Problems of accreditation and quality assurance of engineering education in developing countries

The relationships between funding, management and quality assurance of engineering education in developing countries are discussed in this paper. It is proposed to raise the debate on engineering education up to the global economic level and to examine some of the issues facing developing and poorer countries in managing and improving the quality of engineering education in their countries. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the world is now divided in two realigned blocks: one of developed (rich or advanced) countries that have a social security safety net for their population and another of developing (or poor) countries that have no such luxuries for their population. For the general public in the developing countries, any engineering degree is a passport to lifelong well-being of an individual and his/her extended family.Therefore, the demand for such qualifications is very high and it is almost a rat race amongst school graduates to get into engineering/technical colleges. In view of this booming demand, there are hundreds of privately funded engineering/technical colleges in countries like the Philippines, India, Thailand, etc. besides state-funded ones. It is extremely difficult to ensure good quality in this mushrooming scenario. There are also many very small poorresource developing countries where there is only one engineering school and/or two to three technical colleges. Products of these schools/colleges work only in their own country and educational globalization has little or no meaning for them. Besides highlighting the aforementioned general issues, the paper also presents a few case studies on problems of accreditation and quality assessment in larger developing countries such as India and the Philippines and also in very small developing countries such as Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Arab countries.     

Engineering ethics at the Catholic University of Lille (France): Research and teaching in a European context

This paper relates to the development of non-technical education (and to ethics) in engineering curricula in Europe and particularly in France. Two projects being followed at the Centre de recherche en éthique de l'ingénieur (CREI) at the Catholic University of Lille (France) are discussed: the first is an engineering ethics course which has been running for 6 years in a state engineering school, where there is a strong emphasis on analysing the ethical issues of the students' first work experience. The second has to do with the writing of a European handbook on engineering ethics which gives us good insight into how engineering ethics as a discipline is shaped by the cultural background of those who develop it (dominant philosophical tradition, religious background, the way the engineering profession is organized and education). Two main approaches seem to be prevalent in Europe today: the first relates to professional ethics as discussed in the USA since the 1950s, the second relates to a new discipline that is developing in Europe, that of the ethics of technology.     

Intervention Strategies to Increase the Proportion of Girls and Women Studying and Pursuing Careers in Technological Fields: a West European overview

Although Western European countries are behind Eastern European countries in regard to the numbers of women studying and working in technical fields, the past decade has seen the development of a wide range of special projects aimed at changing this situation. The paper reviews a wide range of intervention strategies which have been developed and introduced to deal with identified barriers to girls’ or women's involvement with technology in Western Europe. There has been increasing recognition of the need to try to increase the interaction of young girls with technology. At the same time older women are being seen as a fruitful source of potentially self-confident recruits to technical training. The issue of sexism in education and training institutions and in the work place is being faced, and more is being done to help women engineers and scientists cope with the dual roles of working technologists and family carers     

Equal Educational Opportunity: A Definition

Abstract

Efforts aimed at the development of a European dimension to the general education curricula offered in the different European countries have been stepped up in recent years, both within the countries of the current European Union and within the wider range of European countries belonging to the Council of Europe and subscribing to its Cultural Convention. The immediate importance of these efforts is seen to lie in the desirability of offering an education to young people that helps them make the most of their opportunities not only within their own national borders but also in the wider European Community to which they now belong and in which they have new rights and responsibilities. More generally, these efforts are also seen to be important in consolidating a Europe in which past animosities can finally be abandoned and replaced by a firm pan‐European attachment to ideals of freedom and cooperation between European nations, dedicated to the defence of democracy, human rights, freedom and tolerance. But, how successful have these efforts been? What are the problems encountered? What are the prospects for the future? How far is it proving possible to develop the European dimension across the curriculum? How successful is the European dimension, or might it be, in achieving its intended objectives? These questions, all of which are more puzzling than they might at first appear to be, are touched on in this paper.     

‘They're not girly girls’: an exploration of quantitative and qualitative data on engineering and gender in higher education

Despite sustained efforts to promote engineering careers to young women, it remains the most male-dominated academic discipline in Europe. This paper will provide an overview of UK data and research on women in engineering higher education, within the context of Europe. Comparisons between data from European countries representing various regions of Europe will highlight key differences and similarities between these nations in terms of women in engineering. Also, drawing on qualitative research the paper will explore UK students’ experiences of gender, with a particular focus on the decision to study engineering and their experiences in higher education.     

用历史解读CDIO及其应用前景

理论与实践的关系一直是工程教育争论的焦点,不同国家处理这一争论的方式有所不同。在美国,教育界在实践与理论之间如同钟摆不断寻找平衡;而欧洲,双元制的工程教育体系分别侧重于工程教育的理论和实践两个侧面。第二次世界大战以后,工程需以科学为基础的观念影响更深、更广,尤其是60年代后,工程教育甚至忽视了实践、经验等特性,使得"工程"与"科学"、"工程师"与"科学家"界限模糊,工程师在社会中的作用和地位受到质疑。自70年代始,"回到实践"的呼声强烈。本文认为,CDIO是对当前工程教育"理论"与"实践"问题的一种解决方式。CDIO只是应对目前工程教育困境的诸多解决方案中的一种。就CDIO本身而言,对于不同国家、不同层次、不同具体情况的学校可能会有积极的启发意义,但并不意味着它是唯一可借鉴的做法。     

德国在阿拉伯国家海外办学模式研究

随着全球化进程的加速,海外办学成为德国高等教育国际化的重要内容,而处在经济社会转型期的阿拉伯国家对高等教育有着迫切的需求,这为双方的教育合作打下了基础,阿拉伯国家因此成为德国海外办学的重点区域。德国大学在该地区设立海外分校、开设联合专业、联合开办大学,其中联合开办大学是德国在该地区海外办学最重要的形式。德国在阿拉伯地区的海外办学有着不同于其他国家的特色,体现出强烈的政治化倾向、分布在经济欠发达国家及新兴市场、带有发展援助性质、专业以工科自然科学为主、并提供海外交流机会。     

Education in China today

With a population of approximately 850 million living in an area of 9.6 million square kilometres, or the size of the United States of America or Europe, China's efforts to provide mass education since 1949 can only be described as impressive. Whether it is formal education or non-formal education, as educators in non-communist countries categorize education systems, China's education of the masses must be seen in the light of its role of “social reconstruction”. The vital role of education in accelerating economic growth is only a means to bring about reconstruction, not an end in itself as in other developing countries.     

发达国家继续工程教育经验及借鉴意义

自20世纪中期以来，发达国家把发展继续工程教育当做促进国民经济、参与国际竞争的强大支柱。积极推进继续工程教育，并积累了许多宝贵的经验：政府高度重视继续工程教育的立法工作；推行“有薪学习假”；办学主体多元化；确保继续工程教育经费；着重培养应用型人才。借鉴这些成功的经验。对我国继续工程教育的发展大有裨益。     

Universities,dependency and the market: innovative lessons from Kenya

Higher education in developing nations is typically viewed from a dependency perspective – institutions are seen as merely recipients of Western knowledge, aid and reform efforts. Nevertheless, universities in both the centre and the periphery are dealing with tensions between protecting the public good and embracing neoliberal values based on a market approach to higher education. In the USA and Europe these competing interests are typically cast as mutually exclusive. Our study on the market approach to higher education in Kenya, however, suggests that public and private interests can be complementary, contributing to a re-envisioning of the traditional mission of higher education. This article seeks to examine more fully the nature of reform efforts at two universities in Kenya, to elucidate lessons for universities undergoing market-oriented reform in the West and to suggest a reciprocal relationship between institutions in Africa and Europe, upending the centre-periphery paradigm.     

Developing Countries and Foreign Universities

Countries which are underdeveloped, as measured by the size of the gross national product per person, need a high rate of increase of the gross national product if they are ever to have a standard of living anything like that of the wealthier countries. However, there are many obstacles to achieving such a high rate of development, amongst which is the inadequate provision, and standard, of technological and business education. That is to say, the education of people for the continuing development of industry is inadequate in some or even all respects. Some of these inadequacies can be removed or mitigated through co-operation with member institutions of SEFI and similar bodies. This co-operation has to be very carefully designed and implemented if it is to make any substantial impact on the rate of development. Engineering schools in underdeveloped countries have, or should have, different objectives from those in welldeveloped countries. These objectives will change as the development progresses but for a time they must be somewhat different if the schools are to have the most effect on industrial development.

This article is based on extensive experience of working in, or working for, engineering schools at universities in various developing countries. My interest in, and commitment to, enhancing the role of engineering schools in development began in 1964 when I was asked to go to the new University of Science and Technology in Kumasi Ghana, as a visiting professor for two terms. Since that time I have worked as a visiting professor and examiner or as an educational consultant and expert in engineering education for universities in several developing countries.     

Engineering Education in Developing Countries: social relevance versus international comparability

The growing frustration of developing countries with their relatively slow rate of economic progress, their increasing dependence on imports of technology despite genuine efforts for endogenous developemt, and the flight of their skilled manpower for employment in developed countries have combined to focus attention of their educational planners on the ‘appropriateness’ of their engineering education programmes. Since technology is nation- and culture-specific, it is argued that all educational programmes in the field of engineering and technology should be specifically designed to meet the needs of the country concerned. Formulation of such programmes may, however, inhibit mobility of engineers across national boundaries, hamper transferof technology and decelerate global economic and technological development. The paper examines the observable differences in the characteristics of developing and developed countries, the technological framework and projections of economic growth of developing countries and the special features of the engineering educational system needed to respond to their needs. Implications of recent advances in information technology, biotechnology and manufacturing technology on engineering education planning are analysed. The compatibility of socially relevant engineering education with that of internationally comparable standards is examined in detail. It is shown that it is possible to develop programmes in developing countries which are intellectually challenging, meet international standards of achievement and at the same tiem equip students with competence in technology assessment, with awareness of pitfalls of technology transfer and with experience in use of technological solutions for current social and economic problems. It is argued that such programmes while essential for developing countries will be equally useful to developed countries and would accelerate international appreciation of problems of development. The reversal of brain-drain is proposed through the creation of challenging opportunities at home coupled with the utiltisation of intellectual and financial resources of emigré nationals abroad.     

PROLEGOMENA TO ACCREDITATION IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

Beginning with an overview of various international initiatives which have been taken in recent years with regard to exchanges of information and experiences on quality assessment in higher education, this article reflects on the adoption of quality assessment techniques and accreditation in the higher education systems of eastern and central Europe. The principles of Total Quality Management (TQM), self‐evaluation, the structures of formal accreditation, and methodological issues of quality assurance are discussed, examples being drawn from several countries. The point is made that the countries of central and eastern Europe must individualize the evaluation and accreditation systems which they choose to adopt in ways which are compatible with specific cultural and national factors while at the same time upholding international norms of quality.     

基于德国经验的中国大学创业教育思考

德国是欧洲大学创业教育发展较早的国家之一.创业教育已成为德国大学课程体系中的重要组成部分,并形成了鲜明的特征:大学教师队伍以兼职教师居多;培养对象以具有创业潜质的大学生为重点;教学模式以经典教学模式为主;预期目标是培养创业实践能力、创业意识和精神.德国大学创业教育包括三种组织模式:校本整合模式、校园独立模式以及校本双元模式.借鉴德国经验,我国大学创业教育应建立专兼职相结合的教师队伍;强化大学生创业实践能力;引入创业教育实践课程;调整创业教学模式;加强社会资源整合.     

The effect of education on poverty: A European perspective

More than 1 in 7 people in Europe live in a household whose income is below the national poverty line, but more than 30% of people consider themselves to live in poverty. This study provides evidence on the causal relationship between education and various dimensions of poverty. I construct a novel database comprising compulsory schooling reforms in 32 European countries and use them as instruments for education. I find economically large poverty-reducing effects of education. This holds true for several objective poverty measures, which are both absolute and relative in nature, and a subjective poverty measure. An additional year of education thus reduces not only the likelihood of being classified as living in poverty but also the likelihood of considering oneself to live in poverty. Increases in labor force participation and full-time employment as well as better health are potential mechanisms behind these results. Notably, countries in Eastern Europe seem to drive the results.     

Community education in the 1980s: What can we learn from experience?

The last ten years have seen a revival of interest in ‘community-oriented’ forms of education as a result of wide spread disillusionment with the trends of social change which have been experienced both in developing and in more highly developed countries. Much of the recent thinking about the dysfunctional nature of conventional schooling in poorer countries has emphasised its alien nature, regarding it as an importation ill-adapted to the development needs or cultural context of these countries. It is too often overlooked that problems of reforming or replacing conventional educational patterns largely derive from the fact that these patterns are in fact firmly rooted in the local situation and up to this time have drawn much of their strength from their very considerable success in performing the tasks allocated to them by their various clienteles. In this paper it is argued that whilst there may well be a pressing need for reform in order to meet changing circumstances and, notably, the mass education situation in which we now find ourselves, we are unlikely to achieve successful reform unless we examine the roots of our problems more thoroughly than we have often been inclined to. There is real danger that we may be carried forward on bandwagons of doubtful relevance to our real situation and that we may once again be distracted from the careful analysis of our own experience without which our judgements and decisions may well prove ill-founded.This paper seeks to examine some of that experience in the hope of identifying some of the considerations we should bear in mind as we consider the potentiality of forms of community education which are currently being urged upon us.     

Technology education and science education: Engineering as a case study of relationships

Technology education and science education are seen to be related in a particular fashion by many science educators, a relationship exemplified by the common pairing of the two areas in labels such as “Science-Technology-Society” and “Science and Technology Curriculum”. At the heart of this common science education perspective is a view of technology education as dependent on and subservient to science education. In this paper engineering, often seen by scientists as a form of applied science dependent on and subservient to science, is considered. An analysis of the arguments that engineering, far from being an applied science, is a unique way of knowing (that engineering has a unique epistemology) is used to consider the technology education view of the relationships between science education and technology education. It is suggested that science educators need to rethink their perceptions of this relationship if they are to understand the arguments of technology educators. Specializations: science education, teacher education.     

Reflections on the Reform of Higher Education in Central and Eastern Europe

Attempting to generalize about the reform of higher education in Central and Eastern Europe since the end of communism is made complicated by the difficulty in identifying clear terms of reference and points of comparison. The area and the higher education systems concerned are far from being homogeneous, for the homogeneity imposed by communism and Soviet domination did not last. When comparing Central and Eastern European higher education systems with those of the West, one is confronted with Western higher education systems that are quite heterogeneous and themselves also going through change. The routes to transition in higher education in Central and Eastern Europe are as diverse as the given systems and countries. The two standard categorizations of Central and Eastern European higher education, exceptionalism and underdevelopment, are inaccurate. Rather, Central and Eastern European higher education should be viewed as fitting into a wider effort to reorient the whole of European higher education towards the knowledge society. In this venture, Central and Eastern European higher education may possess some advantages that are not as prevalent further West.     

Continuing Engineering Education for Developing Countries: a challenge and an opportunity

All developing countries are committed to use science and technology for the uplift of the economic condition of their population. Although development is a complex multi-variable optimisation process, and application of science and technology is only one of the dominant variables, no sustained economic development is possible without a proper infrastructure of education and training of scientists, technicians and engineers. Building such an infrastructure is beset with numerous difficulties in many developing countries, e.g. unavailability of trained teachers, lack of financial resources for upgrading laboratories and workshops, and making the course curriculum relevant to the needs of the country. In the context of these difficulties, it is suggested that developing countries should take advantage of continuing education programmes to meet their development needs for trained manpower. Updating the competence of teachers of engineering and technology, improving the skills of technicians and engineers in the wake of improved or new technologies and preparing the young engineers and managers for the technologies of the future have been identified as the major CEE needs of developing countries. Rapid development in educational technology tools, e.g. audio/video material, media-packages, programmed learning, computer-assisted instruction has made it possible to cut down the cost of manpower training and also meet the shortage of fully-trained teachers. Brief details of the CEE programmes being run in India are given. International Cooperation in the exchange of learning material including computer software for instruction purposes has been identified as a method to accelerate the growth of CEE movement in developing countries. A few criteria have been specified to ensure that such exchange of material is useful.     

Educating teachers for the improvement of the quality of basic education in developing countries

In discussions about improving the quality of basic education in the developing countries much focus has been on education functioning to improve the economic conditions of individuals. Basic education as critical literacy which empowers people to improve their social and personal lives by participating politically in decision-making processes relating to equitable distribution of economic wealth appears to be missing from the discussion on basic education. Grounding her arguments in observations of classroom teaching in two developing countries, the author argues in this article that the current ‘socialization’ approach to education in the developing countries needs to be replaced by innovative, critical approaches involving ‘resocialization’ if basic education is to play a role in improving the lives of the masses. What some developing countries are doing in teacher education to achieve this innovation is also discussed.