Upgrading Engineering Graduates for a World-Class Practice

Transcription

1 Upgrading Engineering Graduates for a World-Class Practice Nael Barakat, Phd. P.Eng. Assistant Professor School of Engineering Grand Valley State UniversIty 301 Fulton St. W. EC618 Grand Rapids, MI Voice: barakatn1@asme.org Abstract As engineering endeavors span across the globe, relevant elements have to be incorporated in the education and training process of engineers so they are better prepared for the practice of their profession. Nowadays, engineers find themselves continuously working within a global network or designing products for the international market. Consequently, an extremely relevant and important element in preparing engineers for such scenarios would be the globalization of engineering ethics education. This element is currently pursued by many engineering educators, including the author. This paper describes an experience to educate graduate engineering students about engineering ethics and professionalism from a global perspective. This experience was part of the upgrading of the engineering graduate curriculum, at Grand Valley State University (GVSU), with a course handling most qualitative and contemporary issues facing practicing engineers. Major ethical and professional issues facing local engineers when practicing at an international level were sought and identified from multiple sources. These sources include the literature as well as an ongoing survey among engineering professionals and senior students. A plan was set and executed to incorporate relevant modules and discussions in the classroom and course activities, targeting these issues. The experience is evaluated, summarized, and discussed in this paper. Results indicate that most practicing engineers today have experienced an international interaction in the profession and can identify some of the relevant problems. However, most of these engineers had vague or no appropriate preparation to face these issues and highly appreciated having a course at school that would handle these issues, even at the graduate level. Keywords: Engineering Ethics Education / Engineering Globalization / Professional Ethics / International Engineering Introduction One of the major changes faced by engineering educators is the globalization of engineering practice, which introduces multiple dimensions of challenge to both the engineer and the educator. An important challenge among these is the globalization of engineering ethics education. Engineering ethics is a wide topic that brings most of the non-technical issues including the professional, human, and societal ones, into the engineering curriculum, aiming at making the graduating engineers technically

2 competent, ethically sensitive, and socially aware. The international context of engineering practice has become more common than before, which brings with it a mixture of technical challenges from the different people, societies, and cultures. Consequently, the mobility and competitiveness of engineers becomes not only related to the international recognition of their qualifications but also to their ability to function in different technical, social, and cultural settings 1, 2, 3. Therefore, incorporating an international perspective in the engineering curriculum, especially in engineering ethics education, would provide the engineering graduates with a critical asset towards success in their career and would contribute significantly to bringing engineering practice into the global level of performance 3. The ABET accreditation criteria ( ) for engineering programs outcomes and assessment emphasize this idea of ability to function on multi-disciplinary teams and the understanding of professional and ethical responsibility as well as the broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global and societal context 4. In a typical pool of engineering graduate students at any school, a representation of traditional engineering education usually exists in frames of mixed cultural backgrounds. Most engineering ethics education of the traditional type, if it existed, is limited by a national or local character, and international pieces might only be added to it for flavor 5. Each local base of engineering ethics has its roots and strengths, which if collectively treated and equally respected, can be a major human achievement and a unifying professional foundation. In addition, very few schools in the United States look closely at educating engineers at the graduate level about ethics, professionalism, and other qualitative issues of the profession. Therefore, offering this course as part of the graduate curriculum at GVSU School of Engineering (SOE) was a unique and rare opportunity to improve engineers and provide them with a meaningful continuing education after they have finished their basic engineering education and have started their careers. In this paper, a description of the experience gained in educating graduate engineering students about engineering ethics and professionalism from a global perspective is provided. The engineering graduate curriculum at GVSU-SOE was upgraded with a course handling qualitative issues facing practicing engineers. This course allowed the incorporation of a module designed to handle major ethical and professional issues facing engineers on an international level. These issues were identified from multiple sources. Students reflections and feedback regarding this module were collected and analyzed for evaluation and improvement. Conclusions were drawn from the experience to guide more efforts in the same direction. The experience of this part of the course is presented in this paper. Current status of engineering ethics To identify the major ethical issues facing engineers as they practice internationally, two major sources were employed. The first source was the literature and the second source was the actual engineering body and experience. The latter source was toggled as part of an ongoing survey conducted by the author in the USA, for multiple objectives. One of these survey objectives was to identify the major ethical issues facing domestic engineers as they practice in a global level. In addition, the survey aimed at quantifying the level of

3 knowledge and recognition among domestic practicing engineers of these major ethical issues when practicing globally. The rest of the survey objectives and results are beyond the scope of this paper. The surveyed pool included engineering educators, practicing engineers, graduate and upper level undergraduate engineering students, and engineering managers. The questions revolved around three basic themes. The first theme looked at the engineers knowledge of universal vs. local engineering ethics concepts. The second theme investigated these engineers knowledge of other engineering ethics in the world and how these local engineers calibrate their ethical standards relative to it. The third theme was a direct question on what engineers thought was the most important skill for success in their career globally. The most general result revealed by this survey was that most engineers did not distinguish between local and universal ethical standards of the profession and considered what they know to be universally uncontested. Answers to the first theme included two main values which were ranked as most important universally. These were: concern for the public health and safety and; honesty and integrity. Ranking third was the concern for the environment. When attempting to categorize ethical standards and values as being national or universal, difficulty was evident in the random answers. The second theme toggled the issue of how US engineers can reciprocate benefits of engineering ethics with the international community. The answers revealed that engineers seemed to recognize certain strength points in the US educational system regarding ethical standards of the profession compared to other cultures. Public safety, quality, and integrity, as well as critical thinking were valued highly and worthy of transfer to other cultures from the US engineering ethics education. They also seemed to identify points of weakness in the US engineering educational system regarding ethical standards that could benefit from others. Among the main repeated ones were: awareness of other cultures, concern for the environment and natural resources, and efficiency. The collective of the answers shows that the surveyed engineers had some frame of reference that was gained through formal college education or practical experience in the field mixed with media sources. The third theme aimed at investigating the depth in knowledge these engineers had about the general idea of engineering ethics in the context of engineering globalization. Inquiring directly about the most important skill for global success by engineers, the most valued skills by the respondents were communications, intelligence, and technical competence, in order of importance. Knowledge of ethical concerns, determination, and cultural awareness came after the previous set in ranking in equal frequency. In general, most of the skills picked were from among the skill set that these engineers are aware of through their local engineering education and experience, except for a few. Although the answers were relevant in general and did address a realistic problem like communication skills, the lack of awareness of the challenges posed by globalization of engineering, from a professional angle, influenced the answers. Ethical concerns and cultural awareness were literally the most elaborate statements that the collected answers contained related to the area of ethics and professionalism challenges stemming from globalization.

4 The survey was conducted on a pole of practicing engineers in the USA with a size of 100. The percentage of senior engineering students surveyed was 25% and the percentage of engineering faculty and engineering managers was 5%. Nevertheless, the isolated results for these sub-populations, regarding the themes discussed above, showed no significant departure from the general trends presented earlier. Ethical challenges in global engineering To help the students realize the significance of the issues related to engineering ethics globalization and its necessity, the previous findings were combined with literature sources aiming at highlighting the importance and need for ethics globalization 2, 5, 6. This was done through identifying issues and challenges associated with practicing engineering beyond local borders, which were identified, presented, and discussed. These issues were gathered in the following main themes: 1. Lessons learned from the past. The historical need for engineering ethics presents a compelling analogy to be used on the global scale. Professional ethics, including engineering ethics, is simply the set of behavioral standards that the professionals refer to, and abide by, as they practice their profession. Most of these ethics were developed as a form of response by the community of professionals to the need for self regulation and supervision of the profession so standards of the practice as well as the integrity of the practitioner can be guarded, and ultimately the trust of the society can be acquired and fulfilled. It is no secret that the majority of the engineering codes of ethics and the push for ethics education came as a reaction to major engineering disasters that blatantly shock societies, even across the globe. The Disaster at Bhopal in India, which was a result of an international endeavor by Union Carbide of the USA is a very relevant example 7. Another example is the Chernobyl nuclear reactor explosion case 8. These are well known examples of engineering disasters and problems that span over international borders. With time and experience, engineers learned to be pro-active and prudent in their profession, and not wait until something goes wrong before establishing measures of protection and standards of practice. Analogous to the same local model, an international setup becomes imperative as the practice goes borderless. Therefore, the need for a global set of engineering ethics is not only economical but also necessary for the engineering profession to serve the global society. It is critical to emphasize here that in the efforts of globalization, the concern should not be limited to translation, reaching consumers, career advancement, and success. A strong interest should be in understanding and measuring the impact of engineering endeavors in the human, societal, and environmental dimensions. The ethical responsibility of engineers extends beyond providing services and products. Engineers should be concerned with the aftermath of their work and its interaction with humans and nature. 2. Consensus and common standards. Ethical codes and standards are mostly based on multiple sources that include major religions, philosophers thoughts, international documents, codes of engineering societies, cultural values, and societal consensus or legislature. By going through the previous list, it becomes evident that contradictions would surface as engineers practicing in one locality move to practice in a different locality. This can be characterized as the

5 difference between engineers of the home and host countries 6. This brings the problem of which standards should be applied, home country or host country? 3. Impact on the other society. Another problem that will become evident is related to the technology transfer and its societal impacts. One famous example of the latter problem is the introduction of technology for development of poor countries residents in environmentally sensitive areas. The related arguments are whether the technology facilitates exploitation and damage of the environment, or otherwise helps the residents get decent jobs and environment changes are just a phase in economical development. 4. Impact on the engineer and the profession. Once an ethical question arises while practicing engineering globally, two trends of behavior are possible by the engineer. The first trend is the Superiority Assumption which is mainly a result of the lack of knowledge and understanding of the ethical bases and values of the host country and their existence. This assumption entails the embedded notion of superiority of the engineer s own ethics and values and the inferiority of the engineering ethics and values in the host country. The second trend is the Moral Relativism which is mainly a result of ignorance about the ethical sources of both the host country and the home country. This behavior is signified by blind following of the host country s customs and values. Both of these trends have extremely negative ramifications on the engineer s psychology, performance, professionalism and even on the perception of the profession by the society as a whole. The implications of the engineer s reaction to the ethical problem might even be legally troublesome in either the host country, home country, or both. Course mechanics As part of the efforts to upgrade the graduate curriculum at GVSU-SOE, a set of courses was introduced and designated as a degree requirement to fulfill the gaps usually left in an engineer s undergraduate preparation and bring the graduate students at GVSU-SOE up to the same level of preparation. These courses aim also at providing a continuing education opportunity for practicing engineers treating most recent skills and issues faced by the engineers. The course containing the module under discussion is from this set and was offered during the winter of 2006 as EGR 602: Engineering and Society. It is also offered during this winter (2007) and has a record enrollment (43 students). The course takes a balanced approach to most of the qualitative and contemporary issues facing engineers in their practice that are not usually covered in depth in undergraduate curricula. The course includes modules covering the following issues: 1. Writing, communication, and reasoning 2. Professional ethics and ethical codes 3. Ethical theories, rights, responsibility and obligation 4. Ethical problems identification, analysis and solution 5. Concepts of Risk, Safety, Honesty, Integrity, and reliability 6. Project management 7. Legal issues: Contract, liability, intellectual property, etc! 8. Environmental ethics, green design, and sustainability. 9. Globalization, social role, social policies, and moral leadership

6 In addition to being stand-alone modules, some of the listed modules are merged into the other parts of the course, like writing, communication, and ethics globalization, due to their involvement in almost all aspects of the practice. Every listed module includes a classroom presentation combined with an open discussion followed by a team active learning exercise. More discussion and comments follow the team exercise outcome. The result is a list of open issues and relevant ideas which are to be pursued through a follow up assignment and the course project. The course project included a paper on a course topic that can be chosen by the student with a limitation on the number of projects per category to guarantee diversity. Educational approach Two main concepts, that are different from the main stream engineering ethics education, were introduced and emphasized in the course. The first concept focused on the existence of ethical thoughts and values that are different from western ethical thinking and are neither inferior nor superior to it. The second concept was that common morality and ethical standards might not be present in the same format between different cultures, but there are definitely a lot of common norms between these cultures. During the discussion of engineering ethics globalization and the common ethical norms among different societies, the students were able to anticipate and state some of these norms, accompanied by relevant precautions. The main conclusion they came up with was that a global ethical situation involves multiple considerations and that a balanced approach should result mostly in common grounds solutions that will maximize benefits to all parties with the least possible compromise of the engineer s ethical standards. Instead of falling in the mistake of superiority-assumption and assuming that what they know as ethical standards is universally uncontested, tolerance to differences and efforts to find alternative common grounds to problems were suggested. More ideas and alternatives to approach certain problems in the profession were proposed by the students in their term papers for the course. Results and conclusions Some of the papers produced by the students included interesting discussions and innovative thoughts on the topic. These papers project the views of the students on some of the different topics that were discussed in the course, which are real issues in practicing engineering. The experience gained from introducing and discussing a presently critical issue, which is the globalization of engineering ethics, was enlightening to most of them but realistic to those who did face the issues once or twice already in their careers. This was a different and new way of looking at engineering ethics. The final students papers included very interesting and exciting topics like: 1. Ethical design for the world 2. Rights and responsibilities of engineers 3. Engineering ethics globalization 4. Engineers role in modern policy making The main theme detected from the students final papers and presentations was their approval of incorporating the ethics globalization topic and their appreciation of the magnitude it has in their practice of the profession. Some of these engineers stated that

7 they will continue looking seriously at this issue after leaving the course to locate opportunities through which they can contribute to the advancement of the profession, from the ethics globalization aspect, through their respective professional societies, or other means. Globalization of engineering ethics education is a necessary step in the direction of upgrading engineers skills to practice world wide. The ultimate goal is to reach a global engineering code of ethics and standards of practice. A lot of time and effort will be required from educators and professionals to bring this topic to maturity. The course was effective in teaching the students about ethics globalization issues and importance, as well as the current status of the topic and the possible improvements they can contribute to it. From an educator point of view, the course can be applied as a workshop for educators from one end, and because of its modular nature, can be offered to undergraduates in engineering as a complete course or as modules within other courses. The particular module about ethics globalization has more room for improvement. As work continues in this direction some global ethical standards might be soon articulated and introduced to the students. Until then, more needs to be invested in developing teaching material and methods that will help shape the students experience allowing for a globally ethical practice. Incorporating elements relevant to the global scale of the practice of engineering and the associated challenges with it, as well as the inclusion of information and ideas about other cultures and ethical bases is definitely a step in the right direction. Acknowledgement This work was made possible partially through a Scholar-Teacher grant from the Faculty Teaching and Learning Center (FTLC) at Grand Valley State University (GVSU) awarded to the author in the summer of References: [1] Jones R., Butcher W., and Prey J., The Globalization of Engineering, ASEE prism, summer 2005, 14, 9, Wilson Education Abstracts. [2] National Academy of Engineering, Educating the engineer of 2020, The National Academies Press, Washington DC, [3] Barakat N. and M Carroll, Globalization of Engineering Ethics Education, Proceedings of the 2005 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, OR. June [4] ABET ( ), Criteria for Accreditation of Engineering Programs, [5] Luegenbiehl H. S., Themes for an International Code of Engineering Ethics, Proceedings of the 2003 ASEE/WFEO International Colloquium, Nashville, TN [6] Harris C., Pritchard M., and Rabins M., Engineering Ethics, Concepts and Cases, Third edition, Thompson/Wadsworth, USA, [7] The Atlantic Monthly, March 1987, p. 30, The Watergate, 600 NH Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20037

8 [8] Carl Bialik, Measuring Chernobyl fallout, Wall Street Journal, April 27, Bibliographic Information: Nael Barakat earned his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from McMAster University, Canada. He is currently teaching Dynamic Systems Modeling and Control as well as Engineering and Society for the Graduate program at Grand Valley State University. He is also active in research and publication on the topic of Engineering Ethics and Professional Skills and its relevant educational methods.