Engineering-the future: or engineering the future

The engineering profession faces many challenges as we begin the new millennium. In the UK the popularity of engineering as a career is declining and employers in some fields report difficulties recruiting appropriately qualified staff. We are not, however, alone in our difficulties; other countries in the western world face similar declines, but in the Asia-Pacific region expansion is still strong. The paper analyses these relative positions and illustrates how the supply and demand patterns have changed over time. Following a brief historical review of the emergence of engineering as a profession, it goes on to consider the vital formation stage of an engineering career and shows how the education and training environment has been changed. The paper then looks forward to the emergence of Internet-based delivery of both continuing professional development and elements of undergraduate education and goes on to show how the approved changes to the IEE membership structure should help address the future needs of the profession. The address concludes with an analysis of the policy decisions required at both government and professional level and some personal predictions as to the future shape of the professional institutions.