Need for a new paradigm in offshore industry-university cooperation

Industry, and the offshore industry in particular, has always been generous in providing support to universities and participating in academic programs. With the changes in available technology, affecting both the way we can teach and the way engineers will work in the future, and with the emphasis on research at the so called `research universities' it has become apparent that there is a need for significant changes in engineering curricula. Among others there is a need for earlier and increased exposure of students to real engineering problems and cases, a need that cannot be fulfilled by faculty lacking practical experience and exposure to engineering practice. We must, as a result, develop a new industry-university partnership with a stronger participation of professional engineers in the educational process in close collaboration with faculty members. In this paper we outline some of the needs and possible means of collaboration.