March 2008

University Report Outlines Roadmap For
Engineering's Future

A University of Michigan report raises serious questions about engineering in the U.S. and recommends sweeping changes aimed at helping the profession adapt to a global knowledge economy and meeting the needs of the nation.

The report summarizes many of the profession's challenges: offshoring of engineering jobs, declining student interest in engineering and science, lack of diversity in the engineering workforce, the lackluster status of engineers, dwindling support for long-term basic engineering research, and an engineering education system in need of transformation.

"If one extrapolates these trends, it becomes clear that our nation faces the very real prospect of losing its engineering competence in an era in which technological innovation is key to economic competitiveness, national security, and social well-being," writes the report's author, James Duderstadt.

From 1988 to 1996, Duderstadt served as the University of Michigan's president. He is also a former dean of the university's College of Engineering and a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

In the report, Duderstadt puts forth seven proposals aimed at ensuring the relevance of U.S. engineering in the 21st century. The first calls for a coordinated effort among engineering organizations to create a guild-like culture, similar to those in medicine and law, that can shape market pressures rather than react to them. The goal, according to the report, is to create a true learned profession in which engineers identify most closely with their profession rather than their employer of the moment.

To accomplish this goal, Duderstadt envisions an umbrella organization, possibly NSPE, that covers all disciplinary and professional organizations. He also proposes a new engineering license that would be a prerequisite for awarding professional practice-based degrees, such as a master's or doctorate of engineering.

Other proposals in the report are aimed at transforming engineering education. Graduate professional schools of engineering, similar to those in medicine and law, would be "perhaps the most effective way to raise the value, prestige, and influence of the engineering profession," Duderstadt writes. He also supports the concept of the master's degree as the first professional degree.

According to the report, transforming engineering education should also include reconfiguring undergraduate engineering making it more similar to liberal arts disciplines while also making engineering part of the liberal arts canon, which serves as the foundation for the undergraduate education for all students.

Additionally, Duderstadt recommends a structured approach to lifelong learning that goes beyond voluntary continuing education that engineers perform on their own time and support with their own resources. He sees the need for major commitments from employers, engineering schools, and professional societies, adding that "the stress must shift from the mastery of knowledge content to a mastery of the learning process itself."

Duderstadt's other recommended actions include

• Launching a large number of "Discovery Innovation Institutes" at universities to link scientific discoveries with technical innovations and
• Dedicating resources to achieve racial, ethnic, and gender diversity within engineering that is consistent with the U.S. population.

The report, "Engineering for a Changing World," can be viewed at http://milproj.ummu.umich.edu/