The Expanding World of Engineers

The world is changing and so do men and women of this global era. People are evolving every minute of every day, constantly facing new problems and challenges. This concept also applies to engineers. Engineers have evolved from being makers of cars, windmills and dams to being a designer for efficient transport, security and information management systems.

For today's world, engineers are labelled as problem solvers, not only in manufacturing sectors but also in the service sector. Based on Prof. Ramakrishna's article, "The Expanding World of Engineers" where he states that "the traditional scope of engineers has been broadened considerably to encompass the service sector, where engineers now contribute significantly to its overall growth." This "change", challenges engineers to travel to new heights of thinking and problem solving which can be achieve through an engineers' education system itself. In Singapore context, engineering students are exposed to a robust tertiary education which trains the mind to systematically analyse complex sets of information and to apply systems thinking in designing solutions. In lame man term, engineering students are not only taught how to design and build, but they are also taught how to rectify problems, improve and market.

In an engineering tertiary education, engineering students have to undergo various trainings in their respective engineering fields such as mechanical, electrical or chemical. These trainings help to equip them with the necessary skills for the engineering industry. Apart from a designed training curriculum for the students, they are also expose to real-time problems to train their problem solving skills and also aim to upgrade their level of thinking. Some universities encourage students to diversify their learning by having them to take electives from other fields of education which provides an all rounded education system. This is a great strategy to prepare the students for the working world.

In short, the level of engineers the world produce is dependent on the engineers' education itself. "The problems that exist in the world today cannot be solved by the level of thinking that created them." a quote from Albert Einstein.