Guiding Engineering Educators: Keeping Pace with Scientific-Technological Change and Socio-Economic Development [Guest Editorial]

Abstract

Engineering Practice and Engineering Education are undergoing in profound metamorphoses, as a result of radical scientific-technological revolutions and of a globalized and growingly interconnected world, which reshape all aspects of society, from culture to ethics, from economy to politics. Keeping pace with such changes implies a continued renovation of Engineering programmes, not guided by fashionable trends, but progressively incorporating the relevant innovations, while protecting the proven beneficial traditions; a focus on fundamental scientific-technological knowledge and pursuit of excellence. The support of simple procedures to promote a more dynamic and personalized Engineering Education is one of the keys to success. Aspects such as the encouragement of global engineers, with a personal dedication to lifelong learning, and with human values derived from the Education for Global Citizenship principles, are among the critical issues for educating engineers capable of solving the challenges ahead. All these novelties constitute additional responsibilities for professors at technical universities and teaching institutions and generate growing uncertainties, which are complex to manage.