Published Resources Details
Conference Paper
- Title
- Engineering Education: Its Relationship to Cultural Development
- In
- Engineering Conference 1978: Engineers Developing a Better World; Conference Papers
- Imprint
- Institution of Engineers, Australia, Barton, ACT, 1978, pp. 77-81
- ISBN/ISSN
- 085825090X
- Url
- https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.611924816303711
- Abstract
Engineers have played a central role in the development of countries now considered as developed. The direction of that development has been determined largely by the initiative of private organisations and government bodies acting and reacting with one another over a considerable period of time. There is growing concern that uncoordinated development has led to problems, unforeseen by either industry or government agencies, as communities become concerned at undesirable impacts which technological developments can have on the community.
Engineering education has tended to emphasise areas of academic respectability, sometimes with little reference to changing community expectations of the professional engineer's role and responsibilities.
The problems of developing countries, aiming to achieve rapid development for the benefit of their people, are compounded by the short time scales involved and the lack of adequate technical personnel.
Despite the endeavours of many countries to make engineering education widely available, it is apparent that students come from socio-economic groups, in which awareness of conditions and aspirations, amongst less fortunate or different socio-economic groups, is limited. Attempts to improve the cultural and technological values of developed and developing countries, without full consideration of the social, cultural and economic impacts, have been beset with problems.
Cooperative education programmes in engineering provide opportunities for students and educators to develop an awareness of the needs of the society they serve. In particular, students destined to work in developing communities can, whilst working in similar communities during their training, acquire a much deeper understanding of those communities' needs and are better equipped to assist in development schemes. Furthermore, the interaction which results from cooperative programmes can lead to the development of engineering education programmes appropriate to the needs of developing and developed countries.