THE ROLE OF ENGINEERING EDUCATION IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT FOR THE 21 ST CENTURY.doc
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1、THE ROLE OF ENGINEERING EDUCATION IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT FOR THE 21ST CENTURYG. L. OYEKANDEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERINGUNIVERSITY OF LAGOSE-mail: gloyekanABSTRACTEngineering will continue to be critical in the economic and commercial development of any nation as it has been in the past. Innovat
2、ion is needed both for enhanced productivity and the progress of any community anywhere in the world. But the practice of an innovative engineer also requires a high standard of ethics, both moral and professional, which sadly appears to be lacking in Nigeria.This paper examines some of the changes
3、that must be carried out in the Engineering education in Nigeria and the concomitant implications for engineering practice.1. INTRODUCTIONThere is the need for a revolution in the training of engineers in our nation Nigeria as is being done in other parts of the world. This is in consonance with the
4、 demands of a society that seeks engineers with skills in managing people and systems. Engineers have to maintain both a focus on innovative approaches to problems as well as technical competence. Whatever changes are made in tertiary engineering training will certainly have profound implications fo
5、r the future of engineering. This is more so when we remember that we are in the era of sustainable development. Technical innovation will be found to be the ultimate goal of engineering education for sustainable development. In this way innovative thinking, which is the basis of the development of
6、a society, will continue to be an essential component of engineering practice. Engineers and technologists do have a significant role to play in the development of their society and the importance of technical innovation and ethics in modern engineering training practice cannot be overemphasized.A m
7、odern definition of engineering is that it is the art, based primarily on training in mathematics and science, of utilizing economically, the forces and materials of nature for the benefit of mankind. Even a cursory glance at some of the technological achievements of the last century shows how techn
8、ology has changed the living conditions in the world. This process of technological change has continued to gather momentum and the impact is felt in every nation of the world. For example the GSM introduced into the Nigerian market a few years ago has had an unimaginable effect on the lifestyle of
9、the people. It has made communication easier for everybody particularly those in business.2. ENGINEERING EDUCATION AND TRAINING IN NIGERIAFor the engineering profession to be able to make contributions to a nations progress the country must have the human resources, that is manpower with sound educa
10、tion and training in the right quantity. Nigeria with her 45 Federal and State universities and even a larger number of polytechnics should be able to churn out a sizable amount of technical manpower for the engineering profession. The quality of the engineering graduates will necessarily depend on
11、appropriate curriculum, adequate and experienced training staff, good facilities for teaching and the necessary items of equipment particularly in our laboratories. But what we have on the ground leaves a lot to be desired. In most of our universities the facilities are just not there; our laborator
12、ies are ill equipped to give our students the right type of exposure they need. Many of the items of equipment in out laboratories are obsolete and have been begging for replacement for long as the spare parts to repair them are no more available.The author doubts even whether the 45 universities an
13、d several polytechnics can produce enough technical manpower for the engineering profession. UNESCO (4) cites only one scientist or engineer per 10,000 for sub-Saharan Africa compared to one per 200 500 for Japan, Europe and the United States of America. For example, Australia, a country of only 19
14、million people has over 53,000 engineering students enrollment, whereas Nigeria with a population of well over 150 million people can boast at best of engineering students enrollment of perhaps 100,000. There is an urgent need for the NSE and COREN to review our engineering educational training prog
15、rammes. Similar reviews carried out in other nations, notably Australia, showed that the emphasis of the profession had to change.Some of the findings of the reviews carried out in Australia were:1) The present emphasis placed in engineering science resulting in graduates with high technical capabil
16、ity has often acted to limit the appreciation of broader role of engineering professionals. Graduates must understand the social, economic and environmental consequences of the professional activities of the profession if the profession is to fully assume its expanding responsibilities.2) Engineerin
17、g education must become more outward looking, more attainable to the real concerns of communities. Courses should promote environmental, economic and global awareness, problem solving ability, engagement with information technology, self-directed learning and long-life learning, communication, manag
18、ement and team-work skills, but all on a sound base of mathematics and engineering technology.The author feels strongly that we need to carry out our own reviews along the lines stated above. He believes it will be good for the engineering profession in Nigeria.One good outcome of the reviews carrie
19、d out in Australia was an emphasis on 10 generic attributes of engineering graduates. Any Australian Faculty or school must demonstrate that it achieves these attributes in its graduates otherwise its programmes will not be accredited. These attributes are:1) Ability to apply knowledge of basic scie
20、nce and engineering fundamentals.2) Ability to communicate effectively, not only with engineers but also with the community at large.3) In-depth technical competence in at least one engineering discipline.4) Ability to undertake problem identification, formulation and solution.5) Ability to utilize
21、a systems approach to design and operational performance.6) Ability to function effectively as an individual in multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural teams with capacity to be a leader, or a manager as well as an effective team member.7) Understanding of the social, cultural, global, environmental a
22、nd business responsibilities of the professional engineer.8) Understanding of the principles of sustainable design and development.9) Understanding of and a commitment to professional and ethical responsibilities.10) Expectation and capacity to undertake life long learning.Do our graduates in Nigeri
23、a have these attributes? Perhaps they have some of them. As in Australia our universities and polytechnics must endeavour to achieve all these laudable attributes in the graduates they produce every year. Institutions that fail to do so should not have their programmes accredited.There is the need f
24、or engineering education in Nigeria to change its emphasis. This is for a number of reasons. Firstly, communities now want engineers and technologists with skills outside the realm of technical competence. Secondly, engineers and technologists have a wider role to play in the development of their re
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