Future directions in engineering education: educating engineers of the 21st century

Abstract

Engineering schools today are facing challenges they have never faced before to produce graduates who are relevant in the 21st Century. Today’s engineers are entering into a world marked by rapid and global change, exponential advancement in information and computer technologies, complex ethical issues, borderless global competition, changing demographics, sustainability, and a multitude of problems that only emerged in the new millennium. Just as business as usual will not survive in the 21st Century, education as usual will also not get us there. This paper briefly explores challenges in global engineering practice in the 21st Century, before laying down the status quo in engineering education. From here, based on numerous engineering education reports that have emerged from various parts of the world, the requirements as well as issues to overcome in educating engineers of the future will be dwelled.