INTERNATIONAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION DIGEST
1 June 2000
Copyright © 2000 World Expertise LLC – All rights
reserved
A periodic electronic newsletter for engineering education
leaders,
edited by Russel C. Jones, PhD., P.E.
CONTENTS
- New
organization to provide technical advice
- Policy
on ownership of distance education offerings
- ASEE
Prism article on distance education property
- France
plans first Internet university
- Rupert
Murdoch joins universities for distance education
- Wage
disparity for women even in high-tech
- Online
university across international border
- Alan
Greenspan cites needs of college graduates
- IJEE
Special Issue on Accreditation
- Upcoming
conference – SEFI Annual Meeting in Paris
- TechKnowLogia
article on Digital Divide
- Today’s
Engineer article on Assignment Overseas
- Positions
of possible interest
- New
organization to provide technical advice – National Science Academies
from several countries have formed a new organization to provide scientific
and technical advice on pressing international issues, such as food
security, population growth, energy use, and the continued availability of
fresh water. The InterAcademy Council will assemble appropriate groups of
scientists, engineers and medical experts to provide advice to international
bodies such as the World Bank and the United Nations. The new council will
be based at the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. See http://chronicle.com/daily/2000/05/2000051706n.htm
- Policy
on ownership of distance education offerings – The Academic Council at
Duke University has approved a policy that sets rules for faculty member’s
ownership of online courses. The policy attempts to protect against possible
conflicts of interest that could arise from their professors providing
course materials for other institutions. The policy would let faculty
members keep ownership of courses they create as individuals, while
assigning to the University the ownership of any courses created using
substantial Duke resources. Offering an online course outside that would
compete with a Duke course would be seen as a conflict of interest. The
administration is expected to approve the plan, which is to take effect in
July. See http://chronicle.com/free/2000/05/2000052301u.htm
- ASEE
Prism Article on distance education property – For a comprehensive
review of issues and activity on ownership of distance education courses,
see “Whose property it anyway?” by Alvin Sanoff in the May-June 2000
issue of ASEE Prism. The author points out that the explosion in distance
education is raising questions of whether the courses belong to the
professors who develop them, or to their universities. Star faculty members
are positioned to profit handsomely from courses distributed around the
globe by for-profit firms, by their own universities, or even by other
institutions. A number of institutions and higher education organizations
are developing rules designed to address the new realities of the Internet
age. Some analysts expect that universities will have to cut special deals
to keep star faculty members from defecting to other institutions that offer
better deals in this arena. See http://www.asee.org
- France
plans first Internet University – The Prime Minister of France, Lionel
Joplin, has announced plans for the country’s first Internet university,
which will grant graduate engineering degrees in information and
communications technologies. The new institution is to draw on resources
already available in the south of France, including existing universities
and research centers, telecommunications schools, and information technology
businesses. The planned program is in response to concerns about a widening
gap between France and the United States in Internet technology research and
studies. See http://chronicle.com/free/2000/05/2000051702t.htm
- Rupert
Murdoch joins universities for distance education – The giant News
International company of media baron Rupert Murdoch has joined with an 18
member university network, Universitas 21, to begin offering higher
education courses over the Internet. The 18 universities involved are spread
across ten countries in Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America. Mr.
Murdoch announced that the venture would begin offering programs over the
Internet next year, aimed at college graduates who are already working.
Degrees would be awarded by Universitas 21, which is chaired by Alan Gilbert
of the University of Melbourne. See http://chronicle.com/free/2000/05/2000051701u.htm
- Wage
disparity for women even in high-tech – At a White House ceremony in
May, President Clinton announced that the explosion of high-tech jobs has
done little to ease wage disparities between men and women. A report by the
Council of Economic Advisors shows that while employment in certain jobs in
the information technology industry has jumped more than 80% since 1983,
fewer than one in three of the high paying, high tech jobs are filled by
women. In an effort to combat such discrimination, Clinton highlighted a $20
million program in the fiscal 2001 budget for the National Science
Foundation to provide grants to universities to help remove barriers to
career advancement for women scientists and engineers. See http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000512/pl/clinton_wages_3.html
- Online
university across international border – R.M.I.T. University of
Australia will establish a university in Vietnam that will rely extensively
on online technology, both for distance learning and for traditional
classroom instruction. The new university will be built in Ho Chi Minh City,
and is expected to open in 2003. Enrollment is predicted to exceed 10,000
within a decade, with initial courses focused on business and technology.
Many of the courses will be delivered online from Australia. See http://chronicle.com/free/2000/05/2000052401t.htm
- Alan
Greenspan cites needs of college graduates – During a recent speech at
the National Skills Summit, the Federal Reserve Board Chairman asserted that
college graduates need conceptual skills as much as formal degrees. The
workforce increasingly seeks people who can analyze and innovate, according
to Greenspan, due to the rapidity of innovation and the unpredictability of
the directions it may take. “Workers must be equipped not simply with
technical know-how but also with the ability to create, analyze and
transform information and to interact effectively with others. Moreover,
that learning will increasingly be a lifelong activity.” See Higher
Education Technology News, 16 May 2000, http://www.bpinews.com
- IJEE
Special Issue on Accreditation – The International Journal of
Engineering Education has released a Special Issue on Accreditation and
Quality Assurance as Volume 16, Number 2. The issue consists of 11 papers
from 10 countries (Hong Kong, Australia, Canada, the United States, Mexico,
Denmark, Germany, the United Kingdom, Jordan, and India), covering the
current status of quality control of engineering education around the world.
Trends noted in the several papers are: decreased deference on the part of
public officials to the resource needs of higher education; public demands
for accountability; the shrinking globe and permeable political borders; the
requirements of on-the-job training; competition from new educational
institutions both virtual and real; and change as the only global constant.
Four types of strategies are seen as common around the globe: 1) engineering
educators are looking to accreditation as a means of quality assurance; 2)
they are considering outcomes assessment and benchmarking as alternatives;
3) they have begun accepting professional engineers as partners in
engineering education; and 4) they are increasingly looking to accreditation
as a basis for cross-border recognition of graduates. See http://www.ijee.dit.ie
- Upcoming
conference: SEFI Annual Meeting in Paris – The European Society for
Engineering Education (SEFI) will hold its annual meeting in Paris from 6-8
September 2000. The conference theme is “The Many Facets of International
Education of Engineers”, and the main plenary sessions focus on Industry
and Profession Needs, The Thematic Network E4, Towards Culturally Inclusive
Global Engineering, Impact of the Bologna Declaration on Engineering
Education, Enhancing Trans-national Recognition of Engineers, International
Dimensions, and New Engineers in and for a Global Environment. For details
of http://www.sefi.be
- TechKnowLogia
article on Digital Divide – The May/June 2000 issue of the online
journal TechKnowLogia, edited by Wadi Haddad, has an interesting article
entitled “Literacy, Technological Literacy, and the Digital Divide”.
Author Daniel Wagner of the University of Pennsylvania points out that about
one quarter of the world’s adult population is illiterate today – the
majority of them in the poorest half of the world. But he notes a growing
trend in industrialized countries, where up to 25% of adults are considered
to be lacking in the basic skills needed to function effectively in the
workforce – in particular, lacking in knowledge of information and
communications technologies. Wagner goes on to describe some promising
initiatives aimed at bridging the gap in technological literacy, in both the
industrialized portions of the world and in developing countries. See http://www.TechKnowLogia.org
- Today’s
Engineer article on Assignment Overseas – In the 2nd
Quarter 2000 issue of Today’s Engineer, Catherine McGowan explores the
dimensions of overseas assignments for engineers. She points out that the
proliferation of multinational corporations, international mergers, and an
expanding global economy have created work opportunities that take many
engineers off shore for months or years at a time. She warns, however, that
those considering such overseas assignments should carefully weigh all
aspects before accepting them – current career status and potential growth
pattern, determining how marketable potential new knowledge will be, family
considerations, financial arrangements, support from the home office, job
security, etc. See http://www.todaysengineer.org
- Positions
of possible interest – The following positions are advertised in the
May/June 2000 issue of ASEE Prism:
- Dean
of Engineering, Catholic University of America
- Associate
Dean, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Western Michigan
University
- Chair,
Division of Electrical Engineering, Colorado School of Mines
- Head,
School of Civil Engineering, Purdue University
- Chair,
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of
California/Irvine
- Chair,
Department of Civil Engineering, Southern Illinois University/Carbondale
And the following are listed in
the 26 May and 2 June 2000 issues of the Chronicle of Higher Education:
·
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost, University of North
Carolina/Chapel Hill
·
Dean/Information Technology and Director of Computing Resources,
George Mason University, Virginia
·
Provost and Vice Chancellor, University of Wisconsin/Extension
·
Director, Office of Technology Management, Case Western Reserve
University, Ohio
·
Provost, Howard University, Washington DC
See http://chronicle.com
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