Copyright © 2003 World Expertise LLC – All rights reserved
A periodic electronic newsletter for engineering education leaders,
edited by Russel C. Jones, Ph.D., P.E., with Bethany S. Oberst, Ph.D.
1.
2.
Rebuilding higher education in
3.
4.
Brain drain in
5.
6.
Dual education system in
7.
Women inducted into academies
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
Pentagon plans research facility
closings
13.
14.
Information was key to
15.
Visa abuse criticized
16.
Congress considers requiring more
university accountability
17.
Special visas allow low cost
employees
18.
States fight flow of jobs to
overseas
19.
Distance education reviewed
20.
C-Span to use Internet2
21.
Future of college libraries
22.
Course management software survey
23.
24.
Underproduction of engineer and
scientists
25.
ASCE proposes ‘raise the bar’
26.
President inaugurated at new
engineering college
27.
ACT report cites slump in interest
in engineering
28.
Professional school salaries
compared
29.
Foreign students see tighter
immigration enforcement
30.
Foreign nationals dominate
Journals
31.
International Journal of
Engineering Education
32.
Journal of Professional Issues in
Engineering Education and Practice
____________________________________________________________
1)
2) The
3)
4) Reviving Russian
science is the subject of an article from the Russian literary weekly Literaturnaya
Gazeta, as reprinted in the July
2003 World Press Review. The
Russian Ministry of Education and its
5) In the past two years
6) Francis X. Rocca, writing from Nicosia for the Chronicle of Higher Education, has prepared a lengthy article on the dual systems of higher education in Cyprus, explaining the historical background which created the ethnic fault lines that separate the Turkish and Greek universities in that country. Most recently, the government of the Turkish sector began permitting people to cross over the buffer zone (or Green Line) between the two territories. Besides permitting hundreds of thousands of people to move freely north and south, this change is seen to offer a slight glimmer of hope that one day the two university systems of the island will draw together, despite the hatred, violence and discrimination which have marked their relationship to this day. (See http://chronicle.com/weekly/v49/i39/39a04001.htm)
7) A record nine
women are among the 42 new fellows elected to the UK’s Royal Society this
year, according to a note by Yudhijit Bhattacharjee in the May 21st Science.
This follows the recent announcement from the US National Academy of
Sciences that 17 of its annual class of 72 fellows are women. Women now make up
4.4% of the Royal Society’s total membership of 1290, and 7.7% of NAS’s 2015
members. (See http://www.sciencemag.org)
8) Universities under the control of
9) Texas A&M University (USA) recently signed an agreement with the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development to design an undergraduate engineering program in that country. This move follows the lead of Virginia Commonwealth University and Cornell University, both of which have established academic programs in the new “education city” being built in Qatar, according to Katherine S. Mangan writing for the Chronicle of Higher Education. All classes will be taught in English, quality assurance will be provided by Texas A&M, and 50 students will be admitted each year for the first five years. (See http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/05/2003052707n.htm)
10)
11) The title of the article provides a summary:
“Earthquake and Civil War: Trials of the
12) Pentagon
planners aim to close up to 25% of military facilities over the next three
years, according to an article by David Malakoff in the May 30th
issue of Science. They are taking an especially hard look at the
sprawling network of defense R&D labs. The goal is to free up billions of
dollars for other uses, from new weapons systems to higher pay for the military.
Four previous post-Cold War downsizings have already axed some 400 facilities,
including about 60 research and engineering centers, and some 30,000 technical
workers. Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld predicts that this round of base
realignments and closings could be as big as all the prior rounds combined. The
80 research-related facilities, which will spend more than $5-billion this year,
are prime targets. Many members of congress are fighting this round of changes,
however, trying to protect their districts from potentially huge economic
losses. (See http://www.sciencemag.org)
13) The
administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency, Christine Todd Whitman,
has resigned, as described by Erik Stokstad in the May 30th Science.
While getting high marks for EPA science during her tenure, she has been heavily
criticized by environmentalists who claim that under her tenure the agency has
caved in to industry interests by weakening environmental laws and regulations.
During her 2.5-year tenure at EPA, she is credited by observers as having
strengthened research and boosted its role in decision-making. (See http://www.sciencemag.org)
14) Information was
key to an efficient US-Anglo military victory in
15) As jobs dry up
in the
16) The
17) The use of
special visas to allow import of foreign technical workers is being challenged,
according to Katie Hafner and Daniel Preysman writing in the May 29th
New York Times. With the economy in a slump, American technology workers
are expressing concern that their jobs are going not only to lower-cost foreign
workers abroad, but also increasingly to workers who enter the
18) Alarmed by jobs
flowing overseas where skilled workers are cheaper, state lawmakers and labor
unions are fighting back. According to an article in the June 3rd Wall
Street Journal by Michael Schroeder, legislation aimed at keeping jobs in
the US is pending in at least five states – New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland,
Missouri and Washington. The bills employ a variety of methods, including
blocking companies from using workers on state contracts and requiring foreign
call-center employees to identify where they are located. On Capital Hill,
unions are urging Congress to ask the General Accounting Office to study the
trend’s
19) The Chronicle of Higher Education published a long article on distance education, featuring information from both for-profit and nonprofit organizations. Although the current economic downturn in the US appears to make these relatively new programs more vulnerable than other, more established ones, that fear is allayed by the solid, even impressive growth that has occurred in distance education over the past several years for those organizations that took the trouble to plan and implement carefully. Some of the “rules” which seem to have emerged are that marketing, playing to an institution’s established strengths, quality control, ease of operation, and career focus are essential for a distance education program to be successful. Web-based education is gaining a foothold in traditional institutions, such as Virginia Tech, where students take on-line courses to supplement their regular on campus schedule. While traditional universities appear to have recovered from the ill-founded belief that they would make a fortune from distance education, some for-profit institutions are, in fact, thriving in a business sense. Dan Carnevale and Florence Olsen wrote this report. (See http://chronicle.com/weekly/v49/i40/40a03101.htm)
20) According to
21) What will college libraries be in 2012? Fairleigh Dickinson University (USA) and the New Jersey Association of College and Research Libraries received about a dozen responses to this question when they held an essay contest. Technology was clearly on the minds of most of the writers, as they riffed on images of librarians equipped with virtual reality helmets, and working, not in buildings, but in a cyber-space of information. Technology was too much on the minds of the essayists, according to some critics, who do not share a vision of a future without library buildings, and without the librarian working face to face with individual students, handling print material, and defending free access to information. Scott Carlson wrote this article for the Chronicle of Higher Education. (See http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/06/2003060602t.htm)
22) Course-management software has become a familiar tool
in
23)
Students, faculty,
education
24) A new report by
the US National Science Board says that the federal government needs to take
action on several fronts to guarantee an adequate supply of US scientific and
engineering workers, according to an article in the May 30th Science
by Jeffrey Mervis. The report calls for a variety of efforts, including
better pay for public school math and science teachers, increased funding for
basic research, and better efforts by universities to bolster retention rates
among undergraduates who declare an interest in science and engineering degrees.
NSF Director Rita Collwell notes that we have become too dependent on the global
workforce, and need to make the most of homegrown talent. The report, three
years in development, is still in draft form – at www.nsf.gov/nsb.
It avoids controversial terms like “shortfall”, opting for
“underproduction” and “underused resources” instead. See (http://www.sciencemag.org)
25) The American
Society of Civil Engineers is proposing to ‘raise the bar’ for engineering
practice by requiring a master’s degree or equivalent as a prerequisite for
licensure and practice of civil engineering at a professional level. In a
“Viewpoint” column in the June 2003 Engineering Times, ASCE president
Thomas Jackson describes how the practice of engineering has changed, with the
risks and challenges to public health, safety and welfare increasing in
complexity. ASCE has adopted a policy statement on increasing the requirements
for professional practice, and it is also working on defining the ‘body of
knowledge’ for the civil engineer of the future. (See http://www.nspe.org)
26) Franklin W.
Olin College, the new engineering school in formation in
27) A new report
from the ACT Office of Policy Research states that the US position as a world
engineering leader is threatened by a dwindling number of qualified engineering
students, according to an article in the June 2003 Engineering Times. The
report, “Maintaining a Strong Engineering Workforce”, cites a 12-year slump
in the number of high school graduates who want to study engineering – plus a
drop in their levels of preparation and achievement. Analyzing research numbers
over the last decade, the report says that 0nly 6% of seniors taking the ACT
indicated plans to study engineering, compared to 9% in 1992. One conclusion of
the report is that better preparation and recruitment of females and minorities
will be key to ensuring engineering’s future. The report can be seen at http://www.act.org/research/policy/pdf/engineer.pdf
and the article at http://www.nspe.org
28) The Chronicle of Higher Education recently published an article by Katherine S. Mangan on salary differentials between faculty in US professional schools and those who teach in other units. (See http://chronicle/com/free/v49/i38/38a01001.htm) A quick look at the report issued recently by the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources gives readers a chance to gain some insight into the issue. Excluding medicine, the average 9 – 10 month faculty salaries at public four-year institutions in 2002-2003 include: law ($106,748), finance ($87,699), civil engineering ($78,516), English composition ($48,506).
29)
Foreign students in the
30) Foreign
nationals continue to dominate enrollments in engineering degree programs,
according to a note by Sharon Richardson in the June 2003 IEEE-USA News and
Views. Master’s and doctoral degrees awarded to US citizens in engineering
have been declining since the mid-1990’s. Enrollment data indicate that this
degree trend will be maintained in the current decade as well. The number of
foreign nationals receiving bachelor’s degrees in engineering from US
universities has been relatively constant over the past two decades. (See http://www.ieeeusa.org)
31) The International
Journal of Engineering Education has issued Volume 19, Number 2, 2003,
containing twelve major papers. Topics include engineering faculty development,
academic leadership strategies, teaching creativity, and virtual teams for
engineering design. (See http://www.ijee.dit.ie)
32) The April 2003 Journal
of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice contains eleven
papers in four categories – teaching lessons learned, ethics cases in
professional practice, legal affairs, and technical papers. One timely paper
discusses engineering and the threat of terrorism. (See http://www.asce.org)
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