Higher education and technical professionalism at the undergraduate level

Educational institutions have been greatly influenced by expanding pressures to develop occupation oriented undergraduate programs. These programs can be in serious conflict with the goals of these institutions of higher learning. This paper presents and discusses these conflicts, with a particular emphasis upon engineering education. It is concluded in this work that engineering programs fall far short of their responsibility to higher learning. Further conclusions state that one may no longer be able to define the Twentieth Century university in simple classical terms. Various recommendations reflecting these conclusions are presented. An emphasis is placed on the need to establish an intellectual base for the enginering discipline so that it may be properly included among the disciplines represented in undergraduate schools. Such a definition will require that practitioner oriented material be separated into programs which can be readily identified. These programs should be visibly separate from general undergraduate education so that those entering, funding, and controlling the education process have a clear perspective of the general attitude they must assume. In short, the university must in some fashion reassert itself as a nonprofessional entity if it is to maintain the role of a center for higher learning.