12 April 2001
Copyright © 2001 World Expertise LLC – All rights
reserved
A periodic electronic newsletter for engineering education leaders,
edited by Russel C. Jones, PhD., P.E.
International developments
The Japanese Education, Science, and Technology Ministry
has decided to allow universities to grant credit for online courses, according
to an article by Alan Brendler in the Chronicle of Higher Education. In a
country where professors are not accustomed to having one-on-one relations with
students, the Ministry is setting forth specific rules for online courses that
require faculty members to respond to student’s questions by e-mail. The new
standards will allow students to earn credit for both domestic courses and those
from foreign universities. See http://chronicle.com/free/2001/03/2001032901u.htm
Two of the world’s leading business schools – the
Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and INSEAD in France – have
teamed up to offer customized executive education at four campuses on three
continents. According to an article by Katherine Magnan in the Chronicle, new
courses will be jointly developed and aimed at company executives who want to
hone their management skills. Locations for the new program are Philadelphia and
San Francisco in the US, Fontainebleau in France, and Singapore. See http://chronicle.com/daily/2001/03/2001032903n.htm
In Germany, where efforts to reform the hierarchical
university system are underway, the Old Guard has made a major effort to push
back – criticizing the research ministry’s plan to create ‘junior
professors’ and to phase out the Habilitation requirement. According to an
article by Robert Koenig in the 6 April 2001 issue of Science, the Old
Guard has taken out 4-page newspaper ads urging the German Parliament to reject
the proposed reforms. The ad says that the reforms would degrade the quality of
professorships under the guise of promoting more independence for young
researchers. The ad further states that a likely result of the proposed changes
would be pay cuts for young researchers that would drive them into industry or
abroad. Supporters of the plan disagree, and call the professor’s ad
unfortunate and counterproductive. Lobbying is expected to be intense at the
Parliament moves toward a decision later this year. See http://www.sciencemag.org
Russia is to begin trying a new system of state
examinations this year, similar in format to the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT)
used in the US. According to an article in the Chronicle by Bryon
MacWilliams, the new test is aimed at reducing corruption and creating equitable
opportunities to obtain a higher education. The testing, which is the first such
experiment in the country’s history, will start in four republics, and is
aimed at nationwide use in 2004. Under the current admissions system,
high-school graduates travel for testing at the institutions at which they would
like to enroll, with each institution having its own exam and grading system.
Critics say that the current system in subjective and susceptible to corruption,
and that opportunities for study are tilted drastically in favor of students
from well-off families. The exam will eventually cover five areas, with math and
composition mandatory. See http://chronicle.com/daily/2001/04/2001040406n.htm
European governments have been urged to speed the alignment
of higher education systems across the continent in a meeting of education
ministers and senior officials from 32 European countries. According to an
article in the Chronicle by Burton Bollag, the countries are being urged
to make the continent’s highly diverse national education systems more similar
and compatible with one another, for the benefit of students who want to study
across national borders and have credentials that are recognized throughout the
region and abroad. The recent meeting follows up the Bologna declaration signed
two years ago by education officials from 29 countries. Recommendations include
introduction of bachelor’s and master’s degrees in place of the current wide
variety of degrees, a credit hour system to enable students to accumulate credit
at more than one institution, and quality control through accreditation systems.
One goal is to eventually allow European countries to recognize each other’s
degrees. See http://chronicle.com/daily/2001/04/2001040405n.htm
As part of the movement toward harmonizing higher education
in Europe, the European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI) has prepared a
position paper on the Bologna declaration as seen by engineering educators. See http://www.sefi.be/.
SEFI has also developed a position paper relating to the accreditation of
engineering education in Europe, available at the same web site. The
accreditation position includes the following conclusions: the creation of a
European Accreditation Board similar to ABET is neither feasible nor desirable;
a European accreditation should respect the cultural diversity among European
universities; minimum criteria should be defined for long and short cycle
engineering education programs; a European system for accreditation should work
on the basis of cooperation and mutual recognition between existing (or newly
formed) national accreditation authorities; and SEFI should be involved in the
development of such a system.
The University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania is touted as a
model success story in Africa, according to an article by Burton Bollag in the Chronicle.
With meager budgets, sparse libraries, little equipment, and starvation
wages for faculty, higher education is Africa is in a dismal state. But Dar has
succeeded in making significant progress since embarking on an Institutional
Transformation Program in the early 1990’s. It has developed new degree
programs in response to Tanzania’s needs (public health, computer hardware and
software, transportation engineering, …), and has become the best wired
sub-Saharan university outside South Africa. The university has cut costs by
reducing nonacademic staff, and has generated new sources of income by offering
evening degree programs, providing training to companies and government
agencies, and selling computer services. The strategic plan under which the
university is operating aims at producing a ‘job creator’, not a ‘job
seeker’. In the last seven years, Dar has doubled its enrollment to 7000, but
facilities are being strained. Donors appear eager to support a rare African
institution that gives value for money, with about 40% of the current
$28-million annual budget coming from overseas development agencies – mostly
in northern Europe. Four major US foundations recently announced a five-year,
$100-million aid package for African higher education, singling out three
institutions where local efforts have made it likely that external support will
have great impact: Eduardo Mondlane University in Mozambique, Makerere
University in Uganda, and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. See http://chronicle.com/weekly/v47/i30/30a05301.htm
The United
Kingdom has since 1999 spawned ten science centers, fueled by $1.4-billion in
national lottery revenues and matching funds. According to an article by John
Pickrell in the 6 April 2001 issue of Science, another seven such science
centers are scheduled to get started in the next year. The centers have been
created to mark the new Millennium, and are aimed at inner-city renewal as well
as at communicating the world of science and technology to local communities.
Emphasis is on hands-on exhibits, rather than museum collections. After initial
funding from the lottery proceeds, the centers are expected to develop their own
support base. There is concern that all of the centers will not survive, but
hope that most will. See http://www.sciencemag.org
Japan’s government has allocated more that $400-million
in this year’s annual budget for research in nanotechnology, according to an
article in the Chronicle by Michael Chan. Government officials hope to
match American interest in the field, and estimate that the Japanese market for
products developed by nanotechnology could reach $150-billion by 2010.
New laboratories will be established at national universities already
conducting nanotechnology research, including the University of Tokyo, Osaka
University, and Tokyo Institute of Technology. The Mitsubishi Corporation has
already started a $100-million investment fund with the aim of supporting
nanotechnology startups. See http://chronicle.com/daily/2001/04/2001040307n.htm
The idea of a National Missile Defense (NMD) shield has
been percolating in military and defense circles in the US since the late
1950’s. The new US posture on developing such a shield, proposed by the Bush
administration, has sparked fierce global debate. The May 2001 issue of World
Press Review summarizes press articles from around the globe on this timely
topic. The Hindu (India) writes that the proposed shield is a return to
‘fortress America’ , and points out that US allies and other world powers
are expressing concern about its development. Leituvos
rytas (Lithuania) expresses concern
over how NMD development will impact NATO, to which it has been looking for
security in Eastern Europe. The
Australian notes that no country
among America’s allies has given its unqualified support for NMD development.
And the Korea Herald
(South Korea) worries that having the US develop such a system to protect itself
from North Korean missiles will negatively impact other efforts at providing
security on the Korean peninsula. See http://www.worldpress.org
The Computing
Research Association is predicting that colleges may face a shortage of
applicants for faculty positions in computer science and engineering because too
few doctorates are being produced in the field, according to an article by Scott
Carlson in the Chronicle. The
association has released a study indicating that about 880 doctoral degrees in
computer science and engineering were awarded in the US in 2000, the lowest
figure in the past 10 years; down from 950 in 1999, and from a high of more than
1100 in 1992. Universities are having difficulty filling faculty positions in
this field, increasingly having to compete with industry. And many students are
stopping short of doctoral study, finding that high paying jobs are available in
industry without doctoral degrees. The survey showed that while the number of
doctoral degrees declined, bachelor’s and master’s degrees in this field are
booming – with a 20% increase over the past year. The number of bachelor’s
degrees awarded in computer science and engineering has roughly doubled since
1995, to about 16,000 per year. See http://chronicle.com/free/2001/03/2001032701t.htm
The Winter 2000
issue of Engineers contains
statistical information on US engineering degrees for the year 2000. In 2000,
the number of bachelor’s degrees awarded in engineering increased to 63,635, a
1.8% increase after a 19-year low last year. Master’s degrees increased
slightly, by 224 degrees to 30,453, as did doctoral degrees, up 96 to 5,929.
Mechanical engineering continues to be the engineering discipline with the
highest number of new undergraduate degrees, with electrical and electronics
engineering continuing a decade-long decline largely due to the rapid
development of computer engineering as a separate discipline. Women continue to
increase in number of degrees at all three levels, with this year being the
first one where women accounted for more than 20% of bachelor’s degrees
awarded. For more information contact editor@aaes.org
President Bush has
named a venture capitalist to be the co-chairman of his science and technology
advisory panel, but continues to delay the selection of a chief science advisor.
According to an article in the 6 April 2001 issue of Science
by David Malakoff, Floyd Kvamme, a former computer industry executive
and Republican stalwart, will lead the science advisory panel – a volunteer
panel stocked with prominent researchers and industry chiefs whose other
co-chair will be the full-time presidential science advisor. Observers were
puzzled that this appointment was made before the science advisor’s position
was filled . Scientists and college lobbyists are concerned that the absence of
a science advisor during the time when the new administration is setting its
priorities for policy and budgets will have detrimental effects on the
scientific community. See http://www.sciencemag.org
, and a similar article by Ron Southwick in the Chronicle at http://chronicle.com/daily/2001/03/2001033001n.htm
President Bush has
proposed a small cut in research funds for the National Science Foundation in
his 2002 fiscal year budget proposal, and has called for justification of
NSF’s proposed shift to offering larger, longer grants for scientists.
According to an article by Ron Southwick in the Chronicle, the NSF budget
for research would be $3.33-billion, some $16-million less than in 2001. The
overall proposed budget of $4.47-billion for NSF represents a $56-million
increase, a 1.3% increase. College officials and lobbyists were frustrated by
this modest increase, compared with 14% growth in the 2001 fiscal year. In
addition, the Bush administration is considering moving the NSF astronomy
program to NASA. It has asked the National Research Council to evaluate whether
such a transfer would lead to more efficient use of funds and a better
coordinated research effort. See http://chronicle.com/daily/2001/04/2001041004n.htm
The National
Academy of Public Administration has completed a study of the criteria used by
the National Science Foundation in making grant awards, according to an article
by Jeffrey Mervis in the 30 March 2001 issue of Science. NSF changed its
criteria three years ago, going from four criteria (the research’s merit, its
relevance, the investigator’s ability to do the work, and the work’s impact
on the scientific enterprise) to only two (scientific quality and social
impact). The change was intended to give social impact – including such issues
as education and training, diversity, and addressing of national issues – a
more prominent role in assessments. The NAPA study, however, says that most
reviewers do not even bother to rate proposals on their social impact, and it
chides NSF for not doing more to get scientists on board. See http://www.sciencemag.org
Most US adults
believe that international issues will significantly impact their lives and the
lives of today’s youth, and that institutions of higher education must play a
prominent role in preparing citizens to be engaged in international issues.
According to a survey by the American Council on Education: 75% of those
surveyed agreed that students should have a study abroad experience while in
college; 80% agreed that an institution’s international curriculum is an
important factor to consider when choosing a school; 71% agreed that colleges
should require foreign languages; and 53% agreed that it was very important to
know about the cultures and customs of others in order to successfully compete
in a global economy. ACE plans to publish a report on the survey in May. For
more information, see the April 2, 2001 issue of ACE’s “Higher Education and
National Affairs” at http://www.acenet.edu/hena/hena_past_issues.html
College hiring is
expected to increase 23.4 percent, according to an article in the Winter 2000
issue of Engineers. Based
on a survey of employer’s hiring intentions as they relate to new college
graduates, conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, all
regions of the country project healthy hiring increases for new graduates –
with nearly 19% of the job offers going to new graduates. At the bachelor’s
level, competition will be greatest for candidates with technology related
degrees and business degrees. Other findings of the survey are: employers expect
starting salaries to increase an average 5.5%; communications skills top the
list of desired traits, with integrity, teamwork, interpersonal skills,
motivation, and a strong work ethic following; and employers report that an
average of 25.3% of 2000 graduates came from their internship programs. For more
information, contact editor@aaes.org
Perhaps in
contradiction to the above article, or at least segmenting the demand
discussions, an article by Carrie Johnson in the 2 April 2001 Washington
Post states that the technology sector is cutting back its demand for
workers. Based on a survey conducted by the Information Technology Association
of America, the slowing economy and a surge of entry-level workers into the
industry has decreased demand for tech-savvy employees by 44% in the past year.
Large employers across the country plan to hire 900,000 technical workers in
2001, compared with 1.6-million last year. See http://www.washingtonpost.com
The Franklin W.
Olin College of Engineering, a new institution backed by funding of
$500-million, is recruiting students to help faculty and staff members
‘invent’ the new college over the next academic year. According to an
article by Katherine Mangan in the Chronicle,
some 15 women and 15 men have been
selected as “Olin Partners” to begin creating their future institution. They
will officially be freshmen in the fall of 2002. The new engineering college
hopes to create a new type of program – one in which the students work in
teams, do more hands-on projects, and have a better grounding in business and
communications. The initial batch of students will not receive academic credit
for the first year, but will be working closely with faculty and staff members
as consultants. The college, which will open in 2002 with 75 students and 6
faculty members, hopes to grow in about six years to about 650 students and 65
faculty members. See http://chronicle.com/weekly/v47/i31/31a05001.htm
MIT has announced
that it will go ahead with a plan to make instructional materials for all of its
courses available on the web, free. According to an article in the Chronicle
by Sarah Carr, the project will cost an estimated $100-million. The web
posting is described as a window on MIT, but not an active window – it will
not be distance education. The web pages are to include course notes, homework
assignments, syllabuses, and reading lists. The plan will take about ten years
to put in place, with materials from some 2000 courses eventually posted. See http://chronicle.com/free/2001/04/2001040501u.htm
Some US suburban
students ranked among the best in the world in the Third International Math and
Science Survey (Timss), while those in urban school districts scored at the
bottom of the list. According to an article by June Kronholz in the 5 April 2001
Wall Street Journal, the
1999 administration of the test showed US student performance improved over the
previous exam in 1995, but some high scoring countries in 1995 did not
participate in 1999. Detailed results of the 1999 tests were recently released,
showing the disparity of results between high quality suburban schools and
inner-city districts. See http://www.wsj.com
The results of the
National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) sampling of student progress
in reading indicate that average scores of fourth-graders have not risen in the
past eight years, and that scores for the worst readers have dropped
significantly. An article in the 9 April 2001 Wall Street Journal reports
that some 27% of fourth graders essentially could not read – with 63% of black
students and 58% of Hispanics in that category. The gap between the best and
worst readers widened significantly. These results will fuel debate in the
Congress, where Democrats argue for huge increases in the education budget,
while Republicans contend that education-reform measure and not more money are
the answer. See http://www.wsj.com
US News and World Report has released its annual
graduate school rankings. According to an article by Alison Schneider in the Chronicle,
there are relatively few changes at the top. The biggest shifts were in
business schools, with Stanford moving past Harvard to be listed as #1, and
Northwestern moving up past Penn. In engineering the top three schools in 1999
– MIT, Stanford, and the University of California at Berkeley – retained
their positions. Administrators and academics criticize the US News rankings
as unreliable and superficial. See http://chronicle.com/daily/2001/04/2001040204n.htm
for the story, and http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/beyond/bchome.htm
for the rankings.
A new Federal government report says that American colleges
that seek to provide higher education abroad are faced with red tape,
contradictory regulations, and difficult requirements – in addition to
outright legal barriers. According to an article by Burton Bollag in the Chronicle,
though, there are greater than expected opportunities for American
institutions abroad as countries allow joint ventures in education and training
with local partners. Some countries prohibit education in languages other than
their native tongue. See http://chronicle.com/daily/2001/04/2001040509n.htm
for the article, and http://chronicle.com/weekly/documents/v47/i31/4731international.htm
for the report.
A Joint Task Force on Computer Curricula 2001, formed by
the Association for Computing Machinery and the Computer Society of IEEE, has
developed new guidelines for undergraduate programs in computing, The final task
force report is scheduled for release in the summer of 2001, but a draft may be
reviewed now at http://computer.org/education/cc2001/ironman/cc2001/index.html
A Federal government plan to collect new fees from foreign
students, which would finance a program to monitor students from other
countries, is being opposed by college lobbyists. According to an article by Ron
Southwick in the Chronicle, college officials argue that such fees could
hurt enrollments of international students and be an unfair hardship on those
from the poorest countries. The fee proposed by the Immigration and
Naturalization Service is a one-time $95. The fee will support a databank to
keep track of the addresses and academic status of all foreign students in the
US. Students would be required to pay over the Internet using a credit card or
send a check or money order drawn on an American bank – a collection system
which college lobbyists say would be very difficult for many foreign students.
If the rule takes effect this spring, it could keep many students from starting
classes in the fall, given the times required to make payments, get receipts,
then apply for visas. See http://chronicle.com/daily/2001/04/2001040605n.htm
Students are going deeper into debt each year to pay for college, and most of them do not realize how much they owe until after they graduate. According to an article by Stephen Burd in the Chronicle, a report issued by the State Public Interest Research Groups’ Higher Education Project cautions lawmakers to be wary of proposals to increase the size of loans that students are allowed to borrow. Currently, students in college for five years can take up to $22,625 in federal loans. Students saddled with large debts may think twice about public service careers or have to postpone buying their first home. See http://chronicle.com/daily/2001/03/2001032802n.htm
Long ignored by South Korea’s educational system, women
are benefiting from online instruction. According to an article in the Chronicle
by David Cohen, Ewha Womans University currently offers 152 full-credit
virtual courses to 8799 female students dispersed within South Korea. One result
is a growing number of women in academic positions
-- now 16% (compared to 36% in the US). See http://chronicle.com/free/v47/i30/30a04101.htm
A nonprofit organization in Detroit, Focus:HOPE, gives
disadvantaged students opportunities to pursue higher education in fields such
as engineering. According to an article by Rachel Davis in Engineering Times,
Focus:HOPE has partnered with several universities, NSF, SME and large
corporations to establish a Center for Advanced Technologies, which exposes
students to a blend of hands-on training and classroom education to get them
moving toward technical degrees. See http://www.nspe.org
for the article, or http://www.focushope.edu
for more information on the program.
The number of students from underrepresented minority groups being admitted to the University of California has risen 17% this year, apparently driven by a new policy that guarantees admissions to the top 4% of the graduates of each state high school. According to an article by Peter Schmidt in the Chronicle, overall minority enrollments have risen each year since 1998, along with the state’s minority population. But the number of minority students at the most competitive campuses, Berkeley and Los Angeles, continues to lag well below 1997 levels. See http://chronicle.com/daily/2001/04/2001040505n.htm
Assessment is taking center stage as online educators
experiment with new ways of teaching and need to prove that they are teaching
effectively, according to an article in the Chronicle by Dan Carnevale.
Education researchers note that distance educators are in the early stages of
assessment, proving that they can actually assess anything. One major difference
between assessment in classrooms and in distance education is that distance
education courses are largely geared toward students already in the workforce,
and their courses often involve learning by doing. So in many of the distance
programs, students complete projects to show they not only understand what they
have learned but also can apply it – a focus of many assessment techniques.
All of higher education is moving toward outcomes-based assessment, with online
education leading the way. See http://chronicle.com/free/v47/i31/31a04301.htm
Academics are finding that publishing a Web log is a good
way to share aspects of their research with a broader audience. According to an
article by Jeffrey Young in the Chronicle, Web logs are sites that
deliver frequently updated annotated links on a given subject. A number of free
software tools, like Manila and Blogger, are available to help make it easier to
publish a daily Web page. Several Web logs focus on distance education and
instructional technology. See http://chronicle.com/free/2001/04/2001040301u.htm
Recent articles in the Chronicle by Jessica Ludwig
highlight interesting distance education courses. “Global Seminar: Environment
and Sustainable Food Systems” is being offered from Cornell University and has
institutions in India, Costa Rica, the Netherlands, Sweden, Australia, and
Honduras offering it to students. See http://chronicle.com/free/2001/03/2001032801u.htm
. “Environmental Ethics” is being offered by Loyola University Chicago via
the Web, and includes a two-week trip to East Africa. See http://chronicle.com/free/2001/04/2001041101u.htm
The University of Alaska system is working to overcome its geographical limits via distance education, according to an article in the Chronicle by Dan Carnevale. The state’s physical size and population dispersal create problems that limit accessibility to education. The system has hired instructional designers and other technical support people to help faculty develop online courses, using limited state funding. With few students having access to the Internet, the Alaska system relies heavily on older technology such a telephones and faxes. See http://chronicle.com/free/2001/04/2001040601u.htm
Linux, the free
operating system developed by Finland’s Linus Torvalds, has been organically
grown by thousands of programmers around the globe. According to an article in
the 9 April 2001 Wall Street Journal, a maturing Linux is now starting to
be used to run business functions by major companies such as Royal Dutch/Shell,
Amerada Hess, and Home Depot. Linux is a variant of the popular Unix operating
system, and it is gaining market share – 27% of operating system software for
computer servers sold last year, up from 17% in 1998. The other industry leader,
Microsoft Windows 2000, captured a 41% share last year, up from 38% the year
before. While it can no longer be dismissed as a fad, Linux still has not made
much headway on corporate desktops – where Microsoft dominates. Corporate
programmers like Linux because they are free to change it for their own
purposes. See http://www.wsj.com
The Oberlin
Review, a student newspaper,
has been available on the Web since 1996.
Last month its editors began making the weekly paper available to users
of handheld computers and personal digital assistants – perhaps the first
student newspaper downloadable in this way. To save memory space, the photos and
graphics are removed. Some 20 to 25 percent of Oberlin students use handheld
devices, and many have commented positively about having the Review available
for them. See http://chronicle.com/free/2001/04/2001040201t.thm
Oscars for
technical achievement are not awarded every year, and they have never been
awarded for computer science – until this year. According to the cover story
in the April 2001 issue of IEEE Spectrum, three computer scientists from
Pixar Animation Studios received an Oscar last month for their significant
contributions to the field of motion picture rendering. Their computer graphics
software package allows seamless integration of multi-element computer-generated
scenes into other footage. It has been used in such films as “Toy Story”,
“Jurassic Park”, and “Gladiator”. The software, called Render Man, has
been used in 8 of the last 10 films awarded Oscars for best visual effects. See http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/WEBONLY/publicfeature/apr01/osc.html
Numerous university
presses are making use of the latest printing technology – “print on
demand” – to breathe new life into hundreds of out of print books, according
to an article in the Chronicle by Niko Pfund and Michael Groseth.
Already, thousands of titles are available to readers whose interest would
previously gone unfulfilled. Print on demand books are not e-books, that are
published solely on line. They are not put on Web sites, are not downloadable,
and thus cannot be pirated. They are rather books that have been printed in
response to a specific demand, rather than printed by the thousands. See http://chronicle.com/free/v47/i29/29b00701.htm
As demand for
communication convenience continues to skyrocket, the wireless communication
industry is investing billions of dollars in new equipment. According to an
article by Deborah Shapley in the April 2001 Technology Review, mobile
phone sales worldwide exploded from seven million in 1990 to 700-million in
2000, and are expected to reach two billion by 2005. The challenges for wireless
communication providers range from transmission incompatibility to obsolete
equipment. US wireless operators use three different standards, only one of
which is compatible with the leading European standard, and many Asian networks
use yet a different standard. A technology that could make wireless upgrades
more flexible and cost effective, software-defined radio shifts, is being
pursued by wireless industry leaders. First used in the military, this
technology shifts the bulk of the workload from hardware components to software
components that can be reprogrammed and applied to different standards. See http://www.technologyreview.com
According to a
report by Dun & Bradstreet, American colleges will spend 13% more on
information technology this year that they did last year. The report, covered in
the Chronicle by
Florence Olsen, projects expenditures for administrative software to be up by
24%, and costs of the hardware to run it to be up by 18%. With outside service
costs included, colleges’ total spending on information technology could reach
$4.4-billion in the current academic year. The study found that 5% of colleges
require students to have computers, an increase of only 1% from last year. The
number of colleges offering Internet access to their libraries reached 100% this
year, and distance education programs were in place at two-thirds of all
colleges. See http://chronicle.com/free/2001/04/2001040401.htm
The
International Journal of Engineering Education has issued a special issue on Virtual Universities in Engineering
Education, compiled by guest editors Freimut Bodendorf and Philip Swain. Volume
17 Number 2 of the Journal contains twelve timely papers on virtual
universities in engineering education, and how they operate. See http://www.ijee.dit.ie
The annual
Assessment Conference of the American Association for Higher Education will be
held from 23-27 June 2001 in Denver, Colorado. Theme tracks include:
articulation of expectations; qualitative and quantitative methods; models of
collaboration; and accreditors’ expectations. See http://www.aahe.org
The International
Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experience (IASTE) will
hold a conference at UNESCO in Paris at the end of November 2001. Topics will
include: pedagogical aspects of internships abroad; organization of internships
abroad; preparing and recruiting students for internships abroad; and linking
university with industry. See http://www/iaste.org
From the 6 April
2001 Chronicle of Higher Education:
Ø
Dean, Engineering and
Applied Science, UCLA, CA
Ø
Dean, Engineering and
Computer Science, Oakland University, MI
Ø
Mechanical Engineering
Faculty, University of West Indies
Ø
Provost. University of
Alaska – Anchorage
Ø
Dean of Academic Affairs,
DeVry Institute of Technology. CA
Ø
VPAA, University of
Colorado – Boulder
Ø
President, Board of
Regents, Oklahoma Colleges
And from the 13
April 2001 Chronicle:
Ø
Visiting faculty
positions, Technical University, Hamburg. Germany
Ø
Dean, Computer
Engineering, University of Missouri – Kansas City
Ø
Provost, Dartmouth
College, NH
Ø
Interim President (3
years), Bermuda College, Bermuda
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