THE FUTURE OF ENGINEERING

The future of engineering: How do we attract young recruits for future human resources in the engineering sector?



The future of engineering: How do we attract young recruits for future human resources in the engineering sector?

Introduction

Many countries, especially developing countries, suffer from two severe shortages of human resources: an insufficient number of qualified scientists and engineers in universities and other research institutions and the lack of well-trained S & T teachers in colleges and secondary and primary schools. The main reason for these persistent problems is the difficulty of saving locally trained talent at home, as well as bringing home those who received degrees in foreign universities. Brain drains "issue is a serious obstacle to the establishment and maintenance of indigenous human resources.

Setting The Scene

The reasons for brain drain vary from country to country, but typically they include some of the following elements:

Poor working conditions, including lack of basic equipment and technical support, especially in the S & T-lagging countries;

Some minor importance attached to research by the society of the country;

The limited prospects for belonging to research groups that are recognized and well connected to the worldwide S & T community;

Low probability of achieving a sense of self - scientific, cultural or financial;

Insufficient wage;

Poor integration of fundamental science and technology with public or private enterprises;

Little or no research and development in public and private enterprises themselves;

It is uncertain socio-economic conditions for the future.

Improvement in any of these items will certainly be useful in itself, but they should all be on the agenda of the country if it wants to improve its brain drain problem. The chances of success in achieving such progress depend, in turn, on understanding the complex nature of the fundamental causes of the problem's - at national, regional and global contexts.

Success also depends on the availability of cold-eyed view of reality. It is inevitable that scientists and engineers want to migrate to parts of the world where they are likely to have promising careers. And it can be assumed that the active recruitment of talented people from poor countries to richer countries will continue, compounded by general demographic trends of aging populations in rich countries and the young population in developing countries.

Nevertheless, some countries - East Asian tigers, for example - have been relatively successful in dealing with such basic tasks, which they retained, even enhanced, their pool of S & T-qualified citizens. Moreover, they often provided an enabling environment for the study of these individuals and gave them an incentive not to look abroad in two productive ways: promoting the implementation of specific initiatives in commercially promising areas of science and technology in areas such as information and communication technologies, as well as by facilitating collaboration of governmental, academic and industrial scientists and engineers will eventually generate innovations in products and services of the country. (For a description of an ambitious new program in China to recruit young science and engineering talent from abroad, see box ...