Engineering education needs surgery

It is pointed out that, while enrollments in engineering have been declining over the past several years, the percentage of first year students not staying on for the second year has also been on the rise. This increase in attrition is of particular concern considering the fact those students electing to study engineering are among the best and brightest high school graduates. A model curriculum for the year 2000 is proposed. It is suggested that the undergraduate engineering curriculum should be revised to reduce the shock of the transition from high school to college, give more attention to developing basic study and critical thinking skills with the freshmen, introduce first year students to concepts of design and develop teamwork among the students, utilize computer technology to improve and expand mathematics education, introduce engineering concepts in the physics courses to make them more relevant, strengthen the general liberal arts education, and provide students with opportunities to study aspects of engineering and project management