The Next Problem in Engineering Education

We have read very much in the past few years of the need for more engineers, so I shall not repeat the arguments here. Many of you have taken part in the very excellent programs designed to acquaint high school students with the opportunities in an engineering career, and I should first like to point out how successful these programs have been. This fact, I believe, is not generally realized. To use our own school as an example, enrollments during the past two years for the university as a whole have risen about 14 per cent, using the same standards of admitting only those among the upper 15 per cent of high school graduates. This rise reflects very nearly the increased birth rate at the end of the depression and the population growth of this area. During this same period, enrollment in engineering has increased about 50 per cent, and in electrical engineering 80 per cent. Although we do not break down the fields of interest further in the early undergraduate years, I believe the proportion of those interested in the microwave field is remaining nearly constant in spite of the competition from several newer fields.