The evolving landscape of engineering education

The evolving landscape of engineering education Engineering graduates are very much in demand, but the changing nature of the workplace requires that higher education focuses on new skills and capabilities; John Mitchell, Director of the Centre for Engineering Education, explains. The past decade has seen significant change in engineering education, with many programmes worldwide starting to move away from theory-heavy and predominantly lecture-based delivery to active learning models with increased emphasis on engineering practice, transferable skills, and key graduate attributes. This shift has been, in part, in response to the desire of employers, but also due to pressure from students to study degrees that provide clear linkages to the impact they may have on the world. One of the core vehicles for this shift has been problem – and project-based learning (PBL). These pedagogic techniques stimulate students in relevant, industrial problems and projects, challenging them to apply and generate knowledge in an authentic situation.