Integrating professional practice into the engineering curriculum: A proposed model and prototype case with an industry partner

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

1-1-2011

Department

Mechanical Engineering

Abstract

We present a case for a dramatic shift in the university-industry relationship for engineering programs, following recommendations from two 2008 reports on the future of engineering education. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching report1 Educating Engineers: Designing for the Future of the Field established the "imperative for teaching for professional practice" in engineering education by providing the "engineering equivalent of the clinical dimension of medical preparation" that includes a "place to explore professional practice", not unlike the clinical sites utilized for the preparation of physicians. Dr. James Duderstadt's report2 Engineering for a Changing World recommends the establishment of "graduate professional schools of engineering that would offer practice-based degrees at the post-baccalaureate level as the entry degree into the engineering profession," again using the training of physicians as an appropriate model. He also recommends the formation of "Discovery-Innovation Institutes," academia-industry-government partnerships for engineering, a cross between academic medical centers where education, research, and practice are synergistically united within one unit, and corporate R&D laboratories that link fundamental discoveries to innovative products and services through applied research. © 2011 American Society for Engineering Education.

Publication Title

ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Conference Proceedings

Comments

At the time of publication, Richard T. Schoephoerster was affiliated with The University of Texas at El Paso.

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