming, energy, water)

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but

• We have to design and offer engineering courses
  now which can provide the basis for practise as
  an engineer in 55 years time!

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55 years ago
In 1954, before I went to University!
laser PC mobile phone optical storage internet
heart transplant MRI space travel pulsar
catalytic converter fuel injection CCD digital
imaging jet airliners photocopier geodesic dome
bucky ball VCR integrated circuit LED LCD genetic
modification spreadsheet foreign food cheap air
travel Euro security scanners nuclear power
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Current problems (which may get worse / better)

• Engineering is perceived to be difficult / an
  exciting challenge
• Much of the best engineering is invisible to the
  general public / wonderfully miniaturised and
  incredibly reliable
• Engineering is perceived to be masculine / a good
  field for women to enter
• Creative engineering requires a large base of
  knowledge / takes you into all corners of society

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1964
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Invisible engineering
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Invisible engineering
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Visible engineering
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Visible engineering
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Visible engineering
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Invisible engineering

• The iPhone
• HDD recorder
• Ink-jet printers
• The cockpit of the plane which brought me here

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Questions

• Active engineering students ask questions
• So shall I
• (time for a joke?)

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A thought about happy sheets

• academics are often in the business of
  educating their students tastes and encouraging
  them to question their values. Indeed one of the
  most distinct and significant dimensions of
  academic and intellectual activity is that it
  does not often give customers what they want.
• Frank Furedi Times Higher Education, 4th June
  2009

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Question

• Who are we going to be educating?
• Young people, fresh from school
• Mid-career citizens getting into engineering
• Prior engineers needing a refresher
• Future researchers
• Future educated citizens
• The elderly, seeking to make a contribution

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Question

• For what purpose? What are these engineers to
  do?
• Creative innovation ( design new things)
• Entrepreneurial activity ( make money)
• Research ( expand our knowledge)
• Work as engineers in wealth-creating industry (
  keep the economy going)
• Work as non-engineers ( keep society going)
• Vote ( encourage states to do the right thing)
• Continue to learn ( or get left behind)

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Question

• Is professional accreditation helpful?
• The pace of change is likely to be faster than
  the time constant for accreditation
• Accreditation has little effect on the quality of
  engineering practice
• New types of engineering (eg inter-disciplinary)
  are likely to emerge faster than accreditation
  can keep up

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Question

• Can we continue to specialise at undergraduate
  level?
• E.g. mechanical aero electrical civil
  materials production
• Will these terms still be meaningful in 50 years?
• What other specialisms will emerge?
• Shouldnt we have an engineering foundation
  like pre-clinical medicine?

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Question

• What is the minimum set of knowledge and
  attitudes which justifies the designation
  engineer?
• Knowledge could be almost anything
• Depth or proven ability to understand in depth
• Attitudes surely most important, but which?
• Problem solving ability

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Question

• How should we partition learning time between
• Expertise/knowhow ( can do)
• Knowledge (... understands)
• Appreciation ( is aware of)
• Communication skills ( can explain)
• Societal understanding? ( does the right thing)?

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A new model

• Not linear but networked
• Knowledge of Engineering Science
• Skills for using knowledge creativity
  intuition ingenuity
• Attitudes skepticism, persistence, agility,
  dynamism
• Leadership, teamwork, communication

Mathematics?
Sheppard et al. Educating Engineers Designing
for the Future of the Field, Carnegie 2009
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Group T modelLeuven

• 5E Engineering, Enterprising, Educating,
  Ensembling, Environmenting
• Mission is Educing Essence by Experiencing
  Existence
• 3 building blocks
• the Engineering Experiences lie at the heart of
  the curriculum
• the Engineering Content forms its backbone and
• the 5E-Context is its soul

Group T, Leuven, Belgium www.groupt.be/www/
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Alternative T
B r e a d t h
Depth
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My Lemmas

• Few individuals will be prepared to spend more
  than 4-5 years on their initial formation as an
  engineer
• The most important applications for engineering
  (in terms of addressing societys issues) will
  change every ten years or so
• Biology will become important to engineers
• We cannot, and will not be able to, demand depth
  of study in all areas deemed important by any
  group of engineers

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My suggestions

• Address the question via assessment
• What should we test after 4 years?
• Ability to hold a discussion with an expert about
  one topic at the cutting edge of research (depth)
• Ability to formulate a reasonable solution to an
  open-ended engineering problem given incomplete
  data (engineering aptitude)
• Ability to tell a story, and answer questions,
  about the development of an engineered artefact
  to include all aspects of its life cycle from
  societal need to eventual disposal
  (understanding, societal and communication
  skills)
• Ability to retrieve information and deploy it
  quickly and accurately (knowledge, agility,
  dynamism, persistence)
• Credibility as a team member, possibly leader
  (employability)

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The challenge

• How do we construct a programme to develop
  students to meet these tests?
• Note that none of the five areas is best tested
  using a conventional exam!
• How do we organise to deliver LLL as well as
  initial formation? Together or separately?

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The summarySome paths through life!
How much of this do we aspire to deal with?
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and finally

• For an example from the past
• Lets go back to 1882 to meet one of the true
  greats of British Engineering

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Joseph Bazalgette President of the Institution
of Civil Engineers
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Bazalgettes Genius

• By the middle of the 19th century, London was on
  the brink of an environmental catastrophe. 
• The city was growing rapidly in terms of
  population and size, and the old ways of
  supplying water, burying the dead and disposing
  of sewage were rapidly becoming inadequate.
• Little was done until the 'Great Stink' of 1858
  offended Members of Parliament. 
• Over the following seven years, Joseph Bazalgette
  and the Metropolitan Board of Works constructed a
  simple but immense sewage disposal system
• Pumping waste into the Thames far East of London

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Crossness Pumping Station

• Incoming liquid was raised some 30-40 feet by the
  application of four large steam driven pumps
• The single cylinder beam engines were of enormous
  size and power
• They were built by James Watt Co. to Joseph
  Bazalgette's own designs and specification

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Bazalgettes Skills Abilities

• Understood and responded to his social, economic
  and political environment
• Applied his theoretical engineering knowledge and
  ability to solve real problems for the good of
  society
• Improving quality of life and human health
• Laying the foundations for continued economic
  growth
• A true multi-disciplinary engineer
• Trained as a civil engineer but was also an
  accomplished mechanical engineer
• Had a good eye for design
• Engineering works executed with a style and
  panache that goes beyond the strictly functional

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Joseph Bazalgette was a great engineer because he
combined excellent technical ability with a broad
range of personal and professional skills
Will tomorrows engineering graduates be equipped
with the right blend of knowledge, skills and
abilities to become great engineers?
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Incidentally,

• Joseph Bazalgettes great-great-grandson is this
  man

• Successful TV executive who pioneered reality TV
  bringing us such gems as
• Changing Rooms
• Ready Steady Cook
• Ground Force
• Deal or No Deal
• Big Brother

Peter Bazalgette
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IRONY!
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• Enjoy the conference while thinking about the
  future