Engineering Education - A Future Management Of The Future 2002

Abstract:  Processes and structures of current engineering praxis, as well as those of the present university engineering education, are closely related to progress and stasis of modern nation state, and modernity as such. In the current post-modern knowledge society, the engineering education needs to redefine its priorities and find a new footing. In the knowledge society, the higher education has become of supreme importance for the functioning of its structures rooted in learning. Structural rigidity of higher education based on the authority and financial resources of the nation state in stasis does not correspond to dynamics of present culture development. Institutions of higher education need to be de-nationalised, as they need freedom for employment of their resources in an effort to reach goals set by regional and global standards. Contemporary societies are characterised by self generated structures and the capacity to determine their own future. Knowledge is a fundamental organisational principle of the way we live. Generation, reproduction, distribution, and realisation of knowledge, i.e. education, represent corner stones of contemporary social order. This has been especially apparent since the violence and intimidation of the 11 September 2001 in the United States. An access to education per se does not guarantee that the education will be accomplished. Education is primarily a cultural phenomenon. The post-modern engineering education should aim at teaching a flexible, target oriented, and responsible individual who is able to distinguish in the chaos of data generated by the Net. Future oriented engineering education means not only the development of rational thinking, logical analysis, and action directed conclusion making but also facilitating of unders...