Forum of Pakistani Engineers

Developing countries are facing many challenges in Engineering Education and one of the key issues is the question of curriculum adaptability to the growing needs in the concerned sector relevant to developmental process. For example the civil engineering curriculum equally revolves around structures and surveying.

During the last three decades, engineering and technical education in Pakistan has witnessed large growth. Setup of new engineering universities and other institutes of higher education have relatively good infrastructure with qualified teaching staff.

But there is need to focus in engineering education more on teaching the basics of technology (from textbooks). The subjects covered in universities are not up to that level which is studied in European Universities. It may be some institutes have the offer to its student knowledge pertinent to the needs of industry as a part of the curriculum but what has been examined in reference to developed countries institutes, some faculties of engineering are still to be modernized. For example some subjects like environment engineering, construction law and arbitration subjects are required to be introduced within their curriculum. Some faculties lack a clear vision regarding strategies needed to inform their students about the future technologies and demand of the industry. Thus, there is an urgent need for an important change in perspective and in the model used of for establishing new curricula.

In my opinion, universities in Pakistan should also offer courses based on e-learning formats using web-based tools and practicing engineers should take them “on a need basis” consideration the specific requirements for new knowledge and skills.

The engineers in all departments must have exams based on experience and skill minimum after 2-3 years and CPD points should be counted while promoting to higher posts. To be a member of Pakistan Engineering Council is not enough, engineers should prove themselves the engineers, not good clerks who only sign the bills and forward the files in government departments. The competency profile of engineers is changing dramatically in this age and it is essential to establish a close cooperation between faculties of engineering, industry and engineering council in order to participate in the formation of engineers.

The future engineering education must take the following into consideration while planning their courses and Pakistan Engineering Council should watch it in the scenario of other developed countries demand and environments:

• Offer modular and flexible programs.
• Redesign curricula and involve industry in the development of these new curricula.
• Use of advanced lecture delivery tools such as projection systems, e-learning via intranet and internet.
• Offer collaborative learning environment by tying up with leading foreign.

The engineering educational programs must prepare engineers capable to fulfil the demand of industry and standard of education and be fully aware of some important facts such as.

• Understand that employers of engineers are multi-national companies with wide geographical spread and conduct business across international boundaries.
• Engineers must deal with varied cultures, customs and languages and must be capable of working in global rather than local environments.
• Engineering work must adhere to a variety of statutory and regulatory requirements.
• Engineering designs need to address both local and international requirements, and in particular, environmental regulations.
• Developed products must address a variety of customers and consumer preferences.

And new engineering curricula must address the following:

• Clarify the impacts of technological change on societies.
• Stress the need to make information technology part of engineering education.
• Offer basic foundations of science and mathematics and offer opportunities for the inclusion of biology, energy and water technologies.
• Offer opportunities for specialized knowledge without ignoring multi-disciplinary content of the curriculum.
• Teach engineering students the real value of teamwork and stress the need for clear communication/soft skills including verbal, written and visual.
• Teach engineering student basic elements of business, finance, management and quality.

In conclusion, developing countries should be committed to retaining high-level scientists, stimulating them, and providing funds and other support to encourage and maintain their productivity.

Abstracts from: http://www.arabrise.org

Tags: engineering education, future of engineering education in pakistan, technical education in Pakistan

This entry was posted on Monday, May 4th, 2009 at 11:41 am and is filed under Civil Engineering. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.