INTERNATIONAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION DIGEST
March
2006
Copyright © 2006 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.
CONTENTS
1 - International developments
- Low
costs, plentiful talent make
China
a global magnet for R&D
- Port
deal shows roadblocks for globalization
- Saudi
students returning to US
- More
research money for top Indian universities
- Reform
in French science
- European
schools in decline, says OECD report
- French
students protest violently against new labor law
- Networking
Nigeria
- South
Korean universities undertake radical changes
-
Infosys
U.
- Brain
Korea
21 infuses serious money into research and graduate education
- European
Institute of Technology
- Is
Australia
losing its appeal to foreign students?
2 -
US
developments
- How
the government refocused on innovation and competitiveness
- BlackBerry
service to continue
- Colleges
open minority aid to all comers
- Latin
American Studies Assoc. moves annual conferences off-shore
- On-line
education given a boost by US Congress
- NSF
Education Directorate failing?
- Academics
outnumbered by industry reps on Bush’s S & T Council
- Biography
of Frederick Terman wins award
3 - Technology
4 - Students, faculty, education
- Colleges
bolster family benefits
- To
the rescue
- Using
the FE for assessment
- Lecture
method should be jettisoned in science and math instruction
- US
report promotes language learning, international studies
- Women
in science – a global concern
-
US
students lack reading skills to succeed in college
- Engineering
in the schools in
Massachusetts
- Plagiarism
investigation begins at
Ohio
U.
engineering college
5 – Employment,
competitiveness
- How
many engineers does
China
actually graduate, and who cares?
- Author
shows downside of
China
’s success
- Indian
call center employees stressed by organized verbal abuse
- City
pegs revitalization on a tuition plan
6 – Journals
- European
Journal of Engineering Education
- Religion
at the academy
7 – Meetings
- Electronic
Conference for ASEE Global Colloquium on Engineering Education
- WFEO
World Congress on Engineering Education
________________________________________________________________________
1 - International developments
Low costs, plentiful talent make
China
a
global magnet for R&D – Multinational companies, drawn by a huge
and inexpensive talent pool, are pouring money into research and development in
China
. According to an article in the March 13th Wall Street Journal by Kathy Chen and Jason Dean, the total number
of foreign-invested R&D centers in the country has surged to about 750, from
200 four years ago. A recent UN survey of multinationals cited China as most
frequently listed for R&D expansion, well ahead of the US and third-place
India. But
China
’s growth as a global R&D hub faces some constraints, such as the
country’s weak protection of patents and other intellectual property rights.
Whereas R&D investment in
China
initially focused on adapting existing products and technologies to the Chinese
market, companies now are expanding their Chinese operations to develop products
for the global market. (See http://www.wsj.com)
Port deal shows roadblocks for globalization – The
globalization of business has recently run into some big roadblocks, according
to an article in the March 11th Wall
Street Journal by Greg Ip and Neil King. The latest example – scuttling of
the deal to have Dubai Ports World operate ports in the
US
– comes just months after a political uproar derailed a Chinese bid for a
US
oil company. And in
France
,
Spain
and
Poland
, governments have sought to block foreign bids for domestic companies. In
Korea
, a
US
march on a tobacco company is fueling calls for restraints on foreign
investment. And in
Bolivia
, a new populist government has joined a Latin American revolt against free
markets. The reactions reflect not just xenophobia stoked by fears of terrorism,
but also anxiety among workers in developed countries that their livelihoods are
threatened by imports, immigrants and low-wage workers. If this backlash does
not fade, according to the writers, it could disrupt a world economy that has
become increasingly interdependent. (See http://www.wsj.com)
Saudi students returning to US – Saudi students studying in
US
universities fled the country after 9/11, but now thousands are attending US
institutions again. According to an article in the March 20th Time
by Jeff Chu, the
US
and Saudi governments, worried that American and Saudi people would get nervous
about one another, and have set up a program to foster more person-to-person
contact. Over the next four years,
Saudi Arabia
will pay for as many as 20,000 young Saudis to study in the
US
. The
US
has pledged to speed visa processing for the students – while still running
full background checks and in-person interviews at the consulate in
Jidda
. For the Saudi rulers, the scholarships are a way to revive the tradition of
educating their brightest in the
US
, where more than three-quarters of current cabinet ministers studied. (See http://www.time.com)
More research money for top Indian universities –
Three Indian universities will each receive a total of $22.6 million this year
to strengthen research and transform them into world-class institutions.
The universities of Mumbai,
Calcutta
and
Madras
, already among the best in the country, will all be beneficiaries. In
additional news,
India
’s finance minister, P. Chidambaram, said the Punjab Agricultural University
will receive $22 million in recognition of its role in increasing crop yields,
and that the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology will become a national
institution with greater access to research funds, writes Shailaja Neelakantan
in The Chronicle of Higher Education. (See
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v52/i28/28a05002.htm)
Reform in French science – A French government plan to infuse
new life into French research has drawn much protest since it was proposed two
years ago, but the protests are waning and the National Assembly is moving ahead
in authorizing the reforms. According to an article in the March 10th
Science by Martin Enserink,
the legislation includes a raft of measures aimed at luring young people
into labs and making innovation the engine of a flagging economy. A protest
movement, Let’s Save Research, and the powerful trade unions criticize the
plan for falling short of their goals. But others cite the proposed growth of
the research budget from €19.9-billion in 2005 to €24-billion in 2010 as a
positive element. But the scientific community had hoped for a larger financial
boost.
In addition to providing more funds, the legislation attempts to simplify
research management and empowers a new agency to distribute funds for projects
based on merit reviews – a novelty in
France
. (See http://www.sciencemag.org)
European schools in decline, says OECD report –
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) claims that
European schools, led by
France
,
Italy
, the
UK
and
Germany
, have fallen substantially behind those in the
US
and
Asia
, writes Lucia Kubosova for the EUobserver on-line on March 14.
The author of the OECD report, Andreas Schleicher, says that
Europe
’s educational systems need to be more flexible and accessible.
He points out that
France
and
Germany
have insufficient numbers of people with high-skill qualifications, and that
funding of education is low. Touching
on a controversial area, Schleicher says that the
US
spends more money per person on college education, with most of that additional
money coming from private sources and individual tuition.
He admits, however, that countries such as
Ireland
,
Portugal
and
Spain
have improved their performance in education.
(See http://euobserver.com)
French students protest violently against new labor
law – In actions reminiscent of the 1968 revolution, tens of thousands
of French students across the country took to the street to protest a new law
that would permit employers to fire younger employees without cause. The
probationary period for young people in new jobs would be extended to up to two
years, rather than the few months stipulated now, before
France
’s traditionally strong job protections would be available.
Such was the anger of French students that one of the student labor
unions claimed to have shut down entirely 66 of
France
’s 84 universities last week, writes Aisha Labi in The Chronicle of Higher
Education. The government has
refused to back down, so there were predictions of as many as one million
participants joining the protest. (See http://chronicle.com/daily/2006/03/2006031713n.htm)
Networking
Nigeria
– A world class internet facility has been established at the
University
of
Ibadan
in
Nigeria
, thanks to the effort of IEEE and Hewlett-Packard. As described by Harry
Goldstein in the lead article in the March IEEE
The Institute, sixty new, state-of-the-art computer terminals are online for
the use of engineering students, connected to the Internet via a satellite dish.
In addition to the computer setup, IEEE is making available to the aspiring
engineers and their instructors free access to the full IEEE digital library –
a valuable resource found nowhere else in
Africa
. The IEEE past president who attended the inauguration ceremony noted that more
companies need to donate new computers to developing countries, not just cast
off their used machines for a tax credit. And more information providers need to
give students and their instructors free or reduced-cost access to the world’s
treasure troves of engineering information. (See http://www.theinstitute.ieee.org)
South Korean universities undertake radical changes –
Taking into consideration the falling number of 18 year olds and the tight hold
of tradition and elite institutions, the South Korean government has embarked on
an effort to transform its higher education system.
If the government has its way, 25% of the national universities will
close or be merged, automatic tenure will be a thing of the past, the US model
of graduate programs would be introduced, and entry requirements be changed.
Opposition to these changes is strong.
The suggestion to replace the much feared national entrance examinations
with more reliance on students’ secondary school grades has been met with
predictions that schools will simply begin to inflate grades.
Presidents of prestigious national universities, when faced with the
possibility of greater autonomy, expressed fears that faculty would be deprived
of their coveted status as civil servants, according to Alan Brender in The
Chronicle of Higher Education. The
debate is likely to continue, but change, driven by the changing population,
appears inevitable. (See http://chronicle.com/weekly/v52/i28/28a05001.htm)
Infosys
U.
– One of the world’s largest training centers, operated by Infosys
Technologies, prepares some of
India
’s best and brightest to take their places in the global workforce. According
to an article in the March 20th Fortune
by Julie Schlosser, at a new $120-million facility in Mysore, India, the
mission is teaching the Infosys Way to the 15,000 employees the fast-growing
company hires a year – an average of 40 a day. Many of the 4000 “freshers”
who are on campus at any one time come with little or no practical experience.
Most of the training focuses on technical skills, but freshers also spend a lot
of time working on softer skills such as team building, comportment, and
improving interpersonal communication. The $1.6-billion company, founded in
1981, had nearly 50,000 employees as of January 1 – up 34% over 2004.
(See http://www.fortune.com)
Brain
Korea
21 infuses serious money into research and graduate education –
One feature alone of Brain
Korea
21 would be sufficient to impress most academics: since 1999 the Korean
government has sent 38,000 students overseas to earn their master’s, and
19,000 to seek a doctorate. BK 21 is
meant to reinvigorate the country’s researchers by large infusions of money
invested in promising projects. Over
the past seven years $1.1 billion has been invested, and results have been so
positive that the second phase will be funded at $2.03 billion, reports Alan
Brender in The Chronicle of Higher
Education. This second phase will emphasize curriculum and industry
collaboration. (See http://chronicle.com/weekly/v52/i28/28a05201.htm)
European Institute of Technology – Facing down skeptics in the
academic community, European Union leaders are forging ahead with a proposal to
create a new research-intensive university on the continent. According to an
article in the March 3rd Science
by Daniel Clery, the objective of EU leaders is to remedy problems in
European higher education by building a flagship modeled on the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology. Rather than a single site, however, a plan published
recently by the European Commission calls for a network of centers across the 25
member states. The idea continues to meet hostility from scientific and
education leaders who argue that there are already a lot of good institutions in
Europe
– but that they are grossly starved for funds. Academic leaders fear that the
Commission’s proposal will draw funding away from the new European Research
Council, due to begin work next year. (See http://www.sciencemag.org)
Is
Australia
losing its appeal to foreign students? – Much has been made of
Australia
’s recent success in attracting fee-paying foreign students into its higher
education system. But in 2005, that
success appears to have tapered off: the number of new foreign students who came
to
Australia
that year was only 0.8% higher than the number for 2004.
In some states and territories, the numbers actually declined.
Student “exports” from
Hong Kong
,
Malaysia
and
Singapore
declined significantly, although the numbers from
China
and
India
remained stable. Reasons for the
fall off include the stronger Australian dollar, making the cost of education
there higher, reports David Cohen in The Chronicle of Higher Education. (See
http://chronicle.com/daily/2006/03/2006030906n.htm)
2 -
US
developments
How the government refocused on innovation and competitiveness – Innovation
and competitiveness are words that have recently garnered support from Congress
and the White House. As described in an article by Debra Schiff in the March Today’s
Engineer, two key reports laid the groundwork for proposed legislation and
the initiatives that President Bush included in his State of the Union Address: Innovate
America from the Council on Competitiveness, and Rising Above the Gathering Storm by the National Academies.
President Bush has outlined his American Competitiveness Initiative, designed to
spur
US
innovation and better equip the
US
to compete in the global marketplace. And Congress has two major initiatives in
process: Protecting America’s Competitive Edge Act (PACE), and the National
Innovation Act. With such broad support, it appears likely that some legislation
related to innovation and competitiveness will survive the political process.
(See http://ww.todaysengineer.org)
BlackBerry service to continue - Just before a judge was
expected to issue an injunction shutting down the popular e-mail service
provided by Research in Motion, the patent infringement lawsuit brought by NTP
was dropped in exchange for $612.5-million. As reported in the March 4th
New York
Times by Ian Austen, the settlement
followed three days of negotiations as well as several setbacks for NTP at the
United States Patent and Trademark Office. RIM’s decision to settle was
immediately welcomed by customers and investors; its shares rose 19% in
after-hours trading. But analysts say that RIM may have aided its rivals by
prolonging the disputes, as the public began searching for other choices for
wireless e-mail. (See http://www.nytimes.com)
Colleges open minority aid to all comers – Facing threats of
litigation and pressure from Washington, colleges and universities nationwide
are opening to white students hundreds of thousands of dollars in fellowships,
scholarships and other programs previously created for minorities. According to
an article in the March 14th New
York Times by Jonathan Glater, the institutions are trying to minimize their
legal exposure, reacting to two 2003 Supreme Court cases on using race in
admissions at the
University
of
Michigan
. Although the cases did not ban using race in higher education, they did leave
the state of the law unclear, and with the changing composition of the court
some university officials fear legal challenges. The affected areas include
programs for high schools and graduate fellowships. It is too early to determine
the effects of the changes on the presence of minorities in higher education.
(See http://www.nytimes.com)
Latin American Studies Assoc. moves annual
conferences off-shore – After the US government again
barred a group of Cuban scholars from entering the US to attend the Latin
American Studies Association meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the association
leadership announced plans to move all future meetings outside of the US in
order to preserve academic freedom and dialogue among scholars.
This year, 58 Cuban academics were denied visas; in 2004 65 Cubans were
barred; and in 2003, 60 Cubans were stopped, reports Burton Bollag in The
Chronicle of Higher Education. The group says they are prepared to accept
the consequences of breaking their contracts with organizations in
Boston
in order to move the September 2007 meeting offshore.
(See http://chronicle.com/daily/2006/03/2006031710n.htm)
On-line education given a boost by
US
Congress – In a move with potentially major implications, the
US Congress changed a provision which until now had required colleges to offer
at least 50% of their courses on campus in order to receive federal aid.
With this new arrangement, colleges will be able to expand their on-line
courses, and private on-line institutions are expected to grow considerably,
fueled by new federal monies. Supporters
of non-traditional students are happy. The
old restriction was created in 1992 when on-line education was frequently
considered synonymous with diploma mills. Since
then, the lobbying machine supporting private on-line institutions had matured
and grown more powerful, with important
Washington
connections, even in the White House. Critics
point out the lack of hard evidence that distance education is effective, and
the fact that most cases of academic fraud take place in for-profit schools.
Reporting on this was Sam Dillon in the March 1 on-line issue of The New York
Times. (See http://www.nytimes.com)
NSF Education Directorate failing? – Education researchers say
that a sinking budget, a leadership vacuum, and an administrative reshuffle put
NSF’s education activities at great risk, according to an article by Jeffrey
Mervis in the February 24th Science.
While President Bush has stated that the
US
“needs a workforce strong in engineering and science and math”, his
proposed 2007 budget would cut the funding of the NSF program explicitly aimed
at improving math and science education – for the third straight year. The
decline of the Math and Science Partnerships program, which links university
science and math faculty with their local elementary and secondary schools, is
only one of many problems facing NSF’s Education and Human Resources
Directorate. The Directorate has been run for more than a year by a temporary
head, and a major internal reshuffling is seen as accelerating a move away from
direct intervention in the classroom. In addition, while cutting the NSF program
budget, the President has proposed a major new initiative to improve elementary
and secondary school math and science at the Department of Education. (See http://www.sciencemag.org)
Academics outnumbered by industry reps on Bush’s S
& T Council – The score was
10 to 4
when President George Bush released the names of the 14 members of his Council
of Advisors on Science and Technology, reads an article in The Chronicle of
Higher Education. Four members
are from the academic world – the heads of
Boston
University
, the
University
of
Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign, Purdue, and the
University
of
Alabama
at
Tuscaloosa
– and ten from industry. The
Council serves to advise the president on various issues, including, this year,
information technology R & D. (See
http://chronicle.com/daily/2006/03/2006030104n.htm)
Biography of Frederick Terman wins award – A biography of
legendary Stanford University professor and dean, Frederick Terman, has won an
IEEE award for literary contributions that further the public understanding of
the profession, according to an article in the March IEEE The Institute by Evan Koblentz. Terman graduated from MIT in
1924 – the holder of only its eighth doctorate in electrical engineering. He
became one of the best known electrical engineering faculty members in the
US
, writing a 1932 textbook Radio
Engineering that became a standard. And he worked with some of the
electronic industry’s best known people and companies. He is perhaps best
known for encouraging his graduate students, William Hewlett and David Packard,
to start a company based on then state-of-the-art research on the
resistance-tuned oscillator. The book, Fred Terman at Stanford, was
written by C. Stewart Gilmore, and is available from Stanford University Press.
(See http://www.theinstitute.ieee.org)
3 - Technology
China
sets up Internet domain system – The Internet authorities in
China
have set up a new family of Chinese-language alternatives to .com and other
popular Internet address domains. It is seen as a move to bypass the
US-sponsored organization that controls address information on the global
Internet, according to an article in the March 2nd International
Herald Tribune by Hiawatha Bray. Some analysts fear that it could enhance
China
’s ability to censor its citizens’ access to the Internet. In announcing the
move, Chinese authorities noted that web surfers will not have to access the web
via servers under the management of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names
and Numbers of the
United States
. (See http://www.iht.com)
Push to create standards for documents – With government
records, reports and documents increasingly being created and stored in digital
form, there is a software threat to electronic access to government information
and access. According to an article by Steve Lohr in the March 3rd New
York Times, the problem is that public information can be locked up in
proprietary software whose document formats become obsolete or cannot be read by
people using software from another company. To cope with the problem, 30
companies, trade groups, academic institutions and professional organizations
have formed the OpenDocument Format Alliance, which will promote the adoption of
open technology standards by governments. The alliance supports a particular
solution, called the OpenDocument Format. But today over 90% of the document
market uses Microsoft Office, and Microsoft is developing a different open
standard for documents, called OpenXML Document Format, which will be included
in Office 2007. (See http://www.nytimes.com)
Unsafe at any airspeed? – Cellphones and other electronics are
more of a risk than the public thinks, according to an article by Bill Strauss
et al in the March IEEE Spectrum. Passengers
are bringing more and more electronics on board flights – cellphones, PDAs,
laptops, DVD players, and game machines. All of these items emit radiation and
have the potential to interfere with aircraft instrumentation. The authors have
done research which indicates that interference occurs at an appreciable rate
and that some events create hazardous situations. They recommend that the
Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Aviation Agency confer in
establishing acceptable electronic emission standards, and that the public be
educated about the real risks to flight safety of using certain devices. (See http://www.spectrum.ieee.org)
A laptop you can hold in your hand – Microsoft and two
electronics companies – Samsung of Korea and Asus of Taiwan – are
introducing an ultralight tablet computer that melds a laptop with a media
player. According to an article in the March 9th New York Times by Kevin O’Brien, the devices weigh 1.7 pounds, are
about 9” x 5” x 1”, and have a viewing screen that measures 7”
diagonally. The new machines will sell for $600 to $1200 each. Experts are
skeptical that the new tablet computer will make inroads against devices like
the BlackBerry and the iPod. (See http://www.nytimes.com)
Fusion claims now being investigated –
Scientists have been trying for over four years to replicate the findings of
Rusi P. Taleyarkhan, professor of nuclear engineering at Purdue, who claimed in
the journal Science to have caused fusion with low-cost techniques, thus
pointing to a potential new source of energy.
Taleyarkhan used sound waves to cause acoustic cavitation in bubbles in a
liquid. When the Science
paper was under review, it already attracted opponents who sought to block its
publication. While more findings
were published in Physical Review Letters in January of this year,
scientists who have seen demonstrations remain unconvinced that fusion has
actually occurred. According to
Richard Monastersky of The Chronicle of Higher Education, Purdue has
begun its own investigation into the controversial results. (See http://chronicle.com/daily/2006/03/2006030905n.htm)
New director of MIT’s Media Lab promotes
identifiable outputs – Frank Moss was recently appointed director of
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s famous Media Lab.
As a serial entrepreneur himself he is preparing to take the risk of
pushing the lab into new territory. Despite
its fame, the Media Lab is not identified with any single new technology: Moss
wants to change that by moving toward making prototypes that can then be pointed
to as a direct output from the lab’s work.
But as he moves toward achieving specific breakthroughs, Moss also admits
that the corporate clients who fund the lab value highly its big picture
approach. Moss himself is interested
in projects with a social benefit, such as the $100 laptop project for
developing countries and innovations that will improve healthcare for an aging
population. With computing now in
the hands of more and more ordinary but creative people, the MIT Media Lab may
eventually go out of business. But
that’s ok with Moss, who wants to be in the forefront of a move to recognize
the power of bottom up creativity, writes Gregory M. Lamb in the March 6 on-line
edition of The Christian Science Monitor. (http://www.csmonitor.com)
Satellite results add to understanding of a nascent
cosmos – A NASA satellite known as WMAP (Wilkinson Microwave
Anisotropy Probe) has provided data that support the inflationary theory of
basic cosmology, reports Rich Monastersky in The
Chronicle of Higher Education. The satellite added information about what
happened one hundred-billionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second after
the big bang, and that information has enabled researchers to strengthen the
inflationary theory and reject others. This
most recent study has given much more precise information about the temperature
variations in the microwave glow emanating from the universe when it was only
400,000 years old. (See http://chronicle.com/daily/2006/03/2006031707n.htm)
4 – Students, faculty, education
Colleges bolster family benefits – After lagging behind
corporations in work-family benefits, colleges are beginning to improve their
policies, according to an article in the March 9th Wall
Street Journal by Sue Shellenbarger. Alarmed by high quit rates among
faculty members, charges of sexism, and the looming retirement of baby-boomer
professors, top universities are shifting gears fast. In the past couple of
years, universities have improved such policies as family leave, part-time work,
and job-finding help for trailing spouses in dual-earner couples. And options of
halting the tenure clock for childbirth are becoming easier. The trend stands to
make academic careers more attractive to young parents and others with family
responsibilities. (See http://online.wsj.com)
To the rescue – The cover story in the March ASEE
Prism, by Anna Mulrine, describes programs that involve engineering students
and engineers from developed countries in helping to solve the problems of the
developing world. Engineers-without-borders type programs utilize the fabulous
skills and energy levels of engineering students and their faculty advisors to
address the developing world’s most pressing problems. Students learn that
it’s not always the technical aspects that are important, and that cultural
and societal dimensions often play an important role in developing appropriate
solutions. (See http://www.asee.org/prism)
Using the FE for assessment – Outcomes assessment is now an
integral part of the engineering accreditation process in the
US
, as a result of implementation of Criteria 2000 by the Accreditation Board for
Engineering and Technology. In an article in the February 2006 NCEES
Licensure Exchange, excerpted from a white paper “Using the FE examination
to assess academic programs”, the Fundamentals Exam of the National Council of
Examiners for Engineering and Surveying is identified as one potentially
effective tool for assessing certain aspects of engineering education. As the
only nationally-normed examination that addresses specific engineering topics,
the FE exam is seen by the authors of the white paper as an attractive tool for
outcomes assessment – when used in conjunction with other standardized tests,
assessment tools, alumni surveys, and placement data. (See http://www.ncees.org)
Lecture method should be jettisoned in science and
math instruction – In a debate over funding for the US National
Science Foundation, faculty told Congress that college math and science faculty
need to break away from the old lecture method which still predominates, to make
good teaching as rewarding as good research, and to respect school teaching as a
career, reports Jeffrey Brainard in The Chronicle of Higher Education. NSF’s
division of undergraduate education is scheduled to be cut by 5% in 2007.
Speakers such as Carl Wieman, a physicist at the University of Colorado
who won the Nobel Prize in physics in 2001 and spent his prize money on
improving college science and math education, said that NSF’s efforts, while
somewhat successful, were too splintered across institutions to bring about
significant change. He urged
teaching faculty to place more emphasis on the application of knowledge to
attract and retain students’ attention. (See
http://chronicle.com/daily/2006/03/2006031601n.htm)
US report promotes language learning, international
studies – The US Committee for Economic Development has just published
a report, “Education for Global Leadership: The Importance of International
Studies and Foreign Language Education for U.S. Economic and National
Security,” which makes three recommendations.
1) Add international content across the school curriculum. 2) Have
national leaders emphasize the importance of foreign languages and international
studies. 3) Expand the number of Americans fluent in foreign languages by
providing opportunities throughout the educational process. (See http://www.ced.org/docs/report/report_foreignlanguages.pdf)
Women in science – a global concern – The
underrepresentation of women in the fields of science, technology, engineering
and math (STEM) is a concern around the world. And according to the March 2006 MentorNet News, the goal of concerned organizations is the same
around the world: to advance society and fuel greater innovation by increasing
women’s participation in these areas. The current situation of women in STEM
in several parts of the world is reviewed in the article:
Australia
,
Europe
,
South Africa
, and the
United Kingdom
. And a list of resources for dealing with the issue is provided. (See http://www.mentornet.net)
US
students lack reading skills to succeed in college – The ACT is
a popular college entrance examination in the
US
. Recently, the company that
administers the ACT released a study showing that only 51% of the students who
took the exam last year had reading skills sufficient to ensure success in
college or job-training programs, writes Eric Hoover in The Chronicle of
Higher Education. Findings also
suggest that reading skills for many students actually decline during secondary
school. Students who read well are
more likely to enroll in college right after high school, to earn better grades
in college, and to return to college after their first year. (See http://chronicle.com/daily/2006/03/2006030101n.htm)
Engineering in the schools in
Massachusetts
– Most
US
students are not exposed to engineering until college, but
Massachusetts
is different. According to an article in the March 3rd Science
by Yudhijut Bhattacharjee, the main reason for the difference is one person,
Ioannis Miaoulis. While a faculty member and dean at
Tufts
University
, Miaoulis started a statewide campaign to introduce engineering concepts into
schools, and in 2001
Massachusetts
became the first state to include engineering in its curricular standards and
student assessments. Today Miaoulis has expanded that campaign into a national
effort, having left academic life to become President of the
Museum
of
Science
in
Boston
. Under his leadership, the Museum has established a
National
Center
for Technological Literacy. The Center has raised $32-million from businesses
and the federal government to develop an elementary school curriculum and an
engineering course for high school students. Last fall, schools in a dozen
states began trying out the elementary school curriculum, and high schools in
seven states are piloting the advanced course. (See http://www.sciencemag.org)
Plagiarism investigation begins at
Ohio
U.
engineering college – Ohio University (USA) is investigating
numerous cases of plagiarism in the college of engineering, some dating back at
far as 1989, reports Thomas Bartlett in The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Accusations include plagiarized master’s theses.
A committee will report in late March: punishment could include revoking
degrees. As a consequence of this
situation, students are now required to sign a statement saying that their
theses are original. (See http://chronicle.com/daily/2006/02/2006022804n.htm)
5 – Employment,
competitiveness
How many engineers does
China
actually graduate, and who cares? – David Epstein in Inside
Higher Ed wrote a lengthy article that attempts to illuminate the current
debate about the
US
need for more and better scientists and engineers, and the competitive
advantages of
China
,
India
and the
US
in technology and science. Some US
engineering faculty are finding even very bright engineering students worried
about whether their jobs are going to be outsourced in the future, indicating
that the talk-show harangues about the outflow of American jobs abroad may in
fact be discouraging students from studying engineering rather than encouraging
them to become engineers. The
article goes on to expose the debate over the often quoted figures that the US
graduates 70,000 engineers per year while India graduates 350,000 and China
600,000. Recent analysis has
unpackaged these figures, showing that they are old, not correct, and comprised
of apples and oranges, grouping together sub-baccalaureate technical degrees
with baccalaureate degrees. A 2005
report from McKinsey and Company Global Institute shows that only about 25% of
India
’s engineers are competent to work successfully in the global arena, a lower
percentage than found in
Poland
and the
Czech Republic
. In any case, the emphasis should
be on the quality of US graduates, rather than the quantity.
(See http://insidehighered.com/news/2006/03/03/engineers)
Author shows downside of China’s success –
“The Dark Side of
China’s Rise,” by Minxin Pei, makes the case for China’s being a severely
flawed society where small gains in economic development are vastly overshadowed
by monumental corruption, strict government control, networks of patronage, and
a co-opted citizenry. The author
tells us that
China
hype should be examined carefully so as not to fall victim to the propaganda of
its leaders. The economic boom will
become a bust if its political future remains the same: bleak.
This article was published in Foreign
Policy, the March-April issue. (See
http://www.foreignpolicy.com)
Indian call center employees stressed by organized
verbal abuse – Employees in Indian call centers are upset about the
verbal abuse that has become part of their jobs.
Up to 60% of call center workers leave their jobs each year, despite
their relatively high wages, around $70 US per week.
Some attribute this attrition to the racist comments and anger that spews
out to them from callers. Even
worse, writes Nick O’Malley in an article published on March 18 in the on-line
version of The Sydney Morning Herald, is the organized abuse resulting
from US radio stations which encourage opponents of off-shoring to place one
harassing phone call each day to a call center.
Some are suggesting that call center employees urge their foreign clients
to take the matter up with police in the corporation’s country. (See http://www.smh.com.au)
City pegs revitalization on a tuition plan –
Kalamazoo
,
Michigan
, has implemented a college funding plan that it hopes will revitalize its
economy. According to an article by Neal Boudette in the March 10th Wall
Street Journal, the “Kalamazoo Promise” – funded by an anonymous
source – guarantees free college tuition to any student who enters the city
school system by at least the 9th grade, regardless of income or
need. The plan only requires that students live in
Kalamazoo
or a neighboring township, graduate from a public high school, and attend a
public community college or university in
Michigan
. There has already been an increase in housing demand in the city, and it is
hoped that the plan will attract companies to locate in the city, bringing much
needed jobs. (See http://www.wsj.com)
6 – Journals
European Journal of Engineering Education – The March 2006
issue is a theme issue on gender studies in engineering and engineering
education. Topics covered in papers include masculinities in organizational
cultures, gender equality in higher education, gendered images of engineering
among students, and gendered practices in a problem-based learning environment.
This issue of the EJEE also features
several articles focused on competence of engineering graduates, particularly
for the global environment. (See http://journalsonline.tamdf.co.uk)
Religion at the academy – The March/April 2006 issue of Change
includes a series of articles on religion on campus. Articles cover
evangelical faith-based colleges, the Catholic college in
America
, safe spaces for Muslim students, the professional formation of clergy, and the
rise of conservatism on campus. (See http://www.heldref.org)
7 – Meetings
Electronic Conference for ASEE Global Colloquium on Engineering
Education – An exclusively electronic conference on engineering
education will be conducted for two months this summer, in preparation for the
October 2006 ASEE Colloquium to be held in Rio de Janeiro. The electronic
conference will be conducted through Web-based posting of papers, followed by
electronic interactions among participants. All posted papers and discussion
will be summarized at a major plenary session at the Rio Colloquium. Abstracts
are currently being sought, and are due by
30 April 2006
. Submit all inquiries and abstracts to e-conference@engr.colostate.edu
WFEO World Congress on Engineering Education – The 7th
in a series of conferences organized by the WFEO Committee on Education and
Training was held in
Budapest
from 4 to
8 March 2006
. The theme of “Mobility of Engineers” attracted participants from some 41
countries. The opening session was conducted in the Assembly Hall of the Upper
House in the Building of the Hungarian Parliament – an impressive venue, but
without PowerPoint! Sessions addressed such topics as Accreditation of
Engineering Qualifications, Regional Agreements, Registration and Licensing,
Curriculum to Promote the Mobility of Engineering Students, and Case Studies
from Industry on Mobility Issues. (See http://congress.mti.bme.hu)
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