ENGINEERING DESIGN - ACADEMIC DILEMMA

Changes in industrial practices have created an urgent need for a new type of engineering designer: an able problem-solver, competent communicator and interactor, knowledgeable beyond a single specialization, innovative and customer-responsive. Current university curricula do not usually offer students the ability to develop such skills. There is a growing realization in academic circles that a change is needed. Pilot courses suggest that orientation towards project work and case studies, taught in multidisciplinary groups, would provide the required abilities. Such a radical restructuring of engineering design teaching would force a major reorganization of academic power structures and privileges, giving rise to resistance and rejection. The more competitive environment brought about by expansion of university places, at a time of demographic contraction, may well force change as a means of survival.