Engineering for the Americas

Summary form only given. Stimulated by the globalization of the engineering profession and the industries that it supports, and by the increased importance of trade between countries and regions in the American hemisphere as a basis for social and economic development, a grass-roots movement to enable engineering and technology education across the hemisphere has been created over the past four years. The movement has been dubbed "engineering for the Americas", and involves educators, industry representatives, government officials, and professional groups. The basic concept calls for engineers to be educated in high quality institutions in each country in the hemisphere, with quality assurance systems in place to guarantee consistently high caliber graduates. Mutual recognition of such engineering graduates across national boundaries combined with cross-border trade agreements facilitate the flow of work and human resources throughout the hemisphere to optimal locations - for distributed economic development. This open mobility then forms the basis for a knowledge based, hemisphere-wide economy in which all nations of the hemisphere compete successfully in the overall global economy. Engineering for the Americas was formally endorsed by the Ministers and High Authorities of Science and Technology last fall in the Lima Declaration as a focus of their governments, with engineering education being their expressed priority for developing global competitiveness and delivering broad benefit to all peoples of the Americas. This paper presents the efforts undertaken by an international group of professionals who are advancing the initiative and anticipated future activities.