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Procedia Engineering 8 (2011) 160–164

2ndInternational Science, Social-Science, Engineering and Energy Conference 2010:

Engineering Science and Management

Future Global Visions of Engineering Education

Wisuit Sunthonkanokpong*
.
Associate Professor and Head of Department of Engineering Education,
Faculty of Industrial Education,
King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Bangkok, Thailand
Elsevier use only: Received 15 November 2010;revised 15 December 2010;accepted 20 December 2010

Abstract

This article presents the future global visions of engineering education. Due to the socio-technological challenges,
engineering education must anticipate and adapt to dramatic changes in terms of engineering practice and
instruction. In the future, the roles of engineers must change along with the following aspects: the globalization of
industry and engineering practice, the shift of engineering employment from large companies to small and medium-
sized companies, the growing emphasis on entrepreneurialism, the growing share of engineering employment in
nontraditional, less-technical engineering work, the shift to a knowledge-based “services” economy, and increasing
opportunity for using technology in the education and work of the engineering. This study found that successful
attributes for the engineering education graduates in 2020 must be at strong level. They are as follows: lifelong
learners, ability to frame problems, putting them in a socio-technical and operational context,
dynamic/agile/resilient/flexible, high ethical standards and a strong sense of professionalism, good communication
skills with multiple stakeholders, possess strong analytical skills, exhibit practical ingenuity; posses creativity, and
business and management skills; leadership abilities. Moreover, the study found that the problems which
engineering education graduates in 2020 encounter and have strong ability to solve. They are as follows:
maintaining technical currency & life long learning, environmental and energy related problems, managing
globalization, problems related to population growth, ultra-nanoscale, miniaturization, and bioengineering and
medical problems.
©©2011
2010 Published byElsevier
Published by Elsevier Ltd. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.
Ltd.

Keywords:Engineering management; Engineering education; Future global vision

1. Introduction
The new era of knowledge-based economy along with the age of globalization defines the human factor as the
main differential element in entrepreneurial competitiveness; this is why it is so important for the educational system
to fulfill the requirements of workplace. It means that the curriculum in engineering education ought to be flexible
and the instructors must care for it. To response the requirements of new age, the quality engineering education

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +66-42-772-391; fax: +66-42-772-392.

E-mail address: kawisuit@kmitl.ac.th.

1877–7058 © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.
doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2011.03.029
 Wisuit Sunthonkanokpong / Procedia Engineering 8 (2011) 160–164 161

which is making entrepreneurial engineers who will be prepared for innovations, increase production processes
understanding with management vision, is the only way of developing the top industry and satisfies the post -
industrial society needs [1]. Two decades ago, Combs [2] mentioned that: Tomorrow’s citizens must be problem
solvers, persons able to make good choices, to create solutions on the spot. Effective problem solving is learned by
confronting events, defining problems, puzzling with them, experimenting, trying, searching for effective solutions.
The major reasons for change visions of engineering education are the need for a diverse engineering workforce, and
the effects of rapid technological change and globalization. Future engineers will need critical thinking and problem-
solving skills beyond those of previous generations in their disciplines, and in fact must have the creativity and
communication skills to innovate across disciplines [3]. Engineering practice is being shaped by a wide range of
divergent global factors, and it is incumbent upon institutions of higher education to transform engineering
education in a sound and insightful way to prepare students for the challenges ahead [4].
Engineers face an increasingly complex world, in which large intractable problems such as poverty,
sustainability and economic crises merge with increased globalization. Engineering graduates will need to be able to
work in multidisciplinary, multicultural teams to both assess needs and co-create solutions with local and global
communities [5].
Engineering education is a grand challenge that will have an impact on all of the other engineering grand
challenges. Competencies of the future global engineer should be as follows: (1) technically adept, broadly
knowledgeable, a lifelong learner, and culturally aware; (2) exhibits an entrepreneurial sprit, innovative, and
understand world markets; (3) knows how to translate technological innovation into commercially-viable products
and services; and (4) is professionally nimble, flexible, and mobile [6].
The Royal Academy of Engineering [7] reported that Graduates in science, technology, engineering and
mathematics (STEM) are key to providing the higher level skills that are required for economic recovery and long-
term prosperity in the UK. Engineers play a crucial role in emerging and growth sectors and, critically, engineering
expertise is largely made up of ‘know-how’. Specifically, companies require more engineering graduates with
practical experience of industry. Stronger partnerships between industry and higher education (HE) can ensure that
an increasingly diverse student body develops the engineering skills necessary to meet the future recruitment needs
of a globally competitive industry.

Conceptual Framework
The conceptual framework of the future global visions for engineering education was show in Fig. 1. It can be
seen that there are changes along the time or the eras of engineering education for trends in industry according to
Mann report [8], Grinter report [9], and EC 2000 Modules [10] from 1900 to 2050. the industry has changed from
the industrial local & national era to the technological international era. It is going to be the post-industrial global era
and then the sustainable global & local era. As for the eras of engineering education, there was a change from
practice-oriented into engineer science based content and then there is going to be a leap into integrative
&innovative era.

Taking the Long View

Eras of Engineering Education Integrative & Innovative

Changing the Engineer

Culture 2020
Engr Science based content
Mann Grinter EC 2000
Report Report
Practice-oriented

1900 1950 2000 2050

Industrial
Local &
National Technological
International
Post-Industrial
Trends in Industry Global
Sustainable
Global & Local

Fig. 1. long view of engineering education. [6]

162 Wisuit Sunthonkanokpong / Procedia Engineering 8 (2011) 160–164

Objectives of the Study

Examine of the study were to The objectives ofuture global visions in 2020 for engineering education in terms of
successful attributes and problems solving ability of engineering educationgraduater.

2. Methodology

Target Group
There were 217 engineering education graduates from the undergraduate level with the major field in Industrial
Education Program from the Department of Engineering Education, Faculty of Industrial Education, King
Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Bangkok, Thailand from B.E.2552-2553 (or 2009-2010).

Measures
The survey was adapted from a previous survey of The Engineer of 2020: Global Visions of Engineering
Practice and Education by Alice M. Agogino [8] which focused on the visions of engineering in the new century. It
was translated into Thai and approved by a language expert and five content experts. According to the assessment,
the overall quality of the survey/questionnaire was at very good level (M=4.51, S.D.=.51).

The survey contained 18 items and was divided into two parts as follows:
traP1 noitceles eciohc – stnednopser eht fo atad laireneG ,
traP2 Opinions towards successful attributes and problems solving ability of future engineering education
graduates – using 1-5 Likert scale.
The reliability of the survey/questionnaire in the part 2 analysed by Cronbach's Alpha statistic was .894. It is
probably a reasonable goal and indicates good internal consistency of the items in the scale.

Data Analysis
The survey data were analysed using frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation. The frequency and
percentage counts were used to tally respondents’ gender, major field of highest educational level, working
organization type, and occupation. The mean and standard deviation were used to analyse the successful attributes
level and the problems solving ability level. The interpretation of the average attributes or ability follows this
criteria.

4.50 – 5.00 means the attributes or ability is at very strong level.

3.50 – 4.49 means the attributes or ability is at strong level.
2.50 – 3.49 means the attributes or ability is at moderate level.
1.50 – 2.49 means the attributes or ability is at weak level.
1.00 – 1.49 means the attributes or ability is at very weak level.

3.Results

General Data of Respondents

172 out of all questionnaires (79.26% of target group) were returned. Most of respondents (70.34%) were male.
41.28% graduated in the major field of computer, 51.18% work in private company, and 35.47% were engineer.

Future Global Visions of Engineering Education

According to Table 1, it was found that the respondents had their opinion towards the engineering education
graduates in 2020 in terms of successful attributes at strong level for all items. The mean scores could be arranged
from the highest to the lowest as follows: (1) lifelong learners; (2) ability to frame problems, putting them in a
socio-technical and operational context; (3) dynamic/agile/resilient/flexible and high ethical standards and a strong
sense of professionalism, (4) good communication skills with multiple stakeholders; (5) possess strong analytical
skills;(6) exhibit practical ingenuity; posses creativity; and (7) business and management skills; leadership abilities.
According to Table 2, it was found that the respondents had their opinions towards the engineering education
graduates in 2020 in terms of problems solving ability at strong level for all items. The mean scores could be
arranged from the highest to the lowest as follows: (1) maintaining technical currency & life long learning; (2)
environmental and energy related problems; (3) managing globalization; (4) problems related to population growth;
(5) ultra-nanoscale, miniaturization, and (6) Bioengineering and medical problems.
 Wisuit Sunthonkanokpong / Procedia Engineering 8 (2011) 160–164 163

Table 1. Successful attributes of future engineering education graduates.

M
Rank Successful attributes S.D. Level
)n=172)
1 Lifelong learners 4.32 .72 Strong
2 Ability to frame problems, putting them in a 4.28 .68 Strong
socio-technical and operational context
3 Dynamic/agile/resilient/flexible 4.19 .68 Strong
3 High ethical standards and a strong sense of 4.19 .74 Strong
professionalism
5 Good communication skills with multiple 4.17 .69 Strong
stakeholders
6 Possess strong analytical skills 4.16 .64 Strong
7 Exhibit practical ingenuity; posses creativity 4.07 .69 Strong
8 Business and management skills; Leadership 4.04 .75 Strong
abilities

Table 2. Problems solving ability of future engineering education graduates.

M
Rank Problems solving ability S.D. Level
)n=172)

1 Maintaining technical currency & life long learning 3.97 .80 Strong
2 Environmental and energy related problems 3.80 .82 Strong
3 Managing globalization 3.79 .79 Strong
4 Problems related to population growth 3.72 .77 Strong
5 Ultra-nanoscale, miniaturization 3.69 .82 Strong
6 Bioengineering and medical problems 3.67 .80 Strong

4. Discussion and Conclusion

According to the results of this research, it was found that in 2020 the field of engineering education will
establish global visions to set up directions for instruction and practice of students so that they master successful
attributes at strong level and the problems solving ability at strong or expertise level to meet the demands of the
market and the globalization which links all the world into internationally social and economic dimensions. The
research results comply with the research by Alice M. Agogino [11] in that successful attributes for the engineers in
2020 are as follows: strong analytical skills, practical ingenuity, creativity, good communication skills with multiple
stakeholders, business and management skills; leadership abilities, high ethical standards and a strong sense of
professionalism, dynamic/agile/resilient/flexible, lifelong learners, and ability to frame problems and to put them in
a socio-technical and operational context, and found that the problems which engineers in 2020 encounter and have
to solve are as follows: environmental and energy related problems, bioengineering problems (including medicine),
ultra-nanoscale, miniaturization, problems related to population growth, managing globalization, and maintaining
technical currency and life long learning. The results also comply with Lisa C. Benson, Kurt Becker, Melanie M.
Cooper, O. Hayden Griffin and Karl A. Smith [3] in that future engineers will need critical thinking and problem-
solving skills beyond those of previous generations in their disciplines, and in fact must have the creativity and
communication skills to innovate across disciplines.

Acknowledgements
The author would like to express a very special thank you for the advice of Asst. Prof. Dr. Jirasek
Trimetsoontorn, Act for Dean of Administration and Management College, King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology
Ladkrabang, Asst. Prof. Dr. Pakkapong Poungsuk, Associate Dean for Student Affairs, Faculty of Industrial
Education, King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Preecha Yupapin, Faculty of
Science, King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tipkesorn Boonumpai, Faculty of
Education, Burapha University, as well as Captain Dr. Weerachai Chaokumnerd, Telecommunications Engineering
Program, Dhurakij Pundit University.
164 Wisuit Sunthonkanokpong / Procedia Engineering 8 (2011) 160–164

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