Why Engineering Education Fails to Protect the Public Interest and What Could Be Done About It

Twenty-five years ago, our comprehensive study of undergraduate engineering education asked the following two questions: How well do we teach future engineers to understand the influence of technology on human life, society and the biosphere?and: To what extent do we teach them to use this understanding in a negative feedback mode to achieve the desired results and, at the same time, prevent or greatly minimize harmful effects?These two questions were converted into extensively tested research instruments to permit the quantitative scoring of the components of all the courses in the curriculum.The results showed that the answer to both questions was: almost nothing.Since this study, its findings have been confirmed by a number of economists who have estimated net wealth production by subtracting from the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) the costs incurred in producing it.They found that net wealth has been declining for decades.These and other data point to the inevitable conclusion that the undesired consequences of technological and economic growth are undermining the desired ones.This brings us to a crossroads in engineering education.Either we continue to deal with the undesired consequences of design and decision-making in an end-of-pipe fashion, or we do so preventively.However, preventive approaches require a new knowledge system that links the disciplines examining the consequences of technology with those in the technical core of the curriculum in order to create negative feedback loops.This paper will describe some of the features of such a knowledge system, and how it supports preventive approaches in a new curriculum developed by the Centre for Technology and Social Development at the University of Toronto.This approach would permit engineering education to help society address the ever more pressing challenges of our time. Scoping Our FailureSome 25 years ago, our comprehensive study of engineering education asked the following two questions: How well do we teach future engineers to understand the influence technology has on human life, society and the biosphere?and: To what extent do we teach them to use this understanding in a negative feedback mode to adjust design and decision-making to achieve the desired results and at the same time prevent or greatly minimize harmful effects?These two questions were converted into extensively tested research instruments to permit the quantitative scoring of an undergraduate engineering curriculum at one of the leading Canadian schools.The results showed that the answer to both questions was: almost nothing 1 .The results were widely