Impacts of a Flat World on Engineering Education

Abstract

This paper discusses the changes to engineering education introduced through the accelerated engineering-related industrial growth in Asian and other developing countries. While the demand for engineering services is increasing, these nations educate a large number of engineers themselves and many are providing lower-cost alternatives for engineering services in industrialized nations. This phenomenon is already influencing some specialities more than others. Major changes are in evidence in the fields of computer science and software engineering, which in many cases are not location-dependent and for which product development can be done via the Web. Other disciplines are expected to follow as the world becomes, as Friedman (2005) puts it, more ‘flat’. The paper discusses the implications for engineering education as a whole and examines the strategic moves that institutions in the industrialized nations may be required to make. In this context, the author presents a critical view of education being totally dependent on industry and economic demands. As in a previous paper (Chatziianou and Sullivan, 2001), and in view of recent reactions of the educational community to the Bologna Declaration, he also examines the debate on the more general societal role and responsibility of education in a ‘flat world’. The portability of information and services and the need for consistent standards add new challenges and opportunities for these ‘additional’ educational tasks.