INTERNATIONAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION DIGEST

3 February 2003

Copyright © 2003 World Expertise LLC – All rights reserved

A periodic electronic newsletter for engineering education leaders,

edited by Russel C. Jones, PhD., P.E.

CONTENTS

International developments

1. British to raise tuition costs
2. Columbia gets World Bank funds
3. Three elite fellowship programs
4. Japanese budget favors research
5. EU court disallows faculty slots for women
6. India maps technology future
7. Malaysia opens education to Chinese minority

U.S. developments

8. Bush administration opposes affirmative action
9. Foreign researchers find US entry difficult
10. Students demonstrate against war
11. Scientists to self-censor data
12. State Department gets S&T advice
13. FBI recruiting campus police re antiterrorism
14. Academic freedom supported by AAU
15. INS puts student tracking on line
16. New engineering school described
17. Venture capital funds diminished
18. Engineers Week proclamation

Distance education, technology

19. Fathom consortium closing
20. Open University tries again
21. Army expands eArmyU
22. Employers question online degrees
23. Software for archiving scholarly work
24. Cybersecurity research needs
25. Internet restrictions growing
26. High speed wireless network at West Point
27. Encryption for e-mails at Colorado
28. Protection for portable PCs

  Students, Faculty, Education

29. Engineering as “Technoscience”
30. Students shun S&T studies
31. Affirmative action at US military academies
32. Minorities decline under Texas plan
33. AAUP report on minorities in education
34. ASCE pushes for master’s degree for entry to profession
35. Business colleges debate ethics courses
36. Survey shows freshmen more interested in politics
37. Early admissions give way to letters hinting admission
38. Lower income families lack financial aid information
39. US universities urged to seek more foreign students
40. Engineer lights up the world

  Journals

41. International Journal of Engineering Education
42. ASEE Journal of Engineering Education
43. SEFI European Journal of Engineering Education
44. TechKnowLogia

  Meetings

45. Ibero-American Summit on Engineering Education in Brazil
46. Engineering Conferences International seminar on Entrepreneurship
47. ASEE/SEFI Berlin conference report

  International developments

1) The British Government has announced a controversial plan which will raise tuition across England ’s financially pressed university system to nearly triple previous levels – up to £ 3000 a year. According to an article by Patrick Wintour in The Guardian, however, the bulk of the payments will be deferred until after graduation, thus reducing the danger of deterring potential students and ensuring that the cost will not count against student loans. Universities will also have the option of introducing differential ‘top-up’ fees if they introduce a package to help students from low-income families. University Vice-Chancellors cautiously support the plan, while student groups condemn it. The government proposal must still be presented as legislation in Parliament. See http://education.guardian.co.uk/specialreports/tuitionfees/story/0,5500,872046,00.html

2) According to Michael Easterbrook of the Chronicle of Higher Education, Colombia has received a $200 million loan from the World Bank, earmarked for increasing the number of low-income students who enroll in universities and providing research funds to entice faculty to remain in Colombia .  While 31 % of students in other Latin American countries attend university, in Colombia that number is only 21 percent. According to a Colombian government official, this loan will permit the expansion of higher education and support development efforts in Colombia . See http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/01/2003011404n.htm

3) The intellectual legacy of a British imperialist, Cecil Rhodes, is embodied in three elite fellowship programs – the Rhodes scholarships at the University of Oxford , and two newcomers: the Ford Foundation International Fellowship Program and The Gates Cambridge Scholarship Program. According to a major article in the Chronicle by Francis Rocca, Rhodes’ vision was that a few years of extra education at a premier university would help shape an elite group of students into world leaders who could make it into a more peaceful, better place. His scholarship program has served as a model for many others, including Marshall and Fullbright scholarships. But today, the three wealthiest fellowship programs – Rhodes, Ford and Gates – are the most prestigious. They reflect and shape larger educational trends as they change how future leaders are molded, and how academic excellence is defined. See http://chronicle.com/weekly/v49/i18/18a03401.htm

4) Japan ’s scientific community has fared well in a tight budget, according to an article in the January 3^rd issue of Science by Dennis Normile. Despite belt tightening that will hold total growth in government spending to 0.7% in the upcoming fiscal year, the administration’s budget proposes a 3.9% raise for science – to $10.3-billion. In addition, substantial funding is allocated for the upgrading of research facilities. Particularly notable increases are planned for competitive grant programs and for large-scale physics projects. The government has indicated that priority is being given to science and technology because it is expected to help revitalize the economy. See http://www.sciencemag.org

5) A special European court has ruled that it is illegal for the University of Oslo to reserve some faculty jobs for women, according to an article in the Chronicle by Burton Bollag. The case grew out of a government-supported decision by the university in 2000 to reserve 12 posts of full or associate professor for female candidates – three during each of the four years from 2001 to 2004. The posts were aimed at disciplines where there were few women professors but for which strong female candidates were available. Women currently account for 19% of 1300 full professors at the institution. But the European Free Trade Association Court , in Luxembourg , rejected the means that Norway chose to try to correct the imbalance. It ruled that the approach planned violated ‘the principle of equal treatment for men and women as regards access to employment”. Norwegian officials said they would respect the court’s ruling, but expressed disappointment. See http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/01/2003012906n.htm

6) The Indian Prime Minister has laid out a new road map for science and technology that would double the country’s spending on research over five years, improve training, and streamline bureaucracy. According to a note in the January 10^th Science by Pallava Bagla, he is proposing a ‘new funding mechanism for basic research’ that observers likened to the U.S. National Science Foundation. The Prime Minister called on universities to reduce the growing number of advanced degrees of ‘indifferent quality’ being awarded, and to resist becoming afflicted with the bureaucratic culture of Indian government agencies. He also urged industry to increase its support for research. See http://www.sciencemag.org

7) In a landmark policy shift, Malaysia ’s government has said that it will end its 31-year-old use of a quota system that has limited the enrollment of Chinese Malaysians at the country’s best universities. According to an article by David Cohen in the Chronicle, the previous policy was established in the 1970’s to help members of the country’s ethnic majority to gain economically – resulting in as many as three-quarters of places reserved for Malay candidates, regardless of their qualifications. The practice has driven many Chinese Malaysians to study abroad rather than face discrimination at home; last year 7795 were enrolled in American colleges. Under the new system, Malaysian colleges will accept students solely on the basis of merit, as determined by scores on national tests. See http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/01/2003012907n.htm

U.S. developments  

8) The Bush administration has taken an extremely narrow view of when colleges should be able to consider race in admissions in its briefs urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the University of Michigan ’s affirmative-action policies, according to a series of articles by Peter Schmidt in the Chronicle. In remarks delivered to the White House Press Corps, Mr. Bush denounced the Michigan admissions policies as ‘fundamentally flawed’ and argued that they ‘are divisive, unfair, and impossible to square with the Constitution’. But the administration stopped short of asking the Supreme Court to declare that colleges should never consider race as a factor in selecting students, and did not ask the court to explicitly reject the rationale for race-conscious admissions policies that was put forward in its 1978 decision in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke. In that landmark case, the Court held that colleges may consider race in admissions for the sake of diversity, as long as they do not use quotas. The administration’s brief was among several submitted to the Court as it begins to consider the Michigan case. See http://chronicle.com/weekly/v49/i20/20a02001.htm

9) Foreign scientists wanting to enter the U.S. as visiting researchers are being stranded by the war on terror, according to an article in the January 20^th issue of the Wall Street Journal. Scientists who once easily obtained visas are now shut out of America in the aftermath of September11, with their applications stuck in limbo or turned down outright. The State Department, which issues 7 million visas a year, will not comment on the size of its backlog of applications, although technology-industry officials who attended a briefing last fall say that the backlog was 25,000 cases at that point. See http://www.wsj.com 

10) Megan Rooney of the Chronicle of Higher Education reported on the demonstrations in Washington , D.C. the weekend of January 18 –19, protesting the possible war against Iraq .  Some of the protesters were opposed to any form of war.  They noted that political activism on their home campuses was low, with many feeling that they could not influence the course of events.  Other demonstrations were held in San Francisco , and a national meeting is scheduled for Chicago at the end of February.  See http://chronicle/com/daily/2003/01/2003012002n.htm 

11) Researchers at a recent meeting of U.S. biochemists were told to self-censor sensitive data before the government does it to them, according to an article in the January 17^TH Science by David Malakoff. Researchers and government officials are currently debating what kinds of research findings should not be published, in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the U.S. The editors of major scientific journals are already giving special scrutiny to papers that raise security concerns. It is not clear whether such measures will satisfy government concerns, or whether additional government rules are likely. See http://www.sciencemag.org

12) Science and Technology in U.S. foreign policy is discussed in an article by Norman Neureiter in the Winter 2002-03 Issues in Science and Technology. Neureiter is science and technology advisor to the U.S. Secretary of State, a position established at the end of the Clinton administration. He writes that objective advice and increased engagement from scientists and engineers can advance global peace and sustainable economic development. He also argues that the S&T community needs to work with government officials to help achieve a balance between security and openness. See http://www.nap.edu/issues 

13) The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is tapping campus police to aid in its anti-terror operations, according to an article by Dan Eggen in the January 25^th Washington Post. The enlisting of campus police officers to work in the domestic war on terror is renewing fears among some faculty and student groups of overzealous FBI spying at colleges and universities that led to scandals in past decades. Collegiate police officers on at least a dozen campuses have been included by the FBI as members of local Joint Terrorism Task Forces, the regional entities that oversee counterterrorism investigations nationwide. The FBI argues that such involvement of campus officers is needed to keep better tabs on the more than 200,000 foreign nationals studying in the Unites States. See http://www.washingtonpost.com 

14) Faced with serious preparations for war in the US , the Association of American Universities released a statement advocating continued support for academic freedom.  Nils Hasselmo, president of the AAU, a group of leading US research universities, says that politicians frequently put pressure on universities to control those who speak out against government actions.  It is important that colleges and universities remain places where debate and discussion can take place, says writer Dan Carnevale for the Chronicle of Higher Education.  See http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/01/2003012003n.htm

15) The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) is moving to plug leaks in its student visa tracking system, according to an article by Cheryl Thompson et al in the January 30^th Washington Post. The INS has just fired up its new $37-million computer-based tracking system: the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS). The system is designed to keep up-to-date records on when foreign students arrive, what they study, where they live, and when they leave. Universities have expressed concern that SEVIS was rushed into service with little testing, and has serious glitches. Critics of the INS express concern that there is little enforcement to assure that students do not just drift away from their studies and join the 7 to 8 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. The INS hopes that with the additional information on file about students, enforcement will be better than for illegal immigrants who just walk in across a border. See http://www.washingtonpost.com 

16) The newest engineering school in the U.S. , the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, is described in an article by Alvin Sanoff in the January 2003 issue of ASEE Prism. Olin college is described as a different kind of engineering school, with a mission of taking very bright young people and preparing them for any career. With an initial class of 75 students – including 37 women – the campus is still relatively uninhabited. But the students are enjoying their status as pioneers in a grand experiment in engineering education. See http://www.asee.org/prism

17) Universities are declining as a reliable source of venture capital for entrepreneurs, according to an article by Ann Grimes in the January 21^st Wall Street Journal. Allocations to venture capital by U.S. colleges and universities, which traditionally have ranked among venture capitalists most reliable partners, have reversed course. A recent survey shows that contributions to venture funds are half of what they were in 2000. The reduction is attributed not only to a decline in the value of investments, but also to a shift by university investment officers away from venture capital. See http://www.wsj.com

18) As an introduction to the annual celebration of Engineers Week in February, President Bush has issued a proclamation lauding engineers for contributing to ‘countless breakthroughs’. His message says “Engineers help drive our economy, protect our environment and ensure public safety”. For the full text of the message, and for more information on the February 16-22 National Engineers Week, see http://wwww.eweek.org 

Distance education, technology

19) Following the lead of New York University , Temple University and the University of Maryland University College, Columbia University recently announced the closing of Fathom, its two year old, for-profit on-line learning venture.  The website is scheduled to disappear in March writes Scott Carlson in the Chronicle of Higher Education.   Despite its list of prestigious partners, such as the British Library, the Victoria and Albert Museum , the New York Public Library and the University of Chicago , the venture failed to break even.  Columbia reportedly gave Fathom $14.9 million in 2001, but earnings in that period amounted to only $700,000. The article emphasizes that the quality of the content alone cannot carry the day when the world economy is slow and the experiment is new.  See http://chronicle.com/free/2003/01/200301701t.htm

20) New School University has announced a partnership with Britain ’s Open University to develop distance education programs and expand their markets in North America and Europe , according to an article in the Chronicle by Dan Carnevale. The British Open University, which has one of the oldest and largest distance education programs in the world, has been struggling to break into the American education market – with two failed efforts to date. As a first effort, the universities will release a joint management development program this fall, consisting of five courses leading to a certificate rather than a degree. See http://chronicle.com/free/2003/01/2003012801t.htm

21) The U.S. Army’s distance education program, eArmyU, has significantly increased the number of colleges and universities it works with, according to a note in the Chronicle by Dan Carnevale. Officials of the program said the expansion, 12 more institutions added to the 20 previously involved, will help meet a rising demand for online courses from soldiers around the world. The new institutions plan to bring an additional 68 degree programs online over the next six to nine months. See http://chronicle.com/free/2003/01/2001012802t.htm

22) Online degree programs are surging, but some employers have doubts about their effectiveness, according to an article by Kemba Dunham in the January 28^th Wall Street Journal. Online and other distance learning programs have ballooned in recent years, to an estimated 350,000 students enrolled in fully online degree programs. But it is clear that some employers still have doubts about them, giving them less weight in hiring decisions than traditional degrees. Some observers feel that earning a degree in such an independent fashion could give applicants a distinct advantage over another job candidate, however. See http://www.wsj.com

23) Six major research universities are working with MIT to fine-tune a program for archiving scholarly works, according to a note in the Chronicle by Dan Carnevale. The program, called DSpace, has become popular in academe in just a few months. The software was designed in conjunction with Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, and is free and open source. It is designed to allow professors to store reports and other research documents in a searchable digital archive. About 2000 institutions, libraries and other institutions have downloaded DSpace since its release last November. See http://chronicle.com/free/2003/01/2003013001t.htm

24) A new report recommends that universities should focus their cybersecurity programs on subjects such as wireless security, advanced virus protection, and internet law, in order to protect their own computer networks and other systems. As reported in the Chronicle by Brock Reed, the report drafted by the Institute for Information Infrastructure Protection highlights areas of growing importance that are currently underrepresented in academe. The report encourages computer scientists to devote more attention to technologies that could be used to identify the sources of online attacks, to secure and reconstruct breached systems, and to simulate the effects of an attack on a network’s infrastructure. See http://chronicle.com/free/2003/01/2003013101t.htm

25) The freewheeling days of the Internet are coming to an end, according to an article by Michael Totty in the January 27^th Wall Street Journal. Since its infancy, the Net has been seen as a place independent of the rules that govern the offline world – borders could be transcended, new identities created, and old notions of property no longer applied. But it is getting harder to see the Internet as a refuge from the rules and regulations that apply offline. For example, the entertainment industry is relentlessly tracking down those who it says are violating its copyrights. And law enforcement agencies are cracking down on online gambling. In addition, consumers are demanding tougher action to stop spam and protect privacy. And jurisdictions are developing ways to tax online sales. Observers note that new laws and regulations will impact large organizations most, leaving individuals who wish to skirt them less likely to see enforcement. See http://www.wsj.com

26) The U.S. Military Academy at West Point , New York has established its own high-speed wireless network. By this fall, campus coverage will be complete.  Because the network is connected to the Department of Defense network, thus making it an attractive target for hackers, West Point has paid about $625,000 this year in support of the security of the network, about five times the cost of the network itself, according to Florence Olsen of the Chronicle of Higher Education.   See http://chronicle.com/free/2003/01/2003010801t.htm

27) The University of Colorado at Boulder has adopted an encrypting system for its e-mail software to tighten security, according to an article in the Chronicle by Vincent Kiernan. With unencrypted links, hackers can eavesdrop and extract passwords and other personal information. Reconfiguring e-mail software has been easy, but other popular online functions such as file transfer programs, publishing web pages, and gaining access to one computer from another are more difficult. The university estimates that 89% of users have been able to reconfigure their software by themselves, with another 9% getting help via telephone and only 2% needing in-person help. See http://chronicle.com/free/2003/01/2003012101t.htm

28) Portable PC’s are easy to steal – from unguarded desks at lunchtime, or at airport screening operations -- according to an article in the February 3^rd Time by Chris Taylor. In 2001, there were 591,000 laptops reported stolen – up 53% from the previous year. But there are precautions one can take – from locks, to laptop insurance, to software that enables tracking of the lost machine on the Internet. This article describes examples of each approach, with costs. See http://www.time.com

Students, Faculty, Education  

29) Engineering today is a “technoscience” requiring that students be adept at problem solving in dynamic, interdisciplinary environments, rather than applying knowledge of first principles of such relatively static disciplines as physics and chemistry.  Rosalind Williams, writing for the Chronicle of Higher Education, says that scientists and engineers are increasingly collaborating on projects whose fluidity breaks down traditional boundaries between these two domains. Even civil and mechanical engineers work less frequently with things and more with symbols and systems, reflecting the growing influence of information technologies.  With fewer discoveries to be made in engineering, engineering education is increasingly turning back toward focus on practice, in what the author refers to as a “back-to-market” movement.  This movement, divided loosely into a design movement and a systems engineering emphasis, points however to the engineer’s essential loss of identify: many people from outside engineering, including business people, are engaging in the same sorts of work that engineers do.  The result is a crisis in the engineering curriculum, with no one central core of knowledge acknowledged as the bedrock for all students. The author advocates lowering the standards for engineering education, and de-emphasizing the technical problem-solving approach in engineering education in favor of a broad based education which prepares the engineer for life.  (See http://chronicle.com/weekly/v49/i20/20b01201.htm 

30) According to the Chronicle of Higher Education’s Will Potter, the journal Issues in Science and Technology has discovered that today’s students are less likely to undertake studies in science and technology, favoring instead business and other disciplines. Science careers offer graduates only low salaries and require extensive post-graduate training.  At the same time, graduates of undergraduate science programs are reportedly turning their backs on graduate training.  See http://chronicle/com/daily/2003/01/2003010904n.htm 

31) While president Bush has raised questions about the use of affirmative action in college admissions, the U.S. service academies have demonstrated its effective use in their quest for diversity, according to an article by Albert Hunt in the January 23^rd  Wall Street Journal. West Point had less than 1% African Americans and Hispanics 30 years ago, and now boasts 16%. Across all the service academies, one in seven cadets or midshipmen is blacks or Latino – and as they have grown more diverse, their academic standings have grown. Affirmative action at the academies began in the 1970’s due to political pressure and a critical need to provide more diverse leaders in America ’s military. See http://www.wsj.com

32) Will Potter, writing for the Chronicle of Higher Education, notes that Texas ’s strategy of admitting the top 10% of high school graduates from each school to public universities has not restored minority enrollments to levels achieved under affirmative action.  Using average figures from before and after the Hopwood decision which banned affirmative action in Texas, investigators saw a decline in both Hispanic and African-American students at the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A & M, the state’s most selective institutions.  The study takes on additional relevance because it has been cited by the Bush administration in its brief to the US Supreme Count asking that affirmative action admissions policies at the University of Michigan be overturned.  The full report may be reading at the website of the Texas Top 10% Project.  See http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/01/2003012401n.htm

33) The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) recently published a report which claims that minority students have less access to college than they did before affirmative action.  Peter Schmidt of the Chronicle of Higher Education reports the reason is that policies which work to the advantage of white students have offset any advantage obtained by minority students through affirmative action.  At one level, statistics show growing rates of graduation for both black and Hispanic students, but closer examination of the data shows that black and Hispanic students more often graduate from two year institutions located near urban areas, while white students graduate from four year institutions located outside of urban areas.  The report’s author, K. Edward Renner, concludes that “Thirty years of affirmative action, largely as preferential admissions, has failed . . . “ See http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/01/2003010801n.htm

34) The American Society of Civil Engineers has taken the lead in pressing for a master’s degree as the required educational level for entry into the professional practice of engineering. The ASCE Board of direction adopted Policy Statement 465 in 1998, supporting that concept for civil engineers, and the society is now developing an implementation plan. As described in the January 2003 issue of ASCE News, the society is attempting to persuade universities to increase the body of knowledge taught to civil engineering students, convince ABET to change its criteria to allow dual-level accreditation, and impact the licensure process to require the higher standards. The task committee working on the implementation plan points out that in addition to its focus on education, it is also concerned with the importance of experience and lifelong learning in the civil engineer’s development. See http://www.asce.org

35) Colleges of business in the US are arguing the merits of stand-alone ethics courses versus the integration of ethics principles into the entire curriculum.    The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business has come out in favor of colleges of business developing their own code of ethical conduct, writes Katherine S. Mangan for the Chronicle of Higher Education. Opposing strategies for implementation will be debated at the annual meeting of the AACSB in April. See http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/01/2003010805n.htm  

36) In the first survey of U.S. college freshmen since the terrorist attacked of September 11, 2001 , a resurgence of interest in politics can be detected, says Megan Rooney of the Chronicle of Higher Education.  Although the figures are far below those in 1966, 32.9 percent of college freshmen say that following politics is “very important” or “essential” as a goal.  Linda Sax of the Higher Education Research Institution of the University of California at Los Angeles is feeling optimistic about this shift.  Although the Institute decided against asking questions referring directly to the events of 9/11, shifts toward more political awareness have been attributed to those attacks, as well as a tendency of students to relate more to conservative rather than liberal political views.  The economy has also made itself felt by students, with more freshmen saying they intended to work during their college years.  Also in the findings are trends toward study abroad, participation in early admissions programs, away from “college excess” such as drinking and smoking, toward interest in the performing acts and away from business as a major. See http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/01/2003012701n.htm

37) While early decision admissions policies are falling out of favor at some top universities, many schools are quietly using an array of other tools to win over the best students early. According to an article in the January 23^rd Wall Street Journal by Ann Marie Chaker, colleges are increasingly wooing their top choices with notes of praise and hints of acceptance letters and scholarship money to come, The idea is to win their affections by getting them some good news before the competition does. Landing such top students drives up the average SAT scores and grade-point averages of the freshman class, which leads to better results in much-followed college rankings such as the annual US News and World Report listing. See http://www.wsj.com

38) A report by the Sallie Mae Fund reveals that lower income families suffer most from a lack of information about how to pay for college, says the Chronicle of Higher Education.  Children from these families also begin to learn about financial aid later than more affluent students, and black and Hispanic parents are more inclined than white families to say that they do not have enough information about how to pay for a college education.  This report is based on a national poll of parents of children 18 to 24 years old.  See http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/01/2003012103n.htm

39) In its January 14^th issue, Megan Rooney for the Chronicle of Higher Education wrote an analysis of the recommendation from NAFSA: Association of International Educators that US institutions become more aggressive at recruiting students from overseas.  NAFSA understands that this goes against the general tenor of life in post 9/11, but points out that it is necessary for permitting larger numbers of international students to enter the US .  International students generate as estimate4d $12 billion to the US economy, as well as providing diversity of opinion on university campuses.  See http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/01/2003011401n.htm

40) An accomplished electrical engineer is featured in the February 2003 issue of World Press Review, for his mission of bringing light to homes, schools and temples throughout the developing world. Dave Irvine-Halliday, who is an associate professor at the University of Calgary , became aware of the need for electrical light in remote villages during a hiking trip in the Himalayas in 1997, and decided to do something about it. He poured his professional expertise and his personal resources into an organization he named “Light Up the World”. Working in his university lab, he devised a plan for bringing  low cost lighting to villages – creating the energy with a pedal-power generator, a hydro generator, or solar panels, then running lines into homes and connecting them to low energy lamps. Since starting this project, Irvine-Halliday and his team have brought light to thousands of homes in dozens of villages around the world. See http://www.worldpress.org

Journals  

41) The International Journal of Engineering Education has published Volume 18, Number 6, 2002 .It contains 19 articles on engineering education policy and research, mechatronics, chemical engineering, building and construction engineering, control engineering, distance controlled laboratories, environmental engineering, manufacturing engineering, and electrical end electronics engineering. An interesting lead article by S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole from Sri Lanka describes experience with teaching human rights within the engineering curriculum. See http://www.ijee.dit.ie  

42) The ASEE Journal of Engineering Education has published its January 2003 issue, with 13 major articles. Topics include meeting ABET criteria, success with underrepresented minority engineering students, predicting success for engineering freshmen, the impact of gender mix in project teams, remotely operated laboratories, technological literacy, and the social dimensions of engineering design. See http://www.asee.org/publications

43) The December 2002 issue of SEFI’s European Journal of Engineering Education is also available. Ten major articles cover such areas as accreditation of ‘short cycle’ degrees, student’s understanding of sustainability, quality improvement in engineering programs, engineering education in developing countries, and laboratory development. See http://taylorandfrancis.metapress.com

44) The electronic journal TechKnowLogia has posted its January-March 2003 issue on the web. The theme of this issue is Technologies and Learning. Papers include such topics as instructional technology, e-learning in the developing world, models for classroom use, critical thinking, teaching as a profession, educational software, and interactive television. See http://www.TechKnowLogia.org

Meetings

45) The Ibero-American Summit on Engineering Education (IASEE) will be held in Sao Paulo , Brazil , from March 24^th to 27^th, 2003 . The conference will focus on assessment and accreditation of engineering education in Latin America , with the aim of developing an action plan aimed at facilitating the recognition of appropriately qualified engineers to practice throughout the Americas . University-industry interactions, curricular development, and funding of engineering education will also be discussed. See http://www.univap.br/iasee 

46) On January 12 – 16, 2003, Engineering Conferences International presented a seminar in Monterey, California (USA) on “Teaching Entrepreneurship to Engineering Students,” drawing seventy-five participants from across the US and abroad.  Eleanor Baum (Cooper Union) and Carl McHargue (University of Tennessee Knoxville) designed the program which brought together engineering educators and entrepreneurs to discuss the attributes of successful entrepreneurs, the role of universities in promoting entrepreneurial activities, academic programs which teach engineering students the skills and attitudes needed to be entrepreneurs, the role of industry and practitioners in supporting entrepreneurship education, and sources of funding for developing entrepreneurship courses. Because of the growing interest in making basic entrepreneurial skills part of the portfolio of each engineering graduate, a follow-up to this conference is planned for an overseas venue within the next two years. See http://www.engconfintl.org/pastconf/3asfin.html

47) The October 2002 conference on Global Changes in Engineering Education jointly sponsored in Berlin by ASEE and SEFI has been summarized in the January 2003 issue of ASEE Prism. Included are the summaries of rapporteurs on the three themes of the conference: Technology and Distance Learning, National and Global Aspects of Engineering Accreditation, and Educating Engineering Students in Entrepreneurship. See http://www.asee.org/prism

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