Engineering Education in Modern Day Economy

This article was retrieved from a credible source since it came from the official website of the National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenges. It examines the role of engineering in global economic growth and offers a critical assessment of the engineering profession and, more importantly, as a discipline to research. This article backs up this point by referencing the works of major engineers Bartlett and Roberts. This article will aid me in reviewing the importance of engineering education in economic development procedures and developing solutions to engineering problems. It was first released in 2005. Zoghi, Shervin. “Engineering Economics and Its Role in The Engineering Curricula.” American Society for Engineering Education (2015).

This article is very reliable as it is written by a major engineering professor at the University of California, Shervin Zoghi who is majoring in both Mechanical Engineering and Economics. Zoghi discusses the economics of engineering and the role that engineering plays in the development of an economy. He has based his ideas on scholarly works of Hazelberg and Harford who were also major engineers. This article will help me relate how economics is related to engineering and therefore deduce the importance of engineering education in the modern day global economic affairs. It provides adequate information on the unending contribution of engineering to the economy and is less than five years old as it was published in 2012.

Introduction

40. This is the estimated number of different engineering courses that are offered by various learning institutions all over the world. In other words, there are very many people in the field of engineering be it students being prepared as future engineers or professionals working in various engineering schemes. The world for many years has been relying on technology to solve most of the environmental and social challenges facing its occupants. With over 6 billion people living in the world, there has been need to create a more flexible economy in an attempt to accommodate the rising population in terms of overcrowding, high consumption, and high pollution. Recent research shows that humans are interfering with the world’s ecosystem at a rate that if not dealt with as fast, it will lead to severe impacts on these ecosystems. The question of whether it is possible to provide all the necessities required to sustain the high rising population arises. A related issue on the steps that should be taken to ensure that basic needs are provided for all humans also arises. All these are stated as the Millennium Development Goals outlined in the United Nations Development Program in 2000 (NAE Grand 4).

By examining various scholarly works on engineering, for example, The Nae Grand Challenges, the Nigeria World and Seattle Engineering Economics, I will be able to analyze the relevance that engineering education has in the modern day economy and the extent to which this relevance has been achieved. I will also be in a position to propose on the possible solutions that must be undertaken in an attempt to reconstruct not only engineering education sector but also the entire engineering profession. This proposal aims at coming up with a strategy on how to write papers on engineering education, which is, how it has achieved its role and how it can be improved.

Discussion

It is evident that in the next 20 years, the world population is expected to rise to about eight billion people with over 90 percent of the increase being experienced in the developing countries. The question of whether the supply of basics will remain constant arises again and here the role of engineers in the economy arises. George Bugliarello (2000) says that the high increase of over populated urban areas is likely to affect the stability of the world economy (Okoye 2). As the whole world prepares for a tougher world due to the rising population, people must focus on production, use of appropriate technology, use of renewable sources of energy and capitalism more than before.

Engineering education must not be taken very lightly as they seem to be the future of the world. In this case, engineering teachers should create more time with their students to ensure that they are well prepared as professionals in the real world. Students are expected to experience a very harsh world shortly as they are expected to deal with the world with about 10 billion people, biological problems, high poverty levels and low standards of living (Ashley 5). Due to this, it is important for them to learn problem-solving techniques that will help cure the world in the nearby future. For this reason, engineering education must not only be made more serious but also be regarded as the main contribution to the future economy (Beder 13).

In addition, engineer education should be promoted more in the less developed countries and the developing countries in an attempt to boost their technological welfare in the nearby future. This is in an attempt to address most of the problems facing the less developed countries such as poverty, inadequate housing, poor infrastructure and economic crises. In the United States, for example, the engineering professionals do not necessarily address these problems as they are required to. This shows that the engineers already in the field are not well educated to face the economic challenges facing the world, especially in the less developed countries. This is very unfortunate because about twenty percent of the world’s population lacks proper sanitation, clean water and suffers poor housing.

It is clear that education in the field of engineering needs to be reconstructed to address the global problems facing the people. There seems to be a big gap between what is being offered in our engineering education sector and the level of problems facing the world. Engineers must be skilled to make smart decisions that not only address the problems in the world today and in the nearby future but also increase the quality of life by actually solving these problems. They must also make professional moves that aim at creating a better world to live in by interacting with people globally in order to identify their problems and discuss how they can solve them (Zoghi 6). In conclusion, engineering education has contributed greatly to the growth of economies as it produces capable problem-solving individuals who can address and solve problems in the world scene although the full realization of their skills remains the biggest challenge in the engineering profession today.

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Works Cited

Ashley, Prof Richard. ”The role of the civil engineer in society: engineering ethics and major projects.” Engineering Nature’s Way (2014).

Beder, Sharon. ”Engineers, Ethics and Sustainable Development.” Paper presented to the 10th International Congress of Logic, Methodology, and Philosophy of Science (2008).

NAE Grand, Challenges. ”Engineering for the Developing World.” Engineering Challenges (2005).

Okoye, Tochukwu Francis. ”The Role of Engineers in Economic Development.” Nigeria World (2010).

Zoghi, Shervin. ”Engineering Economics and Its Role in The Engineering Curricula.” American Society for Engineering Education (2015).