Identifying Value in the Engineering Enterprise

Trevelyan, James; Williams, Bill

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-99636-3_14

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…In our research we observed that many engineers, perhaps most, have difficulty explaining how their work creates economic and social value [3]. This inspired a series of studies to understand how engineers generate significant economic and social value from routine activities that do not necessarily require innovation [4], complementing existing entrepreneurship models [5].…”

Section: Engineering Practice and Engineering Value Generationmentioning

confidence: 91%

Where’s the value in engineering?

Williams¹,

Trevelyan²

2022

Towards a New Future in Engineering Education, New Scenarios That European Alliances of Tech Universities Open Up

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New theoretical perspectives on how engineers generate economic and social value have emerged from research on engineering practice, complementing the conventional entrepreneurship emphasis on innovation and start-up enterprises. This research demonstrated, apparently for the first time, how most engineers generate significant economic value with limited if any opportunities for innovation, research and development in their work. In the absence of appropriate theory, students acquire limited understanding on the contributions they will make to society as engineers. Observations from engineering practice provide a more compelling research-based narrative that could attract a more diverse student population, and help graduates secure well-paid employment. Many engineering faculty share uneasy feelings that their students will rarely use the advanced mathematical analysis techniques taught in classes. Research explains how practice solving traditional textbook problems builds tacit knowledge that enables rapid technical decision-making in engineering practice. The research also provides insights on how typical engineering science research supports engineering practice. We argue the benefits from widely disseminating the findings presented in this paper to help faculty staff and students better understand how they will contribute to our collective future. This can help overcome current significant engineering performance shortcomings in sustainability and productivity growth without major curriculum changes.

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Section: Engineering Practice and Engineering Value Generationmentioning

confidence: 91%

Where’s the value in engineering?

Williams¹,

Trevelyan²

2022

Towards a New Future in Engineering Education, New Scenarios That European Alliances of Tech Universities Open Up

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“…(i) Large reductions in global productivity growth since the mid-2000s (Manyika et al 2015); (ii) Persistent productivity gaps between advanced and emerging economies that have not shifted in several decades (Manyika et al 2015, 48); and (iii) Appalling completion rates for engineering projects, especially large ones (Merrow 2011;Trevelyan and Williams 2018a;Young 2012).…”

Section: Some Immediate Engineering Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(b) Engineering students do not learn engineering practice: how to deliver practical results in line with expectations. Therefore it is not so surprising to find low completion success rates for engineering projects, largely due to collaboration weaknesses (Trevelyan 2014a;Trevelyan and Williams 2018a). While students are often required to work in groups, they are seldom if ever taught how to collaborate effectively, let alone with the diverse cast of stakeholders that engineers confront in the workplace (Sheppard et al 2009, 67).…”

Section: Some Immediate Engineering Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most research on the transition from education to the workplace has focused on employability: the likelihood of productive employment soon after graduation. However, in the case of engineering, recent research points to more damaging economic consequences from education-practice misalignments such as weakening global productivity improvement (Trevelyan and Williams 2018a).…”

Section: Employability Debatesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Transitioning to engineering practice

Trevelyan

2019

European Journal of Engineering Education

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Transition from education to practice can be troublesome for many earlycareer engineers because expectations, habitual work practices and values tend to conflict with realities of engineering workplaces. Emerging technologies referred to as 'Industry 4.0' or the 'fourth industrial revolution' have prompted many to argue for students to develop improved socio-technical skills. Understandings of practice emerging from contemporary research could help educators shape a new generation of engineers with more appropriate abilities to restore global productivity growth and transform economies to eliminate greenhouse emissions in a short enough time to limit human-induced global warming. However, so far, explicit curriculum reforms addressing graduate attributes and workplace skills have not resulted in significant employability improvements. This paper argues that assessment practices and curriculum gaps may be acting as an implied or hidden curriculum shaping student expectations and values. This paper proposes ways to overcome these curriculum deficits in higher education institutions and also workplace education interventions. These changes could help educate engineers about productivity improvement, commercial and social value generation, business requirements and entrepreneurship. Changes like these will be needed to achieve sustainable development goals, especially in developing countries.

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