1. INTRODUCTION

1.3. What is Engineering?

The design and delivery of engineering education must be based on a clear understanding of the role of the profession of engineering. The following points of definition are edited excerpts from the report " Engineering Research in Canadian Universities" [1]:

" Engineering is a profession concerned with the creation of new and improved systems, processes and products, to serve human needs as they are expressed by individuals, communities, governments and corporations."

" 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 mathematical analysis, to the operational principles of processes and systems, to the constraints of human resources, physical resources and economics, to the protection of the public, and to the social and environmental context for society, now and into the future. The professional engineer may be a specialist in a particular area of expertise, but must also be a generalist in order to practice that specialty in the real world."

In the public mind, the term "engineering" is frequently lost between the more popular words "science" and "technology". This contributes to an inadequate understanding of the role that the profession of engineering plays in society.

RECOMMENDATION 1: The Canadian Academy of Engineering, together with other engineering organizations in Canada, should focus efforts on informing the public on the role that the engineering profession plays in the welfare of the country, and on the important distinctions between engineering and science or technology.