 12
June 2007
IFEES Plays Role In Indo-US Collaboration for Engineering
Education (IUCEE)
Draft Press Release, June 8, 2007
Leaders of engineering education and engineering businesses
from India and the US plan for collaboration
Leaders of engineering education and engineering businesses
from US and India, along with several government dignitaries
met at an Action Planning Forum for Indo US collaboration
in engineering education, hosted by Kris Gopalakrishnan, Managing
Director and CEO-Designate of Infosys
at their Mysore Campus on June 3 to June 5, 2007. Infosys
offered outstanding hospitality at their state-of-the art
facilities of their Leadership Institute to the 81 participants
who included several directors, deans of engineering, vice
chancellors as well as over 25 business representatives. Prof.
N. Balakrishnan, Associate Director, Indian Institute of Science
and Dr. Frank Huband, Executive Director, American Society
for Engineering Education, welcomed the participants on behalf
of the organizers. Prof V.S. Arunachalam, Former Scientific
Advisor to Defence Minister, Dr. T. Ramasami, Secretary, Department
of Science and Technology and Dr. D. Acharya, Chairman of
All India Council for Technical Education, gave keynote addresses.
The goal of the Forum was to develop an action plan for improving
the quality and global relevance of engineering education
in India and in the US. Of particular concern to the participants
was the lack of interest in science and engineering in the
US, the inadequate preparation of engineering graduates in
India, the shortage of students pursuing Ph.D. programs in
engineering in India and the need to encourage and support
women and underrepresented minorities in engineering careers
in both countries. The participants discussed several successful
and promising models of collaborations which have potential
for scaling up. This was the first of two forums organized
by the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE)
and the newly formed Indo US Collaboration for Engineering
Education (IUCEE).
The preliminary recommendations from the Mysore Forum will
be developed further at the second Forum to be held at the
National Academy of Engineering in Washington DC on August
29 to 31, 2007.
One of the key outcomes of these action planning forums could
be the establishment of an Indo US Engineering Faculty Institute
with four thrust areas: curriculum and delivery, quality and
accreditation, research and development, and innovation and
entrepreneurship. Cross cutting themes for these thrust areas
are industry needs and global relevance. This Institute would
help improve the preparedness of the large number of faculty
in engineering colleges in India and in the US to address
the needs of the global economy. Another outcome could be
the development of an Indo US Engineering Student Network
for facilitating student internships and interactions as well
as providing students access to high quality learning materials.
Expectations are that the Student Network will be linked to
the Global Student Forum currently sponsored by ASEE and International
Federation of Engineering Education Societies (IFEES).
The resulting sustainable collaborations are expected to
lead to clear mutual benefits to India and to the US. Benefits
to India include an increase in the number of qualified engineering
faculty, access to better curricular experiences for students,
better employability of engineering graduates with skills
needed by industry, increase in the research activity and
increase in the production of Ph.Ds. in engineering colleges.
Benefits to US include opportunities for global experiences
for faculty and students, collaborative research, development
and entrepreneurship in emerging technologies of global relevance,
as well as access for US universities and companies to more
and better prepared engineering graduates.
Initial support for the planning was obtained from Infosys,
Deshpande Foundation, Indo US Science and Technology Forum
as well as the corporations Hewlett Packard, National Instruments,
Dassault Systemes, Microsoft, Autodesk, Agilent Technologies
and UGS. Faculty, administrators and alumni of Indian Institutes
of Technology (IITs)
played a major role in initiating the collaboration at the
Pan IIT 2006 Conference held in Mumbai in December 2006. The
US Embassy as well as the International Federation for Engineering
Education Societies (IFEES) and the Indian
Society for Technical Education (ISTE) were also important
partners.
The US delegation led by Dr. James Melsa, President-Elect
of American Society for Engineering Education, visited New
Delhi after the Mysore Forum. They met with President Abdul
Kalam as well as the US Ambassador David C. Mulford to brief
them about the recommendations from the Mysore Forum and to
seek their advice. A small team of the participants, led by
Barbara Olds, Associate Vice President, Colorado
School of Mines visited Punjab
Engineering College in Chandigarh (alma mater of Kalpana
Chawla, the Indian born astronaut who died in the Space Shuttle
Columbia disaster), for the nomination a faculty member, Uma
Bathra, as Member-at -Large for Society for Women Engineers.
For further information contact the convenors, Professor
Krishna Vedula, Dean Emeritus, University of Massachusetts
Lowell at Krishna_Vedula@uml.edu,
Professor R. Natarajan, Chairman, Board of IT Education Standards
at prof.rnatarajan@gmail.com,
Professor N. Balakrishnan, Associate Director, Indian Institute
of Science at balki@serc.iisc.ernet.in,
and Hans Jürgen Hoyer, Director for International Programs
and Strategy of ASEE and Deputy Secretary General of IFEES
h.hoyer@asee.org.
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