Claudio Borri
President of IFEES |
President’s Message
Dear Colleague,
Welcome to IFEES.net! IFEES, the International Federation
of Engineering Education Societies aims to increase cooperation,
transparency and mutual trust among engineering educators
from across the globe. Our goal is to join forces and work
towards our shared objectives, accomplishing goals that are
beyond our individual reach.
October 9th, 2006 may enter in the annals as a truly historical
day for higher education in science & technology: roughly
35 organizations of several major stakeholders of engineering
education have decided to join their efforts in order to ensure
suitable higher education for the future of well-trained and
culturally-sensitive engineers. In a few words, the key-question
posed by the 21st century global economy to engineering educators
and stake-holders is this: “How can education in science and
technology help to reduce poverty, boost socio-economic development,
and take the right decisions for sustainable and environmental
compatible development?”
The creation of a global network of engineering educators
and stake-holders will help address formidable basic questions,
like the one above, and move beyond them as we raise the horizon
and target of our ambitions: i.e., to pass from the day-by-day
engineering education issues and problems to the “actual impact”
on world-wide development & socio-economic growth.
To answer the key-question above, a global approach is needed:
this can only be accomplished by a “team” which has its roots
in all regions of the world, i.e. which is enabled to think
globally and then act locally. If IFEES will not deal with
such primary questions and restrict its activity to the “routine”
ones, then none of the major key-actors or decision makers
will give attention and/or invest resources for IFEES. IFEES
was borne to “change” the world to the extent which its mission
and competences provides, i.e. as much as engineering education
can contribute to these changes. I do not personally believe
this to be a too ambitious of a target: it is the only true
reason why IFEES birth makes sense!
IFEES has four main areas of focus:
A) tuning educational structures: curriculum development
and innovation, quality assessment tools, accreditation,
recognition of titles, joined graduate and undergraduate
degrees, the follow-up process to the Bologna Declaration;
B) engineering education and research: doctoral studies,
role of research activities in education, research oriented
projects, status of Ph D students (students or professionals?);
C) attractiveness: secondary school graduates, women in
engineering education, ethical issues, oversea students,
joined and double Ph D degrees;
D) sustainability: how can engineering education increasingly
sustain itself? Continuing education and ODL, e-learning,
industrial and professional relations .
IFEES provides a space for the discussion of these focus
areas. If you are interested in becoming a member of IFEES,
please contact Hans Jürgen Hoyer or
Spencer Potter.
Best regards,
Claudio Borri
President of IFEES
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