Control education: time for radical change?

Aims to identify, and review critically, some of the hidden assumptions in the conventional control engineering curriculum, to stimulate debate within the control community. Topics addressed include the role of mathematics; the philosophy of engineering; the use of computer-based tools; and the aspirations and requirements of students and employers. The article is prompted by a number of current issues in control engineering education, including: how to improve the structure and content of our curricula, and how to recruit more students to study control engineering; the implications for control education of the increasingly rapid pace of technological change-in particular, the role of computers and computer-aided control system design tools; the (at times acrimonious) debate within the control engineering profession on fuzzy and intelligent control; and the role of so-called “nontechnical subjects” in engineering education