Engineering is a profession concerned with the creation of new and improved systems, processes and products to serve human needs. The central focus of engineering is design, an art entailing the exercise of ingenuity, imagination, knowledge, skill, discipline and judgement based on experience. The practice of professional engineering requires sensitivity to the physical potential of materials, to the logic of mathematics, to the constraints of human resources, physical resources and economics, to the minimization of risk, to the protection of the public and the environment.

Some of the basic premises for this report are:

• Graduates of engineering faculties are needed to serve society not only in the traditional technical capacities which they need to master well but increasingly in non-technical leadership capacities.

• The most important and fundamental role for engineering faculties is to prepare young people to work in these various capacities in an evolving world, providing them with an education which is technically focussed and has adequate breadth.

• Narrow specialization is not considered to be an appropriate response to expansion in technology.

• Conducting quality research to enhance the learning of both faculty and students and to contribute to the innovation base for industry and society is a very important role for engineering faculties.

• Engineering faculties are to be sensitive to the needs of their several stakeholders: students, faculty, the university, the engineering profession, industry, employers, society and governments.