July
2005
Copyright © 2005 World Expertise LLC – All rights
reserved
A periodic electronic newsletter for engineering education
leaders,
edited by Russel C. Jones, Ph.D., P.E., and Bethany S.
Oberst, Ph.D.
University
presidents urge support of academic freedom
G8 leaders promise more on climate change
UK organization proposes more open access to research findings
Iranian election puts research plans in doubt
Ukrainian government attacks corruption in university admissions
The $25-billion question on Africa
Africa acknowledges it must help itself
Skirmish over leadership of Taiwanese university
South Korea hones its digital game
National
Academy report urges engineering education reform
US seeks to keep Internet role
Supreme Court Justice O’Connor to
retire
Roberts nominated to replace Justice
O’Connor
Is US losing the innovation arms race?
NSF settles parts of its disputes with
US university
Research universities urged to retain
their individuality
New restrictions on foreign researchers
proposed by Pentagon
Compromise achieved on US accreditation
processes
NSF reports on 2003 academic research
funding, activity
US universities offering more on-line courses
Full electrical engineering degree to
be offered on-line
Internet2 and National LambdaRail plan
to merge
Revival of the nuclear industry?
Berkeley and Yahoo partner in new
research lab
The Web hits the stacks
US secondary school students stagnate in academic achievement
Shortage of engineers?
Engineers’ image differs across the
globe
Tuition for illegal immigrants
Officials fight entrance exam at Seoul
National
5 – Employment
Measuring outsourcing
Outsourcing
begins to fall from favor
Engineering salaries rise again
IBM catalogs workers to cut costs
Retooling the knowledge factory
Off-shored to North Dakota?
High level programming skills still marketable in US
6 – Journals
International Journal of Engineering Education
Journal of Engineering Education
Issues in Science and Technology
7 – Meeting
IAUP Triennial Conference
University presidents urge support of academic
freedom – Sixteen university presidents from eight countries around
the world have signed a statement in support of academic freedom and invited
other presidents to join them, according to an article by Devin Varsalona in The
Chronicle of Higher Education. The
statement grew out of the Global Colloquium of University Presidents organized
in January by five US institutions and Kofi Annan of the United Nations.
While the presidents did not confer with their governments before
signing, they are hoping that the document will be of help in countries where
academic freedom comes under attack. (See http://chronicle.com/daily/2005/06/2005063005n.htm)
G8 leaders promise more on climate change – Led
by the UK government, the recent meeting of G8 leaders edged toward a stronger
effort to control greenhouse gasses. According to an article by Eliot Marshall
in the July 15th Science, the heads of the eight leading
industrial nations promised to boost energy efficient technology, adopt low
CO2-emitting energy sources, and back research collaborations. But they endorsed
no new targets for reducing greenhouse gasses. The plan’s vagueness angered
green groups that want action. (See http://www.sciencemag.org)
UK organization proposes more open access to research
findings – The Research Councils UK has issued a draft policy which
calls for more open access to sponsored research results than does the US
National Institutes of Health, writes Aisha Labi in The Chronicle of Higher Education. RCUK’s policy, which would take
effect in October of this year, tells researchers to put into open repositories
any Research Councils sponsored work at the time of publication or as soon as
publishing agreements will allow, but no longer than 6 months after publication.
The proposed policy will cover research in engineering and science as well as
humanities, social sciences and the arts. (See http://chronicle.com/daily/2005/06/2005062904n.htm)
Iranian election puts research plans in doubt – The
election of a hard-liner in Iran’s recent presidential runoff election has led
researchers there to fear curtailment of foreign collaboration, accelerated
brain drain, and a shift toward more applied projects. According to an article
by Richard Stone in the July 1st Science, it is only recently
that Iranian science has enjoyed a widespread renaissance, including a
three-fold increase in foreign collaborations in the last four years. But
momentum is in danger of being lost, according to some observers. Others caution
against rushing to judgment, saying that the situation will not become clear
until the new government appoints its science minister and when a high council
for science and technology, chaired by the president, meets in the fall. (See http://www.sciencemag.org)
Ukrainian government attacks corruption in university
admissions – In an effort to stem widespread bribery, Viktor Yuchenko,
president of Ukraine, has asked university personnel in his country to recognize
that society will judge his new administration by the fairness of university
admissions this year, writes Bryon Macwilliams in The
Chronicle of Higher Education. To
insure honesty next year the country will require a standardized test as part of
university admissions. In taking
these steps Ukraine is following the model of Russia, which is now using a
Unified State Exam in an effort to reduce the $300 million in bribes thought to
be paid last year to influence
admissions. (See http://chronicle.com/daily/2005/06/2005062707n.htm)
The $25-billion question on Africa – Britain’s
Prime Minister, Tony Blair, chairman of the G8 summit, put Africa at the top of
its agenda. His Commission on Africa has called for another $25-billion of aid
to the continent each year for the next three to five years, according to a
special report in the July 2nd The Economist. That move has
been reinforced by a UN report on the Millennium Project, which calls for a
doubling of aid worldwide in order to meet the Millennium Development Goals of
halving poverty and hunger, arresting disease and environmental degradation,
helping newborn babies survive infancy and educating them in childhood.
At the present rate, Africa south of the Sahara will meet none of those
goals by the target date of 2015. In many of the countries in that region income
per head has yet to regain levels reached in the 1960’s, and life expectancy
is in decline. According to the UN report, tropical Africa is in a poverty trap
– too poor to grow. (See http://www.economist.com)
Africa acknowledges it must help itself – While
the G8 leaders were meeting in Scotland, their African counterparts who run most
of the world’s poorest countries gathered in Libya. According to an article in
the July 9th The Economist, the African leaders understand
that they are being expected to shoulder more of the burden for curing the
continent’s ills. The meeting was called by the African Union, an organization
revamped in 2002 out of the decrepit old Organization for African Unity. The new
organization and its New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad) are
facing their first big tests of credibility in taking responsibility to feed the
starving and stop the continent’s civil wars. This new spirit of African
ownership matches the latest trend in the development world, whereby donor
countries and multilateral organizations devolve as much of the responsibility
as possible for anti-poverty and health programs to the recipient countries
themselves, rather than micro-managing them as in the past. (See http://www.economist.com)
Skirmish over leadership of Taiwanese university
– A US-educated Taiwanese electrical engineer has been appointed
president of the prestigious National Taiwan University, amid criticism from
faculty who supported another candidate. The
appointment is particularly contentious because Lee Si-chen, besides being a
former dean of academic affairs at the university, is also known for his
interest in psychic phenomena, reports Paul Mooney in The Chronicle of Higher Education.
The principles of academic freedom are cited in his defense.
(See http://chronicle.com/daily/2005/06/2005063006n.htm)
South Korea hones its digital game – The
Seoul government is spending billions of dollars, and working closely with
private industry, to get ahead of the global digital pack. According to an
article by Moon Ihlwan in the July 18th Business Week, a
government led campaign in South Korea is aimed at ensuring that the country’s
bustling info-tech and telecom industries maintain their leading role as
innovators. One area being pursued is radio-frequency identification
technology (RFID), which would allow various industries to manage logistics and
distribution through tags embedded in virtually all products. Another is a
broadband convergence network which would integrate wired and wireless telecom
and broadcasting allowing users to send voice, text, images and video all
through the same pipe. (See http://www.businessweek.com)
National Academy report urges engineering education
reform – “Educating the Engineer of 2020: Adapting Engineering
Education to the New Century” (http://national-academies.org) is the title of
a major new report from the US National Academy of Engineering.
The report recommends that colleges of engineering make important changes
in the way that they educate future engineers, including the following: consider
the master’s degree as the professional degree; increase education in the
humanities and foreign-languages; integrate two year and four year degree
programs to better serve the 40% of bachelor’s degree holders who begin their
studies in community colleges; insure that engineering faculty have industry
experience; offer more continuing education to employed engineers; and provide
the public with more information about engineering and engineering education to
de-mythicize and make engineering more attractive to prospective students.
This report was written by Jeffrey Brainard in The
Chronicle of Higher Education. (See http://chronicle.com/daily/2005/06/2005062704n.htm)
US seeks to keep Internet role – Amid
appeals from several countries for a new international governing body for the
Internet, the Bush administration has called for the US to retain – and
perhaps enhance – its long-standing role in Internet management. According to
a note by Victoria Shannon in the July 4th New York Times, the
US Commerce Department has said that the US “intends to preserve the security
and stability” of the technical underpinnings of the Internet and will
“maintain its historic role in authorizing changes or modifications” to the
master file of Internet domain names. A
1998 memorandum of understanding had indicated that the Internet Corporation for
Assigned Names and Numbers would become independent of the US Commerce
Department in September 2006. Several countries and the European Union have
proposed that an international body take over from ICANN. (See http://www.NYTimes.com)
Supreme Court Justice O’Connor to retire –
US Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor recently announced her
retirement, causing The Chronicle of
Higher Education to assign reporter Peter Schmidt to review her work in
education-related cases. Justice
O’Connor was a conservative appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1981. Over
the course of her appointment she was seen as a hard-to-predict swing-voter in
cases which had a major impact on higher education, including Grutter v.
Bollinger, in which she supported the right of the University of Michigan to use
race-conscious admissions policies. In
her writing of the majority opinion in that 5 to 4 decision, she declared that
the benefits to be derived from a diverse student body provided sufficient
justification for considering race or ethnicity in university admissions, but
she also pointed out that in coming years that justification may be more
difficult to claim. (See http://chronicle.com/free/2005/07/2005070108n.htm)
Roberts nominated to replace Justice O’Connor
– Moving quickly in response to the retirement of Supreme Court
Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, President Bush announced his nomination of John
G. Roberts, Jr., as her replacement. Judge
Roberts, currently serving on the US Court of Appeals, has represented various
facets of higher education in his previous private legal practice.
Consequently, the umbrella group representing US higher education in
Washington, the American Council on Education, has expressed through its
spokesperson its strong endorsement of Judge Roberts’s nomination.
Roberts is a graduate of Harvard Law School and practiced law with the
Washington, DC, firm of Hogan & Hartson, reports Jeffrey Selingo in The
Chronicle of Higher Education. (See
http://chronicle.com/daily/2005/07/2005072001n.htm)
Is US losing the innovation arms race? – It
is a long held tenet of entrepreneurialism in the US that no matter what global
economic changes the world can dish out, the country can innovate its way out of
them. But according to an article by Michael Fitzgerald in the June 5th
CIO Insight, the twin forces of outsourcing and globalization are working
to unseat the US from its lofty position as the world’s only economic
superpower. Also contributing to worries are cuts in government spending for
basic R&D, and fears about the nation’s faltering education system. Today
more than 68% of all domestic R&D is funded by the private sector, a
dramatic shift from 20 years ago when the federal government funded the majority
of it. While the US federal funding of research in the physical sciences as a
percentage of GDP has declined steadily over the past 30 years, China doubled
its spending on R&D in the past ten years, from 0.6 to 1.2 percent of GDP.
(See http://www.cioinsight.com)
NSF settles parts of its disputes with US university –
Florida A&M University has agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle a dispute
over misspending of a National Science Foundation grant, reports Paul Fain in The
Chronicle of Higher Education. The
NSF was investigating the use of $5.3 million given in 1997 to establish a
university Center for Research Excellence in Science and Technology. University
officials claim that all the money was spent appropriately, but no documentation
could be provided in support of that claim.
(See http://chronicle.com/daily/2005/07/2005070105n.htm)
In further developments, the NSF has unfrozen existing grants to Florida
A&M based on the school’s improvement of financial procedures, but has not
yet agreed to take action on pending grant proposals, wanting to conduct a
further review in August, writes Paul Fain in The
Chronicle of Higher Education. (See
http://chronicle.com/daily/2005/07/2005070602n.htm)
Research universities urged to retain their
individuality – A Harvard economics professor told members of the US
National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) that
research universities are risking their individual identity in their race to
achieve high rankings, writes Paul Fain in The
Chronicle of Higher Education. Speaker
David J. Collins claims that many of the decisions being made now are resulting
in loss of loyalty in faculty and staff, management problems and loss of
control. He recommended that
institutions make hard decisions and set boundaries to establish and maintain
their identities and individuality. (See
http://chronicle.com/daily/2005/07/2005071103n.htm)
New restrictions of foreign researchers proposed by
Pentagon – The US Defense Department has drafted new regulations that
would have an important impact on university research.
The Pentagon proposes that foreign researchers working on contracts wear
badges and work only in segregated laboratory areas where they could not have
access to sensitive technologies. Robert
B. Hardy from the Council on Government Relations in Washington, DC, says that
if these regulations are implemented the spontaneity of research would be lost.
Earlier this year the US Commerce Department announced similar
restrictions affecting a broader range of research, but the Pentagon rules are
more strict. Under both sets of
regulations, universities would have to obtain special licenses to
use foreign researchers in projects, writes Jeffrey Brainard in The
Chronicle of Higher Education. (See
http://chronicle.com/daily/2005/07/2005071802n.htm)
Compromise achieved on US accreditation processes
– The latest revisions to the US Higher Education
reauthorization bill affecting accreditation are largely acceptable now that
they have been modified from earlier versions, writes Burton Bollag in The
Chronicle of Higher Education. The
new version would continue the practice of making mandatory the publication of
information on the denial or withdrawal of an institution’s accreditation, but
would permit the institution to publish a statement as well.
Also new is the provision that accreditation groups must publish the
names of all members of on-site teams, but with a one-year lag and without
specifying which person visited which institution.
The United Negro College Fund, however, is still not satisfied with the
due-process provisions that they have sought to change. (See http://chronicle.com/daily/2005/07/2005071902n.htm)
NSF reports on 2003 academic research funding,
activity – The US National Science Foundation issued its report on
research spending for 2003, and noted that federal funds for academic research
increased that year by 13.1%. That
growth, when combined with a 1.1% decrease in industry funding, resulted in the
federal share of funding reaching almost 62%, a figure not seen since 1985.
Support for research from college and university budgets, along with
state and local governments, also grew. Total
spending on academic research was $40.08 billion in 2003.
Also in the NSF report was information on institutional involvement in
research, with universities such as Virginia Commonwealth and the University of
Nebraska joining the list of the 100 most active institutions, and the New
Mexico State University system and the University of Oklahoma system dropping
out. The institutions which ascended
most rapidly in the ranking included Vanderbilt and the University of South
Florida, while the University of Maryland at College Park and Georgetown dropped
most rapidly. Also of interest in
this report is new information on research spending in areas outside of
engineering and the sciences, points out reporter Jeffrey Brainard of The Chronicle of Higher Education.
(See http://chronicle.com/daily/2005/07/2005072102n.htm)
US universities offering more on-line courses –
There are indications that nonprofit institutions are beginning to compete
effectively with for-profits in offering 100% on-line courses, writes Dan
Carnevale in The Chronicle of Higher
Education. A report from
Eduventures Inc. says that enrollment in courses taken entirely on-line doubled
to one million between 2002 and 2004, with the rate of expansion in the
for-profits beginning to slow down in comparison with the nonprofits.
Eduventures predicts that enrollment will expand by over a quarter
million students in each of the next two years. (See http://chronicle.com/daily/2005/06/2005062802t.htm)
Full electrical engineering degree to be offered
on-line – The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (USA) has given $300,000 to
the State University of New York (SUNY) to create an on-line bachelor’s degree
in electrical engineering. SUNY
Buffalo, Stony Brook and Binghamton are collaborating on this project, which
builds upon the $4.5 million that the Sloan Foundation has provided SUNY for
distance learning projects since 1994. The
electrical engineering program will be part of the larger SUNY Learning Network
which has 100,000 on-line students studying for 94 degrees or certificates. (See
http://www.sloan.org)
Internet2 and National LambdaRail plan to merge –
The governing boards of two organizations which provide US higher education with
high-speed computer networking – Internet2 and National LambdaRail – have
accepted the recommendation of networking experts that the groups be combined.
The boards passed resolutions which did not specify the design of the
new, combined organization, but instead asked each group of develop a plan for
merging. According to Vincent
Kiernan reporting in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Internet2 and National LambdaRail
are different enough that merger may be challenging. (See http://chronicle.com/daily/2005/07/2005070601t.htm)
Revival of the nuclear industry? – Climate
change is helping a revival of the nuclear industry, though its economics still
look dodgy, according to a special report in the July 9th The
Economist. The nuclear industry has suffered in many countries due to safety
concerns and financial problems. In Asia, new capacity is being built or
considered in China, India, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. China already has
nine reactors, and is planning a further 30. Now western governments are
increasingly looking anew at nuclear energy, primarily in response to political
pressure about climate change. France’s parliament has recently approved a new
nuclear plant, and Finland is currently building the first new power plant in
the west in 10 years. (See http://www.economist.com)
Berkeley and Yahoo partner in new research lab –
Yahoo Inc. and the University of California at Berkeley are new partners in the
Yahoo Research Labs – Berkeley, writes Dan Carnevale in The Chronicle of Higher Education.
The lab is designed to enable graduate students and faculty to access the
huge pool of Yahoo users to study their Web needs and develop new services to be
offered by the company. Ten people
including a director have already been hired and the lab is scheduled to open in
August. (See http://chronicle.com/daily/2005/07/2005071801t.htm)
The Web hits the stacks – There is a vast
body of knowledge that Web browsers cannot find, hidden in books, according to
an article by Stephen Wildstrom in the July 25th Business Week. Two
factors combine to make such valuable and authoritative material inaccessible on
the Web: the bulk of human knowledge represented in printed material is not in
digital form, and much of it is still under copyright protection. But Yahoo and
Google are leading the way in efforts to open this world of print and
proprietary material to browsing. Services offered to date are limited – often
providing only abstracts, and requiring paid subscriptions to obtain full
articles – but efforts are underway to scan the contents of the world’s
books and make them available online. This more ambitious approach is an
outgrowth of the US National Science Foundation’s digital library initiative,
which aims to put leading research collections online. (See http://www.businessweek.com)
US secondary school students stagnate in academic
achievement – The 2004 edition of the “National Assessment of
Educational Progress” shows that the academic achievements of secondary school
students in the US have not improved over the 3 years that the test has been
administered, reports Anne K. Walters in The
Chronicle of Higher Education. Darvin
M. Winick, chair of the governing board, pointed out that more students are
taking more advanced math courses, but their scores are not improving. The good
news is that the gap in achievement between white and minority students has
closed, and academic achievement of younger students in both reading and math
has improved. The goal is to increase students’ readiness for college and thus
decrease the need for post-secondary remediation courses. (See http://chronicle.com/daily/2005/07/2005071502n.htm)
Shortage of engineers? – An article in the
July Civil Engineering magazine by Jeff Brown indicates that civil
engineers are in demand in the US, and that the disparity between the supply and
market demand has employers scrambling to fill positions. Engineers specializing
in water and environmental engineering are particularly in demand at this time,
and the demand for civil engineers overall is projected to increase as the
nation comes to terms with its crumbling infrastructure. Employers are
particularly interested in hiring engineers who have skills beyond technical
competency – including communication, project management, and leadership. (See
http://www.pubs.asce.org)
Engineers’ image differs across the globe – Until
the US can find a way to make engineering interesting to a large, diverse
population of bright students it could be in danger of losing its position as a
top global innovator, according to an article by Jane Bryne in the July Engineering
Times. Eastern nations like China and India are producing more engineers
each year and enjoying a technological boom, while engineering colleges in the
US struggle to recruit students each year. According to the National Science
Foundation, China produced 207,459 engineering graduates in 2000, while the US
produced only 59,536. Engineering bachelor’s degrees constituted 40% of the
degrees earned in China, but only 5% of those earned in the US. In China,
scientists and engineers are more respected than in the US, and China’s
political leadership comes almost exclusively from technical backgrounds and has
a high regard for science. (See http://www.nspe.org)
Tuition for illegal immigrants – There is a
brewing controversy in many US states about whether illegal immigrants should
qualify for in-state tuition, according to an article by Jeff Chu in the July 11th
Time. Some 50,000 to 65,000 illegal immigrants graduated from US
high schools this spring, and many want to go on to college. But they can
qualify for in-state tuition in only nine states, and they often cannot afford
the much higher out-of-state tuition rates. Income from the higher tuition rates
is not the issue – only 8000 undocumented immigrants out of a public college
population of more than one million got reduced rates in Texas last year. The
issue is more emotional – including parental concerns that expanded in-state
rates will consume taxpayer dollars, and make it harder for the kids of regular
citizens to get into top schools. Opponents also fear that extending one
privilege would open the door to granting other benefits now reserved for legal
residents. (See http://www.time.com)
Officials fight entrance exam at Seoul National – The
South Korean government is fighting a decision by the Seoul National University
to use essay tests as a main criterion for admissions, according to an article
in the July 5th JoongAng Daily by
Kim Man-joong and Ser Myo-ja. Critics
say that the plan would be unfair to less affluent student who cannot afford
private tutoring, which the new requirement would encourage. The school
has planned the move to the new measure saying that high school records and
standard aptitude tests do not adequately assess the abilities of students to
master college level work. (See http://joongangdaily.joins.com)
5 – Employment
Measuring
outsourcing – There is little
hard evidence about the extent of international outsourcing and offshoring,
despite widespread media attention, according to a recent OECD report. According
to a note in the July 2nd The
Economist, the media has portrayed offshoring as a threat to millions of
jobs in Europe and the US and as a threat to the security of sensitive data.
Recently the McKinsey Global Institute published a report with some figures.
Extrapolating from a study of eight industrial sectors, the Institute calculated
that in 2003 there were 1.5-million service jobs outsourced abroad from
developed countries. By 2008, it is reckoned that number will have risen to
4.1-million. To put those numbers in context, the report pointed out that an
average of 4.6-million Americans started work with a new employer every month in
the year to March 2005. Limits to the growth of offshoring are already
appearing, including increased use of technology in developed countries to
reduce any human interactions. And the supply of suitable labor in popular
cities such as Prague and Hyderbad is running short. But in its bottom line, the
OECD report estimates that close to 20% of total employment in the 15
pre-expansion EU countries, the US, Canada and Australia could be affected by
the international sourcing of service activities. (See http://www.economist.com)
Outsourcing
begins to fall from favor – The
industrial trend toward outsourcing may be showing some signs of weakening,
according to a new report by Deloitte Consulting. As reported in the July issue
of Engineering Times, Deloitte’s study, “Calling a Change in the
Outsourcing Market”, outsourcing is not delivering its expected value to large
companies and some are returning operations “back home”. The study is based
on personal interviews with 25 of the largest companies representing eight
industry sectors. As part of its findings, the study reveals that 70% of the
participants have had significant negative experiences with outsourcing
projects, and are now exercising greater caution in approaching outsourcing.
(See http://www.nspe.org)
Engineering
salaries rise again – Wages in
the US have grown only slightly, while China and India have seen double-digit
increases, according to a note by Terry Costlow in the July IEEE Spectrum. The
AAES Engineering Workforce Commission has reported that in 2004 US engineers in
all disciplines saw an average 1.5% gain in compensation over the previous year,
after inflation. But raises are highly selective, with many engineers getting
nothing or a token raise, with the top performers getting 10 to 20%.
Engineers in Western Europe are seeing similar modest gains. Meanwhile
engineers in low-wage countries such as China and India are enjoying
double-digit salary increases. (See http://www.spectrum.ieee.org)
IBM catalogs
workers to cut costs – Having
developed extensive tools for supply-chain management of physical items, IBM is
now preparing to apply similar methodologies for its biggest expense: people.
According to an article in the July 15th-17th Asian
Wall Street Journal by Charles Forele, IBM has begun an ambitious project to
catalog employees and sort them into a finely woven glossary of technical
skills. The program is an attempt to get a better handle on the cost of the
company’s sprawling workforce in the face of fluctuating demands for labor.
The theory is that personnel, like parts, can be optimally deployed – to
maximize hours billed to a customer, thus bringing in more revenue. (See http://www.awsj.com)
Retooling the
knowledge factory – German
industry is going to its educational source for its high-tech future work force,
according to an article by Carter Dougherty in the July 9th-10th
International Herald Tribune. Senior executives from German industry are
sitting on councils that oversee major universities, as education has become a
matter of critical importance to the future of businesses in the country. In a
world where rapidly growing rivals in Eastern Europe and Asia can fill
manufacturing jobs more cheaply, Germany’s industrial leaders say the business
of making things still has a future in their country. But they say that the
educational system that turned Germany into an economic dynamo after WWII has to
change if they are to keep ahead of low-cost competition. The country needs more
graduates of the higher education system, and those graduates must be flexible
lifetime learners. (See http://www.iht.com)
Off-shored to North Dakota? – A new
variation of outsourcing is appearing in the US, where a few small programming
centers are being created in more out of the way parts of the country, offering
employees the lifestyle advantages of more rural areas in return for lower
wages. It is too early to tell to
what extent this experiment will succeed, but for now, companies such as
CrossUSA in Watford City, North Dakota, are luring employees whose jobs have
been shipped overseas or who just want a change.
Clients are told that these companies provide better service being in
similar time zones and that the employees better understand the client’s
needs, writes Adam Geller on June 26 in the on-line service of the Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette. (See http://www.post-gazette.com)
High level programming skills still marketable in US –
In a counterpoint to current US concerns about outsourcing of IT jobs, Steve
Hamm writing for BusinessWeek’s July 25 – August 1 issue found that
software writers with high level skills are still finding jobs.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that “computer and mathematical
occupations” rose in the second quarter of 2005 by 7.5%. Reasons for this
include that companies are still looking for skilled programmers with business
knowledge and design competencies to work directly with clients on projects.
Routine programming skills are still a commodity, however, and subject to
offshoring. This puts pressure on
both individuals and universities to promote acquisition of high-level
competencies. (See http://www.businessweek.com)
6 – Journals
International Journal of Engineering Education – Engineering
Ethics, an International Overview comprises the first part of vol. 21, no.3.
Guest Editor Caroline Whitbeck of Case Western Reserve University has assembled
six papers on how to inject ethics into an engineering curriculum, liability in
engineering practice, values and human rights, and the role of various
organizations in ethics. The second part of the issue contains eleven papers on
other aspects of engineering education, including papers on student attitudes on
teaching, self-assessed student learning outcomes, probability and statistics,
and a virtual laboratory. (See http://www.ijee.dit.ie)
Journal of
Engineering Education – The
July 2005 issue of this ASEE journal includes eight papers on topics such as
biosystems engineering, undergraduate research, cooperative education work
assignments, peer evaluation, student design teams, engineering school
persistence, on-line homework, and undergraduate student competitions. (See http://www.asee.org)
Issues in Science
and Technology – The Summer
2005 issue has a theme of nanotechnology, with four papers on the federal role,
economic benefits, developing country interest, and environmental and health
concerns. Additional papers in the issue cover games in education, military
spending, global competitiveness, and the global water crisis. (See http://www.issues.org)
7 – Meeting
IAUP Triennial
Conference – The International
Association of University Presidents conducted its triennial conference in
Bangkok in mid-July. Keynote speaker Jane Goodall described her transition from
chimpanzee researcher to global activist, and stated that universities are key
to preparing students who want to make the earth a better place. Jose Ramos
Horta, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate from East Timor, addressed unresolved issues
in globalization and peace – indicating that the education system must prepare
graduates better equipped to deal with them than current leaders are. And
Columbia University President Lee Bollinger stressed that universities must
align their internal activities with external realities. (See http://www.triennial14.com)
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