Engineering Education in Canadian Universities

5. STEPS TOWARD IMPLEMENTATION

• The significant changes that are required in the industrial and social cultures of Canada to meet the challenges of the present and the future must be accompanied by appropriate changes in attitudes, policies and practices, not only of engineering professors, students and educational administrators, but also of many in industry, government and the profession.

• This section of the report examines some of the current impediments to achieving the desired educational objectives and suggests actions which can provide the opportunities and incentives to promote the appropriate evolution.

• Continued acquisition of the resources to provide good engineering education is dependent on the firm support of the public and its governments, prospective students and industry. It is therefore imperative that educators of engineering students dedicate themselves to the primary task of meeting the needs of the roles for which their engineering students are being prepared.

• Some of the current expectations of engineering professors and some of the pressures that they experience in their universities must be changed if the desired changes are to occur in undergraduate and graduate engineering education.

• The recruitment processes of universities ensure that persons appointed to the professorate are highly intelligent and highly motivated. Most will succeed according to the rules for success as they perceive them. Therefore, the incentives built into the system and presented to the professors are of paramount importance.

• Currently, major influences on the attitudes of engineering professors arise from the needs of their own research programs. It is perceived that it is predominantly on the results of these researches published in archival journals that their careers depend.

• The evolution of effective engineering education can be expedited and promoted by developing closer and continuing links at the working level between educators and practitioners. Incentives are needed if engineering professors are to allocate any significant part of their time to this activity.

RECOMMENDATION 41: Engineering faculty administrators should ensure that the incentives experienced by professors are consistent with the primacy of effective education as an objective of their faculties.

5.1. - Evaluation Criteria and Practices

5.2. - The Influence of Research Policy

5.3. - Incentives and Policies in Teaching

5.4. - Professorial Experience and Interaction

5.5. - Professorial Workload and Time Allocation