Engineering Education in Canadian Universities

3. POSTGRADUATE EDUCATION and RESEARCH

• As we look to a future in which engineering operations involve increasingly complex technical developments as well as increased concern with social, economic and environmental dimensions, the acquisition of a four-year undergraduate degree plus two years of engineering experience will come to be considered inadequate for professional qualification and effectiveness. Additional time for formal education will be required by many students to reach an appropriate level for entry into full professional engineering employment.

• Much of the future wealth of Canada will have to be created by the establishment of new industries based on the exploitation of newly-emerging technologies and new markets. Many of these small- and medium-size industries will not be in a position to provide the new graduates they employ with the necessary additional specialized education, experience and training required in their operations.

• A major objective of postgraduate programs should be the development of persons who can contribute to the creation and growth of the entrepreneurial enterprises on which society depends for new high quality employment and for creation of new wealth.

• At present, a majority of the students enroled in master's programs in engineering in Canada are in programs which are research oriented. This research emphasis has been promoted by several factors: the availability of scholarships for students in research-based programs, the funding of the research of engineering professors including support for the graduate students employed on the research, a requirement that a research-based masters precede doctoral studies, and an image that a research-based masters is superior to a professional masters degree.

• The limited numbers of graduates of these research-based master's programs have made major contributions to the engineering profession and to industry. Their involvement with a research project and their close association with their supervising professor have combined to provide a valuable opportunity for intellectual growth. However, these research-based masters programs have frequently included a research project of such a magnitude that the length of the program has become 5 to 6 terms.

3.1. - Professional Master's Programs

3.2. - Doctoral Studies in Engineering

3.3. - Engineering Research, Development and Design