Theme D: interaction between engineering education and industrial development

Within a conference devoted to the interaction between engineering education and society, it was only natural to give a place to the contribution of engineering education to industrial development. This rich and undoubtedly delicate topic has been dealt with from three viewpoints:

— the contribution of educational establishments to the actualization of engineers' technological knowledge.

— the participation of industry in the precise definition of curricula.

— the contribution of engineering education to the industrial growth of developing countries.     

Pourquoi entrer a l'Universite? L'Exemple d'une universite de lettres et sciences humaines

The large number of secondary school graduates entering higher education is transforming the nature of universities, particularly in literature and the humanities, by changing the relative numbers of students enrolled in different academic years. At the same time this influx is accompanied by a significant failure rate in the first academic year, calling into question the efficacy of the university system. A national issue with local repercussions, the struggle against failure in the first year is leading to much heart-searching among the universities, whose staff are trying hard to understand why certain students abandon their studies. The enquiry described in this article reveals the co-existence of two student populations: those who enter university as an active choice and those who do so by default. In the case of the first group, entry to university represents an investment for the future which must be carefully managed. In the second case it is a matter of going into higher education as a faute de mieux solution in an economic context in which work is scarce.     

Politiques d'éducation et de formation: Université et professionnalisation. 2001/02. Bruxelles: De Boeck Université. 130 pp. ISBN 2-8041-3732-5, ISSN 1377-3488.

International Review of Education -     

Practices and opinions reported by coordinators of graduate programs

Information is presented about the organization of graduate studies, based on questionnaire responses of 582 coordinators of Canadian graduate programs. These coordinators, who were representative of disciplines and geographic regions, provided information about a wide range of matters, including enrolments, staff, admissions, supervision, research, publications, financial support, teaching experience, and completion rates and times. Many substantial differences were noted among the percentage frequencies of responses for departments classified by discipline and size. For example, students were perceived to choose their doctoral theses topics themselves much more frequently in education, social sciences, and humanities than in engineering, medical sciences, physical sciences, and biological sciences. Also, departments with smaller numbers of full-time graduate students tended to provide all doctoral students, with some teaching experience to a greater extent than did larger departments.     

Use of situations in mathematics education

Situations are often regarded as the panacea which guarantees concretisation of abstract notions. Recent research results have led us to qualify this opinion. After analysing briefly the notion of situation, we raise various issues on the basis of the responses of children aged 11–15 to the racing car problem. We observed various limits brought about by the situation in the abstraction prócess, and also that the task involved more abstract notions (even pictorial) than expected. The conclusion singles out some principles ensuring a better use of situations and points out key problems such as the role of mental images and the importance of the spoken language.     

Statistics in the speed cameras debate

This article illustrates how statistical arguments can be used to influence public policy . . . for better or for worse.     

Editorials

This article discusses historical and contemporary influences on changes in special education assessment, with emphasis on three persistent themes: accurate classification, fairness to minority students, and special education outcomes. Dunn's contributions to each of the themes are discussed, along with other influences such as legislation and litigation. Current dynamics leading to significant changes in special education assessment are discussed, particularly in the disability category of specific learning disabilities.     

Unfulfilled promise: radical discourses in South African educational historiography, 1970–2007

This paper examines the discourses and modes of representation embodied in educational historiography from the 1970s to the present and their implications for intellectual identity construction in SA. The paper shows how the theoretical foundations of the liberal and Afrikaner nationalist discourses, which vacillated between race and ethnicity, shifted to social class and gender in radical and neo‐Marxist discursive formations of the 1980s. It highlights how the decline of radical scholarship has resulted in a synthesis of constructivist and postmodernist discourses that privilege nation‐building, identity and cultural diversity after apartheid within a predominantly neo‐liberal paradigm. It argues that the transition to post‐apartheid education came to be thought about within a horizon of possibilities different from the rigid paradigmatic tradition of the short‐lived neo‐Marxist school of the 1970s and 1980s.