Strategies to infuse global perspectives and industrial collaboration in engineering education

The influence of a global economy and the speed of communications will require future engineers to have a diverse background and develop sensitivity to the needs of other cultures. Engineers must be able to function in this increasingly global market with adequate awareness of engineering needs and practices across cultures. Undergraduate engineering education must be structured to provide adequate balance between theory and practice, as well as industrial relevance and global perspectives in engineering. Current approaches to address this issue include the introduction of technical advisory boards, co-op experience, capstone projects, international exchange programs, and encouraging students to take non-technical courses in humanities, business and management. Creating partnerships with industry and other institutions is another key step that academic institutions have taken to expose students to engineering practice in a global context. Partnerships should be long-term and established at the local and global levels with input from practicing professional engineers. There are other approaches that could be used to generate interest and help develop activities that enable students to acquire the skills needed for global engineering practice. The authors suggest strategies that can be adopted by academic institutions to prepare engineers capable of addressing future global challenges.