The Japan
Society of Mechanical Engineers Vol. 12, No. 1 June, 2001
New Challenges for the JSME
Toshio Kobayashi, President
Professor, University of Tokyo
I have recently been appointed the 79th president
of the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers (JSME) by recommendation of
the members. It is an honor to become the president of JSME, with its long
history and prominent tradition. But I also feel a tremendous responsibility
as President to guide JSME in the midst of its reforms. I would like to
exert my utmost with the help of the vice-presidents, the executive board
directors, and administrative officers. I would like to ask you for your
warm support throughout the 79th term.
Currently the industrial structure of Japan faces a turning
point. New organizational structures have been called for in many areas
including academic societies. JSME is no exception and we have been taking
measure to meet the needs of society. In the 74th term, during presidency
of Dr. Abe Hiroyuki five years ago, the report on the next century plan
was developed. From the 75th to the 78th terms, JSME executed policies
to reinforce the fundamental structures of JSME and carry out the plan.
During the 76th term, the financial management was restructured and the
financial situation was turned from deficit to surplus. In the 77th and
78th terms, several action plans were formulated within the framework of
the plan for the next century,
addressing such issues as reinforcement of the information network
system, international collaboration, industrial collaboration,
organizational reform, and engineering education. The executive board
directors set a term of office of two years and introduced the president-elect
system from the 78th term; henceforth the head vice-president becomes the
president of the following term. In addition, the executive board of management
was established to execute projects and plans both over the short term
and strategically. The executive board of the 79th term will build on these
improvements. The specific plans are as follows: 1) analysis of the main
organization reform plan, 2) consideration of the financial situation,
3) development of mechanical engineers and improvement of continuing education
programs, and 4) reinforcement of collaboration with other
mechanical engineering organizations and member activities. The 79th
term is thus a term of challenge, and particularly I would like to put
emphasis on the following three things.
First of all, it is important to provide high quality
research and technology information actively and widely. Originally, academic
organizations with deep roots, like JSME, were founded to exchange
recent information and knowledge of various fields and cutting edge technology.
Practitioners thus had a clear motivation to become members. However, because
of recent advancements in information technology, there are many ways to
obtain information. This current situation reduces the importance of JSME
as an essential information source compared to the situation several years
ago. Thus JSME has to provide
information with high quality and reliability widely in many functions.
It is necessary that the 20 divisions in JSME to plan their activities
so to respond to social needs for mechanical engineering. It is also important
to promote and improve JSME
publications such as the transactions, and the international journal.
Secondly, the ``products'' of our society are not just
things, ideas, and publications, but people. As such, we need to focus
on how we help cultivate and develop our members and prospective members,
with a focus on continuing education. Specifically, the ``Center for the
Promotion of Research and Development'' and the ``Center for Engineering
Education'' will soon start their activities. Since this term is crucial
to lay out the future of the centers, I will work to make them a success.
Finally, we would like to promote corroboration with organizations
outside. Recently academic organizations have been playing an important
role in national policy of science and technology. Thus JSME is actively
promoting collaboration with other academic organizations in order to solidify
its role in science and technology policy. Relationships with other mechanical
engineering societies in Asian countries will be also actively promoted.
Currently we are planing to invite the presidents of the mechanical engineering
society in China, Korea, and Indonesia to the annual meeting this fall.
I would like to encourage active exchanges among JSME
members as we work on the above challenges, particularly to provide opportunities
not only to exchange specialized information but also to broaden social
and academic horizons across generations and across fields of expertise.
Before closing, I would like to extend my sincere appreciation
to the past president Ichiro Kanazawa, the past executive board of directors,
and to the members who have contributed to each division and branch. I
would like to call upon your support also for the 79th term.
Re-Engineering of Engineering Profession
in Japan
Hideo Ohashi
Vice-President, JABEE
President, Kogakuin University
Introduction
International reputation swings up and down like riding
on a jet coaster. When Japanese industries boasted their competitiveness
on the global market in 1980’s, Japanese style management, featuring lifetime
employment, in-house job training and seniority-based wages, collected
worldwide attention. In those days commentary books on the success and
secret of Japanese style management were found in bookstores everywhere
in the world. Now the situation turned around 180 degrees. The same management
style is criticized today as the culprit of declining industrial power.
Engineering education of Japan has followed the similar
fate. Our engineering education was once thought as the driving force of
the epoch making industrial development. Numerous groups from abroad visited
us and asked “what is the secret?” There was no secret indeed. We could
only mention several features of our engineering education, for instance,
emphasis on fundamentals and principles, cultivation of cooperative mind
by experiment and practice in a team, and enhancement of integration ability
through graduation thesis. These features happed to match with the demand
of Japanese industries, which did not expect job-readiness from fresh graduates
and did lay value only on the possibility of future development. They considered
new graduates as raw material, which should be forged to powerful components
of each organization through long-sighted in-house training programs.
Lifetime employment was, however, the presumption of the
above practice. The features of Japanese engineering education
could be effective only in association with Japanese style management.
It could not be a universal model for the rest of the
world.
Since the end of the Cold-War Regime in the beginning
of nineties, expanding economic activities and proliferation of information
technology have lowered the borders of nations. In this borderless age,
each nation cannot survive alone. Every nation must design its future in
consideration of the economical and cultural interdependence on global
scale. This new situation forced each nation to make its system transparent
to outside and compatible with global standards. Now, Japanese style management
undergoes rigorous reforms to adjust itself to the new circumstances.
From Organization-Based to Individuals-Based Society
Japanese society has been reasonably safe, reliable and
even dynamic. Who have been supporting these features of our society?
The answer could be "Organization-based society" as illustrated
in the left half of Fig. 1. In this society, individuals have a strong
sense of membership to organizations, especially companies, to which they
belong. As the reward to the royalty, individuals are protected lifetime
by the organization. In a red organization, there are only red employees
who are trained to make the most of facilities and human relations of the
organization. Red employees may be almost useless in a blue organization,
until they re-dye themselves to the new color. In this kind of society,
the responsibility for keeping reliable society is borne by organizations,
private as well as public, but not by individuals. Japanese style management
and "Organization-based society" are mutually dependent and inseparable.
The globalization forces Japanese companies to shift to
more globally competitive management system. Re-engineering,
restructuring and reduction of manpower are now common not only in
deficit-ailing companies but also in profit-thirsty booming companies.
Our society has started to adjust to this new situation, with great pains
and troubles of people who are unexpectedly dismissed from their shelters.
What is the new goal of our society to which we try to make a soft landing?
Fig. 1 Reform of Social Structure
The answer could be "Individuals-based society", as it
is common in the western countries. The image of this society is
illustrated in the right half of Fig. 1. The whole society is covered
and supported by the networks of professionals who bear the
responsibility in respective fields with their expertise and morality.
There need networks of medical doctors, of lawyers, of
accountants, etc., and not to the last, of engineers who are responsible
for developing, designing, manufacturing and operating
human-made hard-wares and soft-wares, the core of modern technological
society.
Even in the individuals-based society, the role and importance
of organizations will never change or even greater. Activities of organizations
cross easily the borders of nations. Multinational enterprises are becoming
common. The networks of professionals, i.e., professional societies are
also becoming borderless. In such borderless age, each professional must
prove own competence by some kind of globally acknowledgeable credentials,
preferably by professional certificates.
To materialize the transformation from organization-based
to individuals-based society, the hardest barrier consists in our
culture and consciousness. We have long cultural tradition of respecting
"learning" as the road to sublime truth, but of looking
down "profession" as mere means of getting bread. As the result of
this subconscious prejudice, being a professional, especially
being an intellectual professional, has collected little interest and
respect of our society. We need a revolution of our
consciousness, that is, from ignoring to respecting professionals.
FOR ESTABLISHING ENGINEERING PROFESSION
Science Council of Japan (SCJ), Japan Federation of Eng.
Societies and Japan Society for Eng. Education have been cooperating closely
to reform public awareness on the importance of engineering profession.
In December 1998, the president of SCJ, Dr. H. Yoshikawa,
addressed a public declaration in which the following issues were
pointed out:
1.The safety and reliability of modern society depend
heavily on human-made products such as materials, buildings, vehicles,
communication and information devices
and systems, etc.
2.Engineers are totally responsible for such products,
throughout planning, developing, designing, manufacturing and
operating phases. Engineers must be
qualified to accept such responsibility.
3.Society should recognize the role of engineers
properly. To obtain the public understanding, there must be a publicly
acceptable system that assures the professional
qualification of engineers.
4.Introduction of Japanese version Professional
Engineer is urgent, that should match, of course, with global standards.
5.Introduction of an accreditation system of engineering
education on university level is also urgent. Accreditation not only
assures basic education for qualified
engineers, but also generates strong driving force for the improvement
of university
education.
6.To maintain lifelong expertise of engineers, the
importance of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) must be
recognized.
RE-engineering of Engineering profession
Responding to the above-mentioned declaration, we have
started to re-engineering our traditional systems.
The Target is to build an integrated national system that can maintain
the output of engineers at the top gear
throughout their lifelong career, for the benefit of the society and
the individuals as well. Such system must
cover every stage of the Professional Development of Engineers (PDE),
that is, fundamental education,
training and practice, professional certification and finally CPD,
as illustrated in Fig. 2.
Fig. 2 Integrated System for PDE
Engineering education in universities provides fundamental
education needed for entry level engineers. To improve the quality of education
and to assure the global equivalence, Japan Accreditation Board for Engineering
Education (JABEE) was established in November 1999. Accreditation of engineering
programs will be conducted by JABEE with close cooperation of relevant
engineering societies. Those who finish fundamental education accumulate
training and practice and gradually build up
professional competence as globally deployable engineers. At an appropriate
stage of the development, one may apply for a
professional certificate such as domestic Professional Engineer as
the token of an independent professional. Since the
requirements for domestic PE and international PE, e.g. APEC Engineer
or EMF International Engineer, are fundamentally
compatible, domestic PEs may apply for an international professional
certificate once their length of engineering practice
exceeds the respective requirement.
CPD is essential for engineers of every stage. Engineers
without professional certificates need CPD to maintain and enhance
their employability. For PEs, domestic as well as international, CPD
is requested as their professional responsibility. CPD is driven, of course,
by the initiatives of individuals as the means of endless updating of their
expertise. Professional societies, educational institutions like universities,
in-house training centers of private companies, they are all providers
of CPD service and must share their roles so that the clients, all engineers,
have a variety of programs to choose from. The documents (contents) needed
for CPD must be also prepared and provided by them.
There are so many participating organizations in the downstream
of PDE. There must be a conductor that harmonizes the
interests of participants and integrates whole components into an effective
system, similar to the role of JABEE in the upstream of PDE. The foundation
of PDE Council is now under preparation for this purpose.
The details of our re-engineering are described further
in the following sections.
ACCREDITAION OF ENGINEERING EDUCATION
In order to establish a quality assurance system of engineering
education at Bachelor level, a committee named “Global
Engineers Education Committee” headed by Dr. Yoshikawa was founded
in 1987. After elaborate consultation and dissemination
among relevant organizations, that is, educational institutions, major
engineering societies, Ministry of Education, Ministry of
Intern. Trade and Industry, Science and Technology Agency (STA) and
also employers represented by Keidanren (Japan Fed. of
Economic Organizations), JABEE (http://www.jabee.org) was finally founded
on November 19, 1999 by the enthusiastic support of all relevant organizations.
Membership of JABEE is categorized into two groups, i.e.,
ordinary and supporting members. An engineering program applied for accreditation
is first evaluated by the relevant engineering societies and JABEE decides
the accreditation on the basis of their evaluation report. In this context,
only participating engineering societies are eligible for ordinary members.
Industrial companies that have strong interest in the quality of engineering
education are eligible for supporting members. Among 18 Board Members,
16 are presidents of major engineering societies including JSME. They are
considered as the ex-officio representatives of more than 80 (as of May
2001) ordinary members.
Our accreditation practice follows basically that of Engineering
Criteria 2000 set up by ABET. Introduction of engineering ethics and enhancement
of communication capability are examples of what is rather new for us.
Intensive preparatory works are now going on. Dissemination of the significance
of accreditation to educational institutions and the training of evaluators
are urgent tasks. JABEE has finished trial accreditation of 20 engineering
programs last year and plans to start authentic accreditation this year.
JABEE plans to apply for the provisional membership in Washington Accord
this year and wish to join the global link of mutual equivalence in engineering
education.
INTRODUCTION OF PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS LAW
Introduction of professional certificate compatible to
PE of USA, CEng of UK, CPEng of Australia, for example, are urgently
needed when engineering activities are expanding on global scale. The
past Japanese engineering certificate based on "Consulting Engineers Law"
lacked global equivalence and was isolated. Last year, Consulting Engineers
Council of STA submitted to the government a set of recommendations on
necessary revisions of the previous Law. The revised “Professional Engineers
Law” was enacted April last year and went into effect from April 2001.
The revised Law defines new procedures to obtain and maintain
Japanese professional certification called Professional Engineer, PE.JP,
as illustrated in Fig. 3. The procedures consist of Primary Examination,
training and practice (Initial Professional Development), Secondary Examination,
certification of PE, and CPD. Graduates of accredited engineering programs
are exempt from Primary Examination, since the basic capacity as an entry
level engineer is assured by the program itself.
The enforcement of the new Law will have great influence
on the public perception of engineering profession. We expect that the
number of certified engineers will increase tenfold from the present number
(about 40 thousand) in ten years and that the
average age of rookie PEs will reduce to around 30. The responsibility
to the public (engineering ethics) is stressed in the new
Law and it will hopefully help regain public confidence on engineers
and engineering achievements.
Since our requirements and procedures for professional
certificate PE.JP are globally acknowledgeable, it will be easier for our
PEs to apply to any regional or international engineering certificates
such as APEC Engineer and International Engineer now
discussed by Engineer Mobility Forum. There will be also no obstacles
to the mutual recognition of professional certificates
among the interested nations.
Fig. 3 Procedures of Japanese Professional Engineers
ROLES OF ENGINEERING SOCIETIES
There are 2.4 million engineers in Japan. Among them,
approximately 600 thousands belong to one or plural number of
engineering societies/institutions that have definite range of disciplines
to serve.
Each engineering society has two major functions, that
is, academic (scientific) and professional. Academic function of JSME,
for example, is to promote the advance of mechanical engineering science
on the basis of quality (originality) judgment by peer
review. Another function is to help mechanical engineers maintain and
develop their expertise as professionals. In the case of
JSME, more than 70 % of its members are engineers working in industries
and, therefore, the role as a professional society
should be at least as important as the role as an academic one. So-called
trunk societies such as Society of Civil Engineers,
Electrical Engineers, Architecture, Chemical Engineers, etc., have
the character similar to that of JSME.
The members of engineering societies come from all engineering-related
sectors, academia, industry, government, local
autonomy, etc. Engineering societies are the sole organizations that
may represent engineering interests in integrated form.
Engineering societies are expected to perform key contribution in every
phase of professional development of engineers as
illustrated in the following figure.
Fig. 4 Engineering Societies as the Key Contributor to Engineering Profession
CONCLUDING REMARKS
Recent criticality accident at JCO's Tokai Facility in
Japan left severe damages to the public confidence on technology and
subsequently on engineers. Short-term remedies are not sufficient to
improve this situation. We are confident that the endeavor for the re-engineering
of engineering profession described in the above will be a sure step forward
to recover the public confidence.
Every nation has own history, culture and feeling of amenity.
The reforms we are trying to achieve seem all within the frame of so-called
westernization or introduction of Anglo-Saxon systems. The same situation
happened 130 years ago when we went
through Meiji Restoration. After mixing and fusing native and introduced
species, the leaders of Meiji succeeded to produce new
systems optimized to Japanese climate and situation.
New Japanese system for the 21 Century is now under construction.
We hope our new system will be acknowledged as a
universal model to enhance our service and contribution to the society.
Accreditation of Engineering Education
Programs in Japan
― Contribution of JSME to the
Activity of JABEE
Akira Nagashima
Chairman of JSME Committee for JABEE
Professor, Keio University
Since 1999, JSME has been cooperating with newly established
Japanese organization, the Japan Accreditation Board for Engineering Education
(JABEE). Japan has a large number of engineers which has supported Japanese
industry and technological prosperity of the society. These engineers has
been educated at higher education institutions for initiating in engineering
career and, in many case, trained further working in industry. Also, there
existed a qualification system for the title of qualified engineer called
`gijutsushi`. However, in recent years, there have been some new aspects
in working environment of engineers. Firstly, more Japanese engineers or
international engineers educated in Japan work abroad or are hired by international
companies. They are often requested to have an internationally accepted
qualification. Secondly, higher quality of engineering education at institutions
of higher education is more strongly demanded than before, partly for strong
need to catch up with accelerated progress of technology and also to back
up engineer training formerly done at industry.
JSME joined JABEE as one of its founding members and also
serving as one of board members (one of 14 societies representing major
engineering fields). JABEE was established in 1999 as the non-governmental
accreditation organization in Japan to be qualified as an equivalent body
to corresponding organizations for accreditation in other countries under
Washington Accord. JABEE’s task is to organize accreditation of engineering
education programs in Japanese institutions of higher education. Actual
activity of evaluating education programs for accreditation is carried
out by major societies of engineers. JSME is cooperating with JABEE in
various ways by joining discussions of evaluation standards and sending
representatives to the board of trustees and other committees of JABEE.
JSME is responsible for mechanical engineering and related
fields. In 2000, the trial evaluations of selected institutions were performed
in order to test soundness of the system. JSME worked for trial evaluation
of three programs, two for mechanical engineering and one for measurement
and control engineering. The last one was done cooperating with the Society
of Instrumentation and Control Engineers. The category of mechanical engineering
is broad and, in Japan, there exist a number of academic as well as professional
societies covering or relating to particular divisions of mechanical engineering.
It is important to find how to organize these related societies in accreditation
activity covering related fields. The cooperation with the Society of Instrumentation
and Control in 2000 was one trial and it was a valuable step. Through these
trial evaluations, it was found that further effort was needed in such
items as refining standards, providing qualified evaluators, developing
understanding of ‘program’ definition, evaluating ‘outcomes’ of the
education and so on. Both of JSME and JABEE have now been working for improving
standards and accreditation procedures as well as organization structure.
Establishment of the new organization like JABEE has been
corresponding to ambitious policies tackled by Japanese government aiming
revitalizing science and technology in Japan. One of other changes was
the recent revision of the law of ‘gijutsushi’, the qualified engineer.
Societies of engineers now can (and are expected to) prepare training courses
for a junior engineer, preliminary title to a qualified engineer. JSME
is also developing the system of engineer education for career-up and the
continuing professional development (CPD). The CPD is intended to provide
chances to attain credits for renewing qualification of an engineer for
members of JSME. These related activities are explained in other articles.
Through cooperation with JABEE and development of CPD,
JSME wishes to proceed a new step for providing better services for its
members and for contributing to improvement of engineering education in
Japan.
Recent developments in engineering
education in Japanese university
Shigehiko Kaneko, Associate Professor,
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Tokyo
1. Trial of PBL
The principal objective of traditional engineering education
was to teach students how to apply knowledge and how to solve well defined
problems. In the present age, the market has matured to the level that
all necessary products for daily life are
completely supplied. Under these circumstances, a more valuable concept
for engineering education is not teach “how-to” but rather to prepare
an environment for the students to acquire problem analysis ability for
enhanced creative work.
For this purpose, PBL (Problem or Project Based Learning)
programs are deemed suitable in major universities and colleges in USA
and Northern Europe. In such programs, experience through improvement of
individual skills and teamwork are emphasized most. The aim of the education
is meant for to initiate and cultivate the attitude of thinking by themselves
and defining problems which leads to competence.
Recently, project based learning program in the department
of mechanical engineering in the University of Tokyo emphasizing the relationship
between current technology and recent social change especially deregulation
of electric power
supply business has been initiated. In this article, an outline of
our program and the underlying idea of education are described.
2.PBL program introduced at the University of
Tokyo - Micro Gas Turbine (MGT) Project
We have introduced the PBL program to replace the traditional
bachelor’s thesis. The present theme is a micro gas turbine, which forms
the core of a small-distributed energy system. At present, the purpose
of this project is to develop a computer controlled start up and observation
system, investigate the possibility of the combination with IT technology
and find out problems to be solved before introducing small size distributed
energy systems into hotels, convenience stores, hospitals etc.
Thus far, a 5kW micro gas turbine (see photograph) has
been built. The system based on miniature size gas turbine for hobby use
stably generates electric power by the combustion of city gas. The following
items are studied: interlock, control, measurement systems, remote monitoring
and control systems, annihilation of pressure pulsation arising in the
gas supply piping etc. This project is run in cooperation with a Gas Company,
gas fitting Works Company, turbine and Production Company among others.
The companies provide knowledge and information to the students. Company
consultants also act as instructors.
From the environmental point of view, Internet and mail,
parcel delivery services and development of the rental business make a
project such as this one feasible. By making use of these modern business
tools, we can communicate with companies located far from Tokyo metropolitan
area and even those overseas. The special feature of our PBL program is
the selection of a topic where the students can recognize and appreciate
the complexity of modern society, while at the same time have the opportunity
to make breakthroughs and discoveries.
3. What the future holds for PBL programs- Can
the PBL program create new venture business?
In order to produce new business entrepreneurs from the
student population, it is important for them to capture the image and essence,
not of large enterprises, but the small company organization. For this
reason, I recommend introducing PBL
program to the university education in place of individually written
conventional bachelor’s theses. The training for teamwork through cooperative
work and organizational management should be emphasized. The theme chosen
for PBL is
also important. The project should be proposed not only by companies
but also by public organizations, which can set public themes. For increased
variety, contest type PBL should be added into the category of PBL programs.
In addition to these, it is also important to promote the exchange of ideas
on teaching methods between universities. The PBL experience and results
should be made public via home pages on the World Wide Web.
4.Curriculum design in the 21st century ?A new
engineering education method launched in Japan
It is vitally important to frequently and always apply
in a feedback loop the process of teaching action, curriculum re-evaluation
based on input from the industrial world as well as input from university
graduates in order that the curriculum can be kept up to date, reflecting
the direction in which future engineers should aim.
Faculty members must seriously carry out examination on
the work in the next generation. It is necessary to undertake curriculum
reform reflecting changes in the job market. Therefore, a close relationship
between small and medium companies with local firms should be maintained.
Exchange between universities and companies should be attempted through
serendipity of the themes and supply of talent.
As discussed above, I expect that Japanese original engineering
education method consisting of the interaction between universities, companies,
society, instructors and students that gives students competence will emerge
in the near future.
Fig. 5kW micro gas turbine
‘Education’ from the View
Point of Industry
Mutsuhiro Arinobu
General Manager Technology Planning Division
Toshiba Corporation
1.What is expected from university graduates?
Business University Forum members interviewed top executives
of major private companies in Japan, questioning what they expected from
university graduates. The answers are summarized as:
1.Creativity
2.Flexibility, the ability to adjust to different
situations and a wide range of skills
3.A sense of responsibility and ethics in team activities
4.Leadership, cooperativeness and the ability to
function as a group member.
The executives of big companies expect universities to educate the
students as candidates for future Chief Executive Officers.
On the other hand, it is said that young Japanese engineers
are not highly motivated in what they do. That is:
1.They do not try to understand or deduct by considering
deeply when they face new, unknown phenomena.
2.They are one-dimensional in the way they look at things
and poor at applying their knowledge to derive ideas or make estimations.
3.They are not good at visualizing things just from drawings.
They appear to have been trained to solve problems only by applying
standard, textbook formulae and educated mainly by lecture in the classroom.
Their lack of experience in learning through experiments means they are
not trained to make observations of
real phenomena. Generally speaking, they are not trained in making
something with their own hands.
2.Engineering education in US and Japan
Japanese universities have made many efforts to adjust
their curricula to the requirements of the day. In the Electrical Engineering
Department of the University of Tokyo, classes for basics such as electricity
and magnetism or circuit theory were reduced by one third during 1975-1997.
On the other hand, classes for information and communication were approximately
doubled, and those for experiments or seminars were apparently not changed.
Universities in the United States have made much more
efforts. Stanford University and UC Irvine allocate about twice as much
class hours for basics, electronic devices and information/communications
and much more for experiments and seminars as the University of Tokyo does.
US universities try to educate their students widely from
the basics to applications, including business management, and train them
by using much more time for experiments and seminars than Japanese universities
do. US students experience a much more demanding time in college than their
Japanese counterparts.
It can be seen from the investigation of the curricula
in mechanical-engineering-related departments in Japanese universities
supported by the Manufacturing Science Center that the emphasis is on academic
learning rather than
practical training for mechanical engineers. US universities take a
different approach and one of their important missions is to train students
to become accomplished professional engineers.
3.What are engineering graduates doing after joining
a company?
For example, almost 99% of engineering graduates are engaged
in fields based on their specialty in the ten years after joining Toshiba,
but that is reduced to only a half in twenty years. This emphasizes the
importance of training students to become as much of a professional engineer
as possible in the universities and to provide them opportunities to acquire
the skills necessary for their newly assigned job functions or keeping
abreast of advancing technologies after joining a company.
In large companies such as Hitachi or Toshiba, education
programs are arranged for employees according to their needs, such as pre-management
development courses, specialist practice courses, and so on. However, it
does not seem enough for engineers to learn only from in-company education
programs, since changes in market demands and the progress of technologies
are too rapid to be covered by in-house education alone.
4.What is expected from education?
JABEE has started trial accreditation of engineering education,
as a means to investigate the engineering programs offered by the centers
of higher education whether the programs are adequate to train students
to become professional engineers. This may make a big impact on academia
in Japan. In the United States, such
accreditation has been carried out more than 70 years. Moreover, based
on the WTO’s General Agreements for Trade in Service, there are active
movements towards the international mutual acceptance of professional credentials.
The equivalency of the accreditation process assures the equivalency of
the education systems and gives basic conditions for the equivalency of
professional credentials. Furthermore, most engineering certifications
in developed countries require the engineers to maintain their skills at
high level through continuing education.
Japanese higher education organizations should make strenuous
efforts to adjust their education programs to train students to become
professionals from the international viewpoint, and professional societies
should prepare continuous education programs to keep the skills of their
members up to date. The role of professional societies where academic and
industry members collaborate is becoming evermore important.
JSME News Vol. 12, No. 1
Editors: Sunao Kawai, Masafumi Katsuta, Marie Oshima, Yutaka Ohta, Keizo
Watanabe
Published by The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers
Shinanomachi-Rengakan Bldg, Shinanomachi 35,
Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-0016, Japan
FAX : 81-3-5360-3508
All Rights Reserved, Copyright C 2001
The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers
URL:http//www.jsme.or.jp [English Version]
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