Engineering Education in Canadian Universities

KEY RECOMMENDATIONS

• Engineering Faculties should:
  • ensure that undergraduate engineering programs are broadly based, inculcating those basic attributes that are of lasting value and applicability,

  • emphasize design, problem solving, the impact of engineering on society and the environment, communication, teamwork, leadership and practical experience,

  • provide one-year professional master's programs in engineering design, engineering management and engineering research and development,

  • emphasize research, development and design projects relevant to the solution of present and future problems and opportunities in Canadian society,

  • plan to recruit a majority of their professors after some years of effective engineering experience in industry or government,

  • encourage linkages with industry through cooperative and contract research, consultancies and sabbatical leave employment.

• The Engineering Profession in Canada should:
  • support a country-wide introduction of a more effective and longer (eg. four year) experience requirement for Engineers-in-Training prior to registration,

  • should introduce programs for recognizing participation in appropriate continuing education activities by professional engineers, with a view to making adequate participation an eventual requirement for continued registration.

• Canadian Industry should:
  • accept an ongoing responsibility to provide adequate practical experience opportunities for engineering students,

  • provide suitable development programs for Engineers-in-Training,

  • provide opportunities, encouragement and support for continuing education programs for their professional engineers,

  • provide well-qualified practising engineers to play a major role in the presentation of application-oriented undergraduate and professional master's programs,

  • encourage linkages with universities through cooperative research and development, contracts and consultancies.

• Universities should:
  • ensure that their recruitment and advancement criteria for professors are sufficiently broad to include the special needs of engineering. These criteria should include appropriate recognition of teaching performance, research and development contributions, professional experience and accomplishments, and service to the community,

  • ensure that the rewards for good teaching are made as attractive as those for good research.

• Governments should:
  • make it a priority for public policy in Canada to ensure an adequate supply of qualified entrants to the engineering profession by providing appropriate targeted resources for engineering education,

  • encourage agencies such as NSERC, NRC, provincial research organizations and government departments to establish, expand and emphasize programs involving cooperative research and development by industry and universities,

  • provide support for continuing education for engineers through appropriate infrastructure.

• The Canadian Academy of Engineering should:
  • commit itself to a continuing role in promoting engineering education of appropriate content and quality, in cooperation with engineering faculties, universities, industry, professional associations, technical societies and governments,

  • focus efforts on informing the public on the role that the engineering profession plays in the welfare and infrastructure of the country, and on the important role of engineering as distinct from science or technology.