ENGINEERING EDUCATION AND IMPORTANCE OF HUMANITIES AND SCIENCES

Dr. Swaran Ahuja

I - Introduction The past two centuries have witnessed tremendous advances in human achievement brought about by applying fundamental scientific principles to creative invention and design. Facilitating this process is arguably the primary mission of engineering education. The ability of engineering education to succeed in this mission requires programs and curricula that provide students with the foundation necessary to deduce, analyze, design and invent. This foundation is not static. It evolves to incorporate new scientific discoveries and technologies. The design and inventions are core duties of engineers. However in todays environment, the engineers cannot work in isolation to achieve these goals. They usually are a part of an organization or a set-up where the individual objectives and organizational goals, which may be technical, financial or others, have to be aligned. The achievement of these objectives would frequently require working as part of a team and harmonious working of the teams becomes a prerequisite for success of the projects and the organizations. Engineers also have to fulfill their obligations and duties towards society and issues like safety features and environmental protection become as important in product design as the basic performance parameters. In fact, in most of the products of the next generation, these specifications are mandatory. These aspects bring in a tremendous challenge for curriculum designers to come up with an educational plan for undergraduate level engineers, which is able to meet these aspirations. The skill set required calls for a balanced course plan incorporating various components like humanities and sciences as well as core engineering and technology. Educational planners world wide are putting great emphasis on producing engineers who besides having technical abilities, are able to meet the demands of present working environments. Humanities and sciences, including social and basic sciences become an important part of the curriculum. This paper presents a historical perspective of development of engineering education, and a detailed analysis of the requirements of engineering education in todays society with special reference to importance of humanities and sciences including basic and social sciences. A brief study of strategies adopted for engineering curriculum planning in different countries is presented. The role of humanities and sciences in building competent engineers is highlighted and a model for 21 st century engineering education curricula derived. The paper is organized as follows: Section II describes the role of engineers in present market environment. The next Section traces the historical perspective of the development of engineering curricula and brings

out the shift in curriculum plan from domain specific to more broad based programs. In Section IV, the important requirements of employers vis-a-vis engineers are described. Section V highlights the current trends in curriculum development and the increasing role of humanities and sciences. The next section explains how the study of humanities and sciences helps in developing successful engineers. The 21st century vision for engineering education is depicted in Section VII. Conclusions are presented in Section VIII. II - What do the Engineers do? Engineers apply the theories and principles of science and mathematics to research and develop economical solutions to technical problems. Their work is the link between perceived social needs and commercial applications. Engineers design products, machinery to build those products, plants in which those products are made, and the systems that ensure the quality of the products and the efficiency of the workforce and manufacturing process. Engineers design, plan, and supervise the construction of buildings, highways, telecom and information networks, information super highways and transit systems. They develop and implement improved ways to extract, process, and use raw materials, such as petroleum and natural gas and other non renewable sources of energy. They develop new materials that both improve the performance of products and take advantage of advances in technology. They harness the power of the sun, the earth, atoms, and electricity for use in supplying the nations power needs, and create millions of products using power. They apply their intellectual and knowledge power to create high speed super computers and global information exchange systems. They analyze the impact of the products they develop or the systems they design on the environment and on people using them. Engineering knowledge is applied to improving many things, including the quality of healthcare, the safety of food products, and the operation of financial systems. Engineers consider many factors when developing a new product. For example, in developing an industrial robot, engineers determine precisely what function the robot needs to perform; design and test the robots components; fit the components together in an integrated plan; and evaluate the designs overall effectiveness, cost, reliability, and safety. This process applies to many different products, such as chemicals, computers, gas turbines, communication systems, helicopters, and toys etc. In addition to design and development, many engineers work in testing, production, or maintenance. These engineers supervise production in factories, determine the causes of breakdowns, and test manufactured products to maintain quality. They also estimate the time and cost to complete projects. Some move into engineering management or into sales. In sales, an engineering background enables them to discuss technical aspects and assist in product planning, installation, and use. What engineers do is a dynamic function of social requirements in a particular era and engineering curricula need to move in tandem with these needs. We now present a historical perspective of the growth and development of engineering curricula. III - Evolution of Engineering Education - From Plato to Post-Modernism Essentially, Plato formed what could be understood as the first College of Mathematics, where the subject matter primarily were Philosophy and Mathematics, along with Politics, Economics, Morality, Astronomy and

natural sciences. The Focus was on: Coming to Know through the Dialectic Process and the Unifying Issue, Truth through Ideal Forms. Aristotle, the most well known disciple of Plato followed up with a separate College of Science in 335 BC. The subject matter were primarily Philosophy (Rhetoric) and Natural Sciences (physics, mechanics, and biology), but also Politics and Ethics. The techniques of learning were through Dialectical Process and Empirical Method and unlike Plato the - Unifying Issue, Truth through Particulars. These two Colleges marked the beginning point in the logical formation of the disciplines. The essential difference between them was that Plato felt mathematical reasoning could arrive at the truth with little outside help, but Aristotle believed detailed empirical investigations/ observations of nature were essential if progress was to be made in understanding the natural world. With Aristotles work, the trend moved towards particulars rather than Platos ideal forms. It was a trend toward the specific aspects of knowledge and knowledge structures. Based on: (a) the end or aim of the disciplines and (b) character of the subject-matter, Aristotle school had the following three major disciplines.
Theoretical (aim is indubitable knowing)

Physics Mathematics Metaphysics

Practical (concerned with choice, decision and action)

Ethics Politics

Productive (devoted to making)

Fine Art Applied Arts Engineering

The foundations of engineering as an independent discipline were thus laid. The discipline specific education got further developed with Comtes Positive Hierarchy (1852) philosophy i.e Subject-Matter alone should provide the basis for classification, and the subject-matters should be internally ordered based on complexity. Comtes Positive Hierarchy was extremely useful for school curriculum because it focused almost exclusively on the subject-matter, rather than the overall discipline. At a higher plane, It also represented the logical division between the rational and non rational/emotional and the Logical and the Psychological (Johnson, 1961). The two important branches of learning namely engineering and humanities and social sciences (broadly a part of philosophy) progressed as compartmentalized domains during a major part of the twentieth century, and remained almost mutually exclusive.

Engineering

Humanities & Sciences

Fig.1: Mutually exclusive islands of learning

In the minds of most people, engineering and philosophy did not have much to do with each other. They were, as it were, giant islands separated by a large body of water. This period, which is hailed as the The golden period of science and produced some of greatest scientists of all times, saw a flood of some of the stunning discoveries of the century like quantum mechanics, theory of relativity, atomic power, radio & TV, computing machines, automobiles, aeroplanes and host of other brilliant inventions. This period of strong and single track focus on domain-specific curricula although had significant positives and was relevant at that time, it also had certain limitations. Some of the important positives and negatives were as follows:

Domain-Specific Orientation: What is Gained? Organizing Principles for Human Knowledge and Experience Means of Shared Engagement and Communication Platform for Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Historical Vantage Point for the Dynamic State of Human Knowledge and Experience Sense of Direction for Human Growth and Development Domain-Specific Orientation: What is Lost? Trivialization of Human Knowledge Compartmentalization of the Educational Experience Construction of Barriers to Across-Domain Thought, Reasoning, and Problem Solving Impersonalization or Minimization of Life Experiences
In fact, due to these negatives, particularly lack of human and social angle, representatives of some of the areas of the philosophy world, especially ethics and aesthetics, seem to have mounted canons on their areas of the philosophy island in order to fire away at selected domains of the engineering world. At least since the 1960s, members of the philosophical community or its fellow travelers have been accusing engineers of building nuclear weapons that could destroy civilization as we know it. During the last few decades, there have been perceptible changes in the pattern of engineering education, which have been evolutionary and have diminished the barriers between engineering and humanities and social sciences disciplines. The reasons are as follows:

(1)

The preparation and the composition of the student body entering engineering has changed considerably. Engineering now attracts students from all sections of society, who often have little knowledge of the workings of complex devices and little hands on experience. Many of these students select engineering because they believe it is solid education that provides a reasonably secure income potential, rather than because of a strong interest in the technical aspects of the profession. The work environment for the beginning engineer has become much more competitive, requiring individuals to communicate their ideas more effectively than ever before and to be cognizant of social and economic factors outside the traditional domain of engineering. Success in engineering has therefore become increasingly dependent on proficiency in skills that go far beyond technical ability. The employers are also demanding skills which go beyond the traditional engineering skills.

(2)

It is, therefore, the consensus of many educators, government officials, and particularly industrial leaders that the changes in curriculum should be evolved to keep pace with employers needs and the rapidly changing role of the engineer. IV - What the Employers Want In view of the size, complexity and multi-disciplinary nature of projects, industry has increasingly come to rely upon a team approach to problem solving. The tight time constraints due to highly competitive market and fear of technological obsolescence necessitate deployment of parallel multiple manpower resources. Furthermore, the increasing mobility and the diverse responsibilities of the average engineer requires more emphasis on teamwork experience and communication skills There is a host of skills, which an employer needs today besides the core engineering skills. These skills are collectively bundled as Soft Skills and include communication skills both individual and interactive, negotiating skills, group working and behavior, quality consciousness, cost-reduction, group-leadership, professional ethics, managerial skills including personal management etc. There is increasing emphasis on qualities like value systems, concern for environment and safety systems. A number of employer surveys have brought out that, the employers also want a strong ability in engineers and engineering managers to size up situations, take decisions and carry on well with their colleagues. All these factors require changes in the engineering curriculum that puts increased emphasis on humanities and social sciences, basic sciences as well as environmental aspects. V - The Present Framework of Engineering Education and Role of Humanities and Sciences In line with the current needs, undergraduate programs in engineering must first and foremost provide the students with a general education with emphasis on providing a solid foundation in sciences and help them develop analytical and critical thinking skills. In addition, engineering programs should provide students with the necessary skills, including core-engineering and soft skills to launch successful technical careers. Based on these requirements Accreditation Agencies in various countries have taken a lead and conducted extensive studies to evolve strategies for more contemporary and employer oriented curriculum for

engineering education. It is interesting to note that most of these studies have recommended additional emphasis on more broad based educational programs. Extracts from reports of recommendations from some of the accreditation agencies are reproduced below.

FRANCE
None of the following elements may be missing in a curriculum to be accredited: A thorough education in the basic sciences. A complete education in the general techniques of the engineer, including the mastery of complex systems. A sufficient training in the main fields of the chosen specialisation. A general education comprising foreign languages, economic, social and human sciences, communication and an introduction into the ethical reflection about the engineers role. A training for life and for the problems of the enterprise, also in their international dimension. The fundamentals of quality, hygiene, security, environment and intellectual property must be part of the curriculum.

ABET, USA
Engineering programs must demonstrate that their graduates have

an ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering, an ability to design and conduct experiments, as well as to analyse and interpret data, an ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs, an ability to function on multidisciplinary teams, an ability to identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems, an understanding of professional and ethical responsibility, an ability to communicate effectively, the broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global and societal context, a recognition of the need for, and an ability to engage in life-long learning, a knowledge of contemporary issues, an ability to use the techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice.

SWEDEN
An engineer should have technical competence, social competence, a holistic view, be aiming at results, have administrative skills, be quality minded, creative and flexible, be anchored in reality, be hungry for knowledge, have a managing ability, have good knowledge of foreign languages, possess an ethical competence and be responsible.

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UK
An engineer must

Have knowledge and understanding of essential facts, concepts and theories relevant to their chosen discipline; An understanding of their professional and ethical responsibilities, the broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global and societal context; Able to take a holistic approach, apply a professional judgement, balance safety, cost, benefits, quality, reliability and environmental impact; Ability to communicate effectively with colleagues and others, both orally and in written form; Ability to work in multidisciplinary teams; Ability to undertake life-long learning Be creative, analytical, innovative, self-disciplined, self-motivated, independent and enthusiastic.

AICTE, INDIA
Some of the recommendations from AICTE, model curriculum bulletin are reproduced below

A common first year syllabus with sufficient emphasis on humanities and science and management studies shall be adopted for all branches of engineering. Weightage of 15-20% shall be given to non professional (Basic Sciences and Humanities) subjects and about 10 % to Management Subject. Wherever possible, the students should be involved in group discussions on topics of current trends in Engineering and Technology. In order to meet the demands of changing trends and emerging areas, a student be given a choice to choose subjects offered as electives. The curriculum should transcend traditional instructional modes, embrace novel methods of teaching and enhance and embellish the learning process to produce quality engineers for the future.

These recommendations from different countries with different cultures and languages all emphasize the need for integrating humanities and sciences with engineering curriculum, bridging the gap with a view to making better engineers who can meet present market needs and design better products in line with the expectations of society.

Engineering

Bridging the Gap Making Better Engineers

Humanities & Sciences

Fig.2: Integrating Engineering and Humanities for producing Better Engineers

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How study of humanities and social sciences helps to bridge this gap and develop better engineers for tomorrow is discussed below. VI - What does the study of Humanities and Sciences provide? The study of Humanities and Sciences in engineering curriculum helps in puting due emphasis on developing communication, analytical and leadership skills and also in developing concern for society and environment. For students aiming at professional careers, studying the Humanities or Social Sciences offers an exciting opportunity to develop breadth along with technical competence in a professional field. Most engineering students say they hope the experience will make them well-rounded, that it will broaden their view of the world and their own place in it. Corporate executives concerned about the future also tell us that seeing the world from multiple perspectives is becoming critical for career success. At both levels, studying the Humanities and Social Sciences helps students develop the breadth they will need for personal satisfaction and professional advancement. Through the Humanities and Social Sciences, students expand their understanding of the individual and society by exploring the artistic, philosophical, ethical, historical, political, economic and social dimensions of our world. They also learn about the power and the importance of human values and ideas in shaping the past, present and future. Integrating study of the individual and society with professional skills, bringing the so-called liberal and useful arts together, is an ideal for higher education. Reading, writing and critical discussion are central to studying the Humanities and Social Sciences, so students in these classes also develop people skills in communicating, in analyzing social problems and having a concern for their ethical dimensions, and in being able to adapt to changing circumstances. These abilities are exactly what successful managers need. They are useful in any professional or organizational setting and often are listed among qualities defining leadership. VII - The 21st Century Vision Our society faces significant challenges including international competition, the global environment, an increasingly diverse population, and a rapid growth in information technologies. Industry, government agencies, and educational institutions all have important roles in meeting these challenges. Higher education, in general, has the role of providing the professional preparation for the next generation of business leaders, technical professionals, government officials, and educators at all levels. Engineering education, in particular, will have a central role in our increasingly technologically-based society. The education of engineers must prepare them for the full disciplinary nature of the problems they will face. Engineering accompanied by significant changes in the challenges offered by the engineering workplace bring an urgency to the need for broad change in the education of engineering graduates. There is a growing realization among engineering education planners that a new vision for the education of engineers is evolving, a vision based upon the needs of engineering in the 21st century. The philosophy that forms this vision differs from the current more rigid and more uniform basis of todays curricula. This vision welcomes and encourages all motivated and talented students to become engineers. These students should discover engineering from the beginning of their academic career and enjoy a nurturing environment

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throughout their university education. They should find flexible curricula that recognize individual learning styles and diverse career paths. Guided by advisors and mentors, students should choose electives for career preparation in support of educational and career goals and a strong foundation in the fundamentals of engineering as well as people skills and social concerns. The new paradigm depicts engineering education as broad and forward looking with a four tier structure.

Fig.3: The New Paradigm- 21st Century Vision for Engineering Education

It describes an engineering education that provides a strong foundation in core engineering with learning of new technology areas along with development of soft skills and environmental and social concerns. The future engineering education will therefore

offer a broad liberal education that provides the diversity and breadth needed for engineering prepare graduates for entry into careers and further study in both the engineering and nonengineering marketplace and develop the motivation, capability and knowledge base for lifelong learning.

The courses will include a broad range of concerns: environmental, political and social issues, international context, historical context, and legal and ethical ramifications of decisions. The overall goal of engineering curricula will be to develop engineering graduates who are professional contributors and lifelong learners capable of succeeding in the current and future global, multi-disciplinary markets. Engineering education will be flexible enough to support the diverse career aspirations and needs of our students as well as agile enough to enable rapid transformation in response to emerging technological and social demands.

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VIII - Conclusion Engineering education has evolved over last few centuries to its present form. From domain specific curriculum, the engineering programs have been becoming more broad based in response to changing technological, social and market needs. The role of humanities and sciences in engineering has been gaining more and more importance as the job environment is becoming more competitive, global and socially responsive. Along with core engineering knowledge, awareness of emerging technologies, development of soft skills or people skills, analytical abilities and awareness for environment, safety and professional ethics have become important ingredients for successful engineering careers. The engineering education model has therefore evolved from a narrow single track system to a multi dimensional system with parallel learning paths for core technologies, emerging technologies, soft skills and environmental and social concerns. The 21st century vision envisages an agile educational system to provide quick response to changing market and social dynamics.

POSITIVE ATTITUDE IS IMPORTANT When Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, he tried over 2000 experiments before he got it to work. A young reporter asked him how it felt to fail so many times. He said, I never failed once. I invented the light bulb. It just happened to be a 2000 step process. Elima Rudolph was born prematurely and her survival was doubtful. When she was 4 years old, she contacted double pneumonia and scarlet fever, which left her with a paralysed left leg. At age 9, she removed the metal leg brace she had been dependent on and began to walk without it. By 13 she had developed a rhythmic walk, which doctors said was a miracle. That same year she decided to become a runner. She entered a race and came in last. For the next few years every race she entered, she came in last. Everyone told her to quit, but she kept on running. One day she actually won a race. And then another. From then onwards he won every race, she entered. Eventually this little girl, who was told she would never walk again, went on to win three Olympic gold medals. A winner is not one who never fails, but one who Never Quits! Winners never quit. Quitters never win! giving each letter of the alphabet a number, a=1,b=2, etc. if you add up the letters of the alphabet in the word attitude this is the result : A=1 T=20 T=20 I=9 T=20 U=21 D=4 E=5 Total = 100 Attitude is everything.

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