Postgraduate teaching within the company-learning the lessons

A company making complex engineering systems needs not only specialists in a variety of disciplines, but also systems engineers who are able to cross discipline boundaries to co-ordinate the work of specialists. They take the functional requirements of the customer and convert them into design specifications for a number of subsystems, each being the responsibility of a specialist design team. They are also responsible for the integration of the complete system, to verify that it functions to meet the contractual requirements of the customer. All this may require much data-gathering and computer simulation. Systems engineers must have a sufficiently broad knowledge to identify critical areas and spread the design burden evenly over all subsystems. New graduates may have specialist knowledge, but maturity of post-graduate experience is necessary for systems work. Systems engineers are not readily available on the employment market, and their departure can be a serious setback. They cannot be replaced overnight. It is necessary therefore to invest in long-term staff training. An enlightened management will ensure that suitable staff are moved between disciplines to broaden their experience. In the short term, it may be more efficient to confine staff to the work they know best, but in the long term, the experience gained from solving a wide variety of problems is a valuable investment in staff development. It is also more interesting for the engineer.