IEE Science, Education & Technology Division: Chairman´s address. On getting the right answer

The rapid growth of new technology in areas such as systems engineering, information engineering and software engineering dictates a shift of emphasis in the IEE and in the overall pattern of electrical engineering education. Nevertheless we still need to recruit, educate and train engineers for the longer-established sectors of the electrical industry. The pace of development in products such as rotating electrical machines may not be apparent to the casual observer but it is none the less real, and significant in the context of our national economic survival. We therefore need a continuing supply of electromechanical engineers with the requisite imagination and breadth of vision to advance the state of the art in the heavy electrical equipment industry. Somewhat in contrast to the compartmented and preordained format of typical university engineering courses and examinations, our design engineers can only get the right answers if they have the ability to devise and put to themselves the right questions. Some suggestions are offered as to how the formative educational attitudes and experiences might be modified so as to be more relevant to the ensuing engineering career.