ENGINEERING EDUCATION. Engineering education to-day embraces instruction and training not only in the older divisions of civil, mechanical, mining and electrical engineering, and their subdivisions—highway engineering, harbour engineering, automobile engineering, machine tool engineering, structural engineering, illuminating engineering, etc., but also in such allied branches as chemical engineering and metallurgical engineering. In spite however of modern specialisation a sound knowledge of the principles and methods of general science is becoming ever more necessary as engineering becomes more scientific. The gen eral history of the growth of engineering education is to be found in the articles on Technical Education and Polytechnics (q.v.), but special reference may be made to George Birkbeck (1776 1841), who founded, in 1823, the "Mechanics Institute" after wards known as Birkbeck college (University of London), and to the later action of the great Companies of the City of London in founding the City and Guilds of London Institute. The Central Technical college, South Kensington, now part of the Imperial College of Science and Technology, proved a most important foundation, while grants of money to provincial centres and the establishment of "City of Guilds" examinations and certificates in technology paved the way for national schemes. In 188o Mr. Quintin Hogg founded the Regent Street Polytechnic (London), the success encouraging the opening of numerous provincial "in dustrial institutes." In university engineering education the way was led by Cambridge, but engineering degrees are now granted by London, Manchester, Sheffield, Birmingham, Newcastle and other universities.
Aims and Standards of Engineering Education.—The principal aims of engineering education should be : To train those who will later be "Captains of Industry" (2) To train the rank and file of the industrial army by enabling them to perform their allotted tasks with greater proficiency and interest, while avoiding the perils of "blind alley" employment.
The introduction of automatic and semi-automatic machinery has made it difficult to acquire craftsmanship in many branches of industry. Fortunately, the peril has been realized. Trade schools for practical instruction are available in most districts, and no young workman should rest content till he has mastered a trade. Even if forced to undertake routine work, he will be all the better for being a skilled craftsman, and his proficiency will stand him in good stead in emergencies.
Preliminary General Education.—For those who will form the great mass of the industrial army of workers, a good primary education is sufficient preliminary preparation, but it should em brace elementary science and such broad subjects as nature study in order that the men and women concerned may have a greater interest in their work and its results, as well as "outside" interests. Those who have a prospect of entering the higher ranks of engineering should seek a good general education on the Modern side, in French, German and science, while a few will benefit by carrying this education a stage higher into the uni versity sphere.
Special Diplomas in Engineering Education.—For those unable to take the university course, certain special diplomas have been created. Thus, in Great Britain, the Sheffield university recog nizes as Associates in Metallurgy those who attain a high standard in metallurgical work, with only a preliminary examination in English and chemistry. This diploma is highly valued.
Assistance by Employers.—Much can be done by individual employers to encourage the spread of education among their younger people. Thus Hadfields Limited (Sheffield) has for many years had a scheme based upon refunding the entrance fees of those, under 21 years of age, who secure 75% attendance marks in certain recognized courses, technical and commercial, at the secondary schools or university evening classes. A bonus of Is. per week is also paid throughout the following year for each subject (up to three in number) in which 75% attendance has been registered and a first-class certificate obtained. During the session 1927-28, about 70% of the students had their fees refunded, and nearly 40% earned an average bonus of £3. 13s. 4d.
Educational Influence of Engineering Institutions.—The great engineering institutions—such as those of civil, of mechan ical, and of electrical engineers—have also done much to raise the standard of engineering education. The qualifications de manded for associate membership cover a high degree of pro ficiency in engineering theory, and a considerable term of practical employment in a responsible position. Membership of such insti tutions may be considered as equivalent to a university degree.
Suggestions to Students.—(i.) Full attention should be paid by the student to health, physical exercise and social intercourse. Good health and good citizenship are invaluable. (ii.) In every grade of education, most importance should be attached to the underlying principles. Knowledge only becomes valuable when applied. Learn, therefore, how to use works of reference, papers before engineering societies, and other stores of accumulated facts; and acquire the habit of applying principles rather than formulae. (iii.) Those who seek the highest positions should have a broad and sound general education. They must be pre pared to continue their studies and investigations, even if un aided, during the whole of their active career. (iv.) For the rest a good secondary or primary education according to their intended employment is necessary. Their chances of rising to supervisory grades will increase according to their assiduity in acquiring an intelligent grasp of the reasons underlying their work. (v.) Be tween the ages of 16 to 21 years, those who hope to qualify as at (iii.) above should, if possible, take advantage of university courses with a view to a degree or an equivalent diploma. This, again, must be supplemented by practical experience and ability. Mention should also be made here of "sandwich" schemes where the student spends alternate periods of work at some higher in stitution during his years of apprenticeship, an idea, first started in Sunderland, which certainly gives excellent results. (vi.) Those unable to take the higher courses in education should attend the continuation evening classes available in almost every district.
The Future.—On the whole, the provisions for engineering education in England may be described as excellent and, indeed, second to none. Nevertheless the following improvements seem feasible.
(a) Monotony of Routine Work.—A large proportion of those in industrial employment are obviously obliged to remain at the bench, machine or forge throughout their working life. Such need a further education to widen their interests in life. Un fortunately the curricula of many evening classes have not always been suitable. This however is likely to be largely remedied by the Committee on Technical Education for the Engineering In dustry recently appointed by Lord Eustace Percy (Great Britain).
(b) "Blind Alley" Employment.—Further education including technical education is still more necessary for those who take on those "blind alley" occupations which are an inseparable part of mass production to-day.
(c) "Individuality" in Research.—The professional staffs of universities and colleges may usefully engage in research work in pure science, in their spare time; but it is rarely possible for any educational institution to do much in the way of industrial research. The experience and equipment which can be brought to bear on its research problems by any properly organized in dustrial establishment are naturally greater.
(d) Science at the Helm.—Science and engineering are so closely associated with every phase of modern life that a reason able proportion of the members of central and local authorities responsible for educational policy should themselves have been trained in science and engineering. The policy of the British Board of Education to-day is to delegate increasing responsi bility to local authorities in the adaptation of instruction to local requirements, thus averting the consequences which might result from the predominance of classically trained persons in Govern ment Departments.
Conclusion.—The arrangements for engineering education in Great Britain, as already stated, are second to none. Every pros pective entrant to the industry should ascertain what provisions for scientific and technical training are made in his district. But he should also remember that the facilities alone can accomplish nothing. The tools of education are ready to hand but those who would use them must work long and hard. (R. HA.) In the American Colonies all industries except agriculture and the production of raw materials were repressed by the British parliament. After the Revolutionary War, a struggle for industrial independence ensued. Societies for the promotion of the useful arts were formed, premiums were offered for useful improvements and trained artisans from abroad were sought. The feeling that the sciences through a new type of education should aid the in dustries seems to have found first expression in a truly technical school in 1822 under Benjamin Hale at Bowdoin college in Maine. Though it lived but a decade, its purpose, scope and plans have found fruit in the modern engineering school.
In 1824, Stephen Van Rensselaer established at Troy, N.Y., the Rensselaer Polytechnic institute, the oldest of present engi neering schools. Initially it was a school for teaching "the sons and daughters of farmers and mechanics" the application of science "to agriculture, domestic economy, the arts and manu factures." Depletion of the soil led to early emphasis on agri cultural problems. General engineering soon appeared, and in 1829 civil engineering, the degree being first conferred in The plan of studies was remodelled in 1849 on the technical lines of the Ecole Centrale of Paris and covered three years. The Rensselaer Polytechnic institute and the U.S. Military academy at West Point were for many years the only schools affording scientific training. Their graduates were a potent factor in making the highways, bridges, canals and railroads essential to the development of the country. Rensselaer graduates have been leaders in scientific and engineering activities and in engineering education.
In 1847 the Lawrence Scientific school at Harvard and the Sheffield Scientific school at Yale were established and in 1853 the University of Michigan offered a course in civil engineering. In 1862, Congress passed the Morrill Act granting land to the States for colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts. The four engineering schools of i86o increased to 17 by 187o and to 85 in i88o, about half being land grant colleges (q.v.) The others were formed as parts of existing universities, or were independent. This rapid increase was responsive to the industrial trend; in the 5o years prior to 187o the proportion of the country's working population engaged in manufacture, trade, transportation and professional service increased about threefold.
In its beginning, engineering instruction was included in the term civil engineering. Courses in mining and mechanical engi neering formally appeared in the '6os. Civil, mining and mechani cal engineering were based on the experience of many generations. In the '8os came electrical and a decade later chemical engineering based upon new sciences. To the technical graduate is largely due the outstanding progress in these fields. Accumulating scientific and technical knowledge has lead to differentiation and subdi vision, until there are two score and more engineering courses, offshoots of the initial civil engineering. The usual engineering curriculum, following the four year secondary school course, con tains three groups of subjects, scientific (mathematics, physics, chemistry), technical (relating to a specific field of engineering and its allied fields), and non-technical (English, history, social science). The scientific and non-technical subjects are usually substantially similar in the several engineering curricula, differ entiation occurring in the technical content of the later years. The degree of bachelor of science, with or without specification of a particular branch, is commonly conferred at the end of f our years, while the professional degree, such as civil engineering, is generally reserved for graduate work.
The enrolment in 148 engineering schools in the United States on Nov. i, 1927, is reported by the U.S. Bureau of Education as 63,023 regular undergraduates (of which io,o73 were seniors) and 1,669 post-graduates. The number of seniors and post- graduates in the larger groups were: electrical, 3,051 and 468; civil, 2,323 and 266; mechanical, 1,8S5 and 24o. Engineering education in America had its beginning under the auspices of educational scientists and professional educators rather than professional engineers or Government bureaux as in Europe. Conventional methods proved inadequate and the engineering colleges in many localities and under many leaders and with changing industrial conditions have been notable organizers in developing a new type of education. They have combined scientific, technological and humanistic subjects in a unified balanced curriculum, intro duced the individual method of laboratory instruction and in corporated shop work in the college programme. Shop work has had different aims and has taken different forms : construction shops, as developed at Sibley college and Cornell university ; manufacturing shops, with remuneration to students ; shop labora tories for teaching principles of industrial production. In lieu of shops the laboratory is supplemented by systematic inspection of industries or by the co-operative plan inaugurated at the Univer sity of Cincinnati in which students alternate between school activities and industrial employment. Engineering schools have promoted research, they have organized engineering experiment stations and they have co-operated with industry in various ways.
Fifty years development of engineering education has witnessed a rising status of the engineer. In place of a single feeble national engineering society, there are now several, large and vigorous, with a total enrolment (1928) of some 6o,000. But engineering is not as restricted and definite as law or medicine. The engineer some times renders service which is technical and specific, but often it involves also contracts and business relations, construction and management. Much engineering is done by groups rather than by individuals ; modern industry employs engineers for co-ordinated work on a large scale; scientific training and technical experience qualify young engineers for dealing with managerial, commercial and financial, as well as purely technical, problems. There is a pro gressive trend of engineering graduates toward managerial duties. Years ago the demand upon the schools was for trained experts; now it is for men of broad outlook, well grounded in fundamentals, trained in methods of scientific analysis and intellectually capable of progressing through continued studies and a novitiate of prac tical experience to leadership in various fields, appropriate to their aptitudes and abilities. Prior to about 190o electrical engineers, for example, were designing and perfecting their apparatus ; recently there has come the application of electric service to a thousand uses in transportation and manufacture, in the mine, on the farm and in the home. The versatile and scientifically trained engineering graduate has been an active factor in increas ing the use of electricity each decade and making the power in dustry one of the largest in the investment of new capital and in its economic and social importance.
The Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education was organized in 1893, as a pioneer movement by a professional group for the betterment of education by bringing engineering teachers into helpful contact. It inaugurated a movement by the engineer ing societies "to examine into all branches of engineering educa tion" which resulted in a report by Dr. C. R. Mann, A Study of Engineering Education (1918) , under the auspices of the Carne gie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. In 1923 the society undertook a new study under its board of investigation and co-ordination with financial support from the Carnegie Cor poration, industries and individuals. The engineering schools co operated actively in a fact-finding survey as to teachers, students, graduates, curricula, costs and the need for improvements. The results of the survey with accompanying comment have appeared in the Journal of Engineering Education, and separately issued re ports which present the status and trend in engineering education to-day have been made available. (C. F. S.)