Liberation of International Engineering Education with the Paradigm of Liberal Engineering

UDDIN, Mahbub

715 Stadium Dr., San Antonio, TX 78212, Trinity University, Department of Engineering Science, mahbub@engr.trinity.edu, www.engr.trinity.edu

Abstract: Today's rapid and diverse scientific, informational and technological advances provide for exciting career opportunities in engineering; however, the same advances also generate complex social, global, ethical, environmental and technical problems for humanity. A curriculum in liberal engineering offers students the opportunity to understand, appreciate and evaluate the social, economical, global, environmental and cultural impact of engineering products and service. A liberal engineering curriculum promotes the globalization of engineering education.

Keywords: liberal, engineering, globalization, curriculum, Trinity

1 Introduction

Undergraduate engineering curriculum in most of the developed and underdeveloped countries in the world is primarily focused in training students to acquire hard skills necessary for a successful practicing engineer. The traditional, hard skill dominated engineering curriculum was very successful during the industrial revolution after the Second World War and the post Sputnik era. However, beginning in 1990, there seems to be a dramatic shift of employment patterns for engineers. In the USA, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that very few engineering graduates will be employed in traditional engineering jobs in the 21^st century.[1] There will be significant shift of engineering jobs from production to service related to information technology. More and more engineers will be employed by small companies compared to large corporations. In addition, globalization of national companies will require engineers to deal with international counterparts more frequently. A similar trend is also observed in Asia, Africa, Europe, South America and North America.

Frank L. Huband, Executive Director and Publisher of ASEE's Prism magazine, wrote: "According to economic studies, new technologies have been responsible for much of the increase in our standard of living since the end of World War II. Engineers, who play a central role in technology development, need to be prepared to play a leadership role in out technology-driven society and in the companies that produce those technologies. Corporate decision-makers that lack an understanding of the technologies that underpin the success of their enterprises are likely to err in their strategic judgments.

In the past, a liberal arts degree often provided a base from which a student could subsequently pursue any number of career paths. For many students in recent decades, a law degree played that role. In the 21^st century, engineering is positioned to provide these opportunities.

It is perhaps worthwhile for us to examine how engineering education can enhance the impact of engineers and engineering knowledge on society. Changes might include how we select our students, what and how we teach them, how well we prepare them for lifelong learning, and what we inspire them to aspire to." [2]

Norman Augustine, who served as a CEO for a large corporation and is the author of Augustine's Travels: A World-Class Leader Looks at Life, Business, and What it Takes to Succeed at Both, describes today's age as the "socioengineering age".[3] He identifies the following important elements of an engineering education for the twenty first century: [4]

• Emphasize the basics

• Expose engineers to the liberal arts

• Develop team skills

• Teach the political process

• Develop communication skills

• Place greater emphasis on systems engineering

• Understand the internationalization of human society

• Open the doors wide to women and minorities

• Commit to continuing education

• Ensure that an engineering education is affordable

• Adopt a five- to six-year course of study for the basic degree of the engineering profession

To accommodate these growing changes in the engineering profession, the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) developed Criteria EC2000. In ABET's Criteria EC2000, engineering programs in the USA must demonstrate that their graduates have the following abilities: [5]

1. an ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering,

2. an ability to design and conduct experiments, as well as to analyze and interpret data,

3. an ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs,

4. an ability to function on multi-disciplinary teams,

5. an ability to identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems,

6. an understanding of professional and ethical responsibility,

7. an ability to communicate effectively,

8. the broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global and societal context,

9. a recognition of the need for, and an ability to engage in life-long learning,

10. a knowledge of contemporary issues, and

11. an ability to use the techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice.

Careful analysis of the above eleven abilities shows that abilities a, b, c, e, and k are related to engineering hard skills and can be achieved through the traditional engineering curriculum. However, abilities d, f, g, h, i and j are deep rooted in traditional liberal arts curriculum. To achieve these eleven abilities successfully, we need to broaden our traditional engineering curriculum.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the development of a liberal engineering curriculum that broadens the traditional engineering curriculum with significant liberal arts education. The engineering program at Trinity University is essentially a liberal engineering program. This paper discusses our experiences with such a program.

2  Development of a Liberal Engineering Curriculum

In the development of a liberal engineering curriculum, we first need to articulate the mission of such a curriculum. The word "liberal" is adopted from the term liberal arts education. Therefore, the mission of a liberal engineering program is to provide an engineering education integrated with liberal arts studies. In a liberal engineering curriculum, the engineering components should emphasize the following:

• Provide understanding of the physical sciences, mathematics and basic engineering sciences which form the foundation of all engineering disciplines

• Provide broad-based engineering education

• Interdisciplinary system engineering approach to problem solving

• Creative engineering design experience

• Multidisciplinary engineering design exposure

• Partnership with industry

The liberal arts component of the curriculum should complement the engineering curriculum and provide greater emphasis on the following:

• Understanding the varied domains of human knowledge and experience

• Understanding the cultural, religious, ethnic, economical and geographical diversity of the modern society

• Quest for life-long learning

• Quest for learning other cultures and languages

• Participation in study abroad programs

• Internationalization of human activities

• Development of skills for creative and critical thinking

• Development of skills for effective oral and written communications

• Development of interpersonal skills

• Consideration of moral values and ethical issues in decision making

• Consideration of global factors in decision making

• Consideration of social, political, economical and environmental impact in decision making

The liberal engineering program should satisfy the ABET Criteria 2000. The program should also receive global recognition.

3  The Trinity Experience

Engineering is a profession in which knowledge of mathematics, the sciences and technology is applied, with judgment, to economically develop and utilize the materials and forces of nature for the benefit of society as a whole. Today's rapid and diverse scientific and technological advances provide for exciting career opportunities in engineering - however, these same advances also generate complex social, ethical, environmental, global and technical problems for society. The successful engineer of the future must understand, appreciate and consider the social, economic, environmental, global and cultural impact of new designs, products and services. The Trinity Engineering Science program fosters the development of this kind of engineering graduate by providing a broad technical background with a significant liberal education in the humanities and social sciences.

The principal objective of the Engineering Science program is the development of high quality, liberally educated; creative engineering graduates who possess a broad background in engineering science. Some specialization is available through elective courses in chemical, electrical and mechanical engineering. The Department believes that since its program attracts very talented, inquisitive students motivated toward intellectual challenge, the program should be directed toward developing students' creative and critical thinking skills for innovative design and problem solving within the context of society's heritage and value systems. The tools of basic science, mathematics, engineering science, technology and behavioral science complemented by the perspective of the liberal arts, humanities and fine arts provide the means for this type of engineering and are key ingredients of the liberal engineering education.

Trinity's Engineering Science program started in the early 1960s and has been continuously accredited since the late 1960s. The Engineering Science program requires a minimum of 129 credit hours and consists of four basic categories. These include required engineering courses (51 credit hours), mathematics and science courses (33 credit hours), liberal arts courses (33 credit hours) and engineering electives (12 credit hours). An overview of the engineering science curriculum is given in Table 1.

Table 1. Engineering Science Program at Trinity University

The 51 hours of required engineering courses satisfies the ABET requirement and includes two fundamental parts: 1) traditional engineering science courses and 2) a 16 credit hour, eight semester design sequence that begins in the first semester of the freshman year and terminates with a two semester senior capstone design project. In our program, engineering design is the central focus of our efforts.

The design sequence is structured to provide our students with an introduction to the design process in the freshman year, followed by three mini capstone design projects in the sophomore and junior years and terminated with the year long senior project. The mini capstone projects follow various sequences of engineering science courses that directly support them. For example, the first project follows the statics and dynamics courses and involves a problem in mechanics design. The second one follows the circuits and electronics course and is done along with the controls course; it involves the design of an electrical device. And finally, the third one follows the mass and energy balances and thermodynamics course and is done in conjunction with the fluid mechanics course and laboratory. It involves a thermo/fluids problem. Thus, by the end of the junior year, all of our students have experienced an introduction to the general design process and practiced mini capstone projects in three different areas. Up to this point, all projects are approached by groups of student so working on the same problem in a competitive nature. These are a precursor for the senior project that generally involves groups of three or four students working on different problems. Together, this carefully crafted sequence of design courses represents one of the important components of the curriculum that prepares our graduates for professional practice.

The 33 credit hours of mathematics and science courses includes 18 credit hours of mathematics, 8 credit hours of physics, 4 credit hours of chemistry and 3 credit hours of a mathematics/science elective. These courses provide a foundation for the engineering science course and provide analysis and mathematical modeling tools for optimizing engineering design.

The 12 credit hours of electives allow students to take course in chemical, electrical or mechanical engineering to gain some specialization. They can also use these electives to take courses in preparation for law or medical school.

The University common curriculum includes six fundamental understandings: Understanding the Intellectual Heritage of Western Culture, Understanding World Cultures, Understanding the Role of Values, Understanding the World through Science, Understanding the Human social context and Understanding Aesthetic Experience and Artistic Creativity. Students must complete courses in each of these Understandings to satisfy the 39 credit hour common curriculum requirement. Engineering students satisfy the Understanding the World through Science requirement by completing the mathematics/science requirements of the engineering program and satisfy the Understanding Aesthetic Experience requirement by taking the senior design courses. Engineering students take 33 credit hours of liberal arts course to satisfy the University's remaining common curriculum requirements. Through these liberal arts courses, engineering students form a basis for understanding the varied domains of human knowledge and experience and develop understanding and appreciation of other cultures and religions. Liberal arts courses play a vital role in the development of creative and critical thinking, oral and written communications and interpersonal skills. They learn about the moral, ethical, economical, environmental and geo-political impact of engineering design, products and services. Liberal arts courses also nurture the quest for life-long learning.

Our program of liberal engineering education takes the student far beyond simple memorization into the realm of comprehension and the development of critical and creative thinking. The result is a graduate who can comprehend the meaning of materials and apply knowledge to new situations, solutions and create new structures and patterns. Our graduates are accomplished speakers and writers and can communicate effectively with others. Our graduates are educated to become self-learners and wise decision-makers. Feedback from our alumni, employers of our graduates, graduate school personnel and members of the industry confirm that our graduates are well prepared for graduate school, engineering professional practice and a broad challenging range of careers. Please visit our web site for more information about our program: www.engr.trinity.edu

4  Conclusions

A liberal engineering curriculum promotes the globalization of engineering education. It prepares engineering students with skills that are not commonly practiced in traditional discipline-oriented engineering curriculum. A liberal engineering curriculum offers the opportunity to prepare for the dynamic changes in the engineering job market.

A liberal engineering program can be developed by integrating and nurturing the principles and values of liberal arts studies into the engineering curriculum. The Engineering Science program at Trinity University provides students a broadly based undergraduate engineering education by offering a design oriented, multi-disciplinary engineering science curriculum in the context of the University's tradition of the liberal arts and sciences.

5  References