Stephen W.

Director
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, Michigan

October 2002
Change: The Challenge Facing
Engineering Education

¾ Changing Practice of Engineering

¾ Rise of biological sciences
¾ Nature of Research
¾ Technology Transfer
¾ Nature of Student and Role of Professor
¾ Accreditation
¾ Educational Delivery
¾ Globalization
Globalization Affects Every
Aspect of Engineering

“The challenge of the next century is to serve

unique markets on a global basis….a capability
to meet unique local demands in every region
and economic segment anywhere in the world,
with immediacy and highest value.”

Peter Staudhammer
VP, Science & Technology, TRW Inc
Globalization Affects Every
Aspect of Engineering
“Engineering is global, and engineering is done
in a holistic business context. The engineer
must design under constraints that include
global cultural and business contexts -- and so
must understand them at a deep level. They
too are new ‘fundamentals’.”

William Wulf
President, US National Academy of Engineering
Impact of Globalization
¾ Companies employing engineers
ƒ are multi-national, geographically
distributed
ƒ conduct business globally
ƒ must deal with diverse business cultures
and governmental regulations

¾ Designs need to take account of both local and

global cultural perspectives (e.g.
environmental impact)
Impact of Globalization
¾ Variations in engineering practice due to different
ƒ Languages
ƒ Cultures
ƒ Customs
ƒ Laws and Legal Systems
ƒ Environmental Regulations
ƒ Customer Preferences
Impact of Globalization

¾ Engineering teams must be increasingly

diverse in terms of culture and language
ƒ Increased demand for engineers with
international perspectives

¾ Engineering education must change to better

prepare engineers to work in global
environment
Addressing Globalization in
Engineering Education
¾ Through increased exposure
ƒ Study abroad programs
ƒ Academic exchanges (faculty and student)
ƒ Internships abroad in multinational
companies
¾ Through university partnerships
ƒ Cooperative degree programs
ƒ Joint research programs
Addressing Globalization in
Engineering Education
¾ Through curriculum
ƒ Foreign languages
ƒ History and culture
ƒ Teamwork
¾ Through accreditation practices
¾ Through industrial relations
Other Motivations for Changing
Engineering Education
¾ Increasing concern about social implications of
technological advances

¾ Concern about impact of technological

advances on the environment

¾ Increasing importance of information

technology and biotechnology
Expectations of Today’s Engineers

¾ Well grounded in fundamentals of physical

sciences and mathematics
ƒ and knowledgeable about the biological
sciences

¾ Capable problem solvers and innovators

ƒ and able to understand the role of customer
needs in product design
ƒ and be cognizant of social trends and have a
grasp of environmental concerns
Modern Expectations of Engineers

¾ Be integrators of technology across multiple

disciplines
ƒ and capable of working on diverse teams

¾ Be skilled in oral, written, and visual

communications
Three University of Michigan
Examples
¾ Engineering Global Leadership Program
¾ Global Product Development Course

¾ University of Michigan, Shanghai Jiao Tong

University partnership
Engineering Global Leadership
Program

¾ Premise:

• Manufacturing is a global enterprise

• Increasing demand for engineers with skills

in

ƒ management

ƒ languages

ƒ knowledge of world cultures

Engineering Global Leadership
Program

¾ 5 1/2 year, 158 credit hour program

¾ BSE (128 credit hours ) in Industrial and

Operations Engineering and one of the
following (30 credit hours):

• MS degree in Industrial and Operations

Engineering

• M. Eng. in Manufacturing

• MS in Financial Engineering
Engineering Global Leadership
Program
¾ Cross-disciplinary course of study
• Engineering core
• Business core
ƒ rudiments of marketing, accounting and
finance

• Cultural core
ƒ 2 years of a foreign language
ƒ 12 credits of history, art, political science,
customs, etc. on a student-selected
selected region
Engineering Global Leadership
Program

¾ Paid, four-month cross-disciplinary, industrially

based, team project

¾ International projects have included:

• Re-engineering a facility layout and inventory
control at Leybold in France
• Developing a logistics plan for a new
AlliedSignal friction materials plant in China
• Developing a service parts strategy for
GM/Shanghai Motors in China
 737 Wing Rib Project
• Ribs provide
stiffness in
wing

• 52 ribs (26 in
each wing)
 Material Flow
• Aluminum from Alcoa Davenport flows through
17 facilities across the U.S., Japan, and South
Korea

Seattle, WA

Davenport, IA
Gifu,
Sancheon, Japan Brea, CA
South Korea
Irvine, CA

20
 Current Flow

Korean
Aerospace
Industries
(Korea)
Alcoa Alcoa Kawasaki
Davenport Heavy Boeing
Aerospace
Works Industries (Wash.)
Center
(Calif.) (Calif.) (Japan)
Contour
Aerospace
(Calif.)
Flow
0 Days
100 200 300 ~327
 Flow Time Reduction

Percent
Reduction
Current Target of Flow
Flow Days Flow Days Time
Davenport 45 18 60%
AAC - Irvine 18 6 67%
Contour 40 27 33%
KAI 40 23 43%
KHI 120 26 78%
KHI-USA - 7 -
Boeing 9 1 89%
SYSTEM 327 141 57%
22
 Key Results
• Culture played an important role in developing
solution
– Communications
– Customs
• Exchange of business cards
• Role of intermediary trading companies

• Students and industrial participants learned a

lot

23
Motivation

“Global Product Development certainly is one of

the top business challenges of the 21st
century...”

Don Graber, President

Worldwide Household Products
Black & Decker
Global Product Development: Using
Global Resources for a Novel Course

Philosophy
“We never educate directly, but indirectly by
means of the environment. Whether we permit
chance environments to do the work, or
whether we design environments for the
purpose makes a great difference”

John Dewey (1933)

The Course

¾ Topics: product development and

manufacturing, consumer psychology,
anthropology, product liability, global
branding, collaboration tools, etc.

¾ Team project
• Goal: to design, develop and fabricate a
working prototype of a product for chosen
global regions
• Team has students from 3 continents
The Global Classroom

¾ University of Michigan (8am)

¾ Oxford University (1pm)
¾ Technical University of Berlin (2pm)
¾ Seoul National University (10pm)
Course Structure/Logistics

¾ Two ninety-minutes lecture sessions per

week (videoconferencing)
¾ Group meetings before and after lectures
(videoconferencing, Netmeeting)
¾ Online communication (e-mail, chat,
Blackboard)
¾ Collaborative design tools
¾ In-class design reviews
¾ Two face-to-face meetings of all students
(e.g. Ann Arbor and Seoul )
Example Project: Networked
Prescription Drug Dispenser

¾ Specification
• Prescription drug
dispenser (like a vending
machine) connected to the
Internet
• Begins packaging
medicines
after
prescription
submission
Networked Prescription Drug Dispenser:
Global aspects
Considerations: USA Considerations: Korea
¾ Mandatory packaging ¾ Medicines packaged in
standard flexible plastic sacks
• Medicines can be
“mixed”
¾ Mandatory labeling ¾ No labeling standard
standard
¾ 110V AC Power Source ¾ 220V AC Power Source
¾ Variable co-pay method ¾ Co-pay in cash
¾ “Limitless space” ¾ “Geographical
mentality constraints”: pressure for
smaller machines
Networked Prescription Drug Dispenser:
Prototype
The University of Michigan -
Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Partnership
A Grand Experiment:

¾ Partnership to Restructure School of

Mechanical Engineering at SJTU
ƒ BS and MS Degree Programs
ƒ Courses taught at SJTU by UM faculty
ƒ Distance courses
ƒ UM advisors for tenure and administration
ƒ SJTU faculty visits to UM
ƒ Oversight committees
Bachelor’s Program
¾ Curriculum based on UM’s in ME and IOE
¾ ~2 course each year taught by UM faculty in
Shanghai
ƒ Semester course taught in 3.5 weeks
ƒ Same lectures, tests, etc. as in UM
¾ Selected students spend one semester of
senior year at UM
¾ Receive SJTU BSME or BSIE
Lessons Learned – SJTU Student
View
¾ Teamwork

¾ More relaxed classroom environment

¾ More comfortable asking questions

Lessons Learned – UM Faculty View
¾ Homework
ƒ students hard working and efficient
ƒ understand point is to learn material rather
than get correct answer
ƒ students often asked questions about
unassigned problems

¾ Performance
ƒ Superb
ƒ Better at dealing with mathematical aspects
of a problem than the engineering concepts,
reverse of UM
Lessons Learned – UM Faculty View
¾ Classroom participation:
ƒ Similar to UM students, after they realized
questions are welcome

¾ General interaction of students with instructor

ƒ Initial hesitance - appeared to be a novelty
for them
Joint Master’s Program

¾ Curriculum based on UM’s ME and IOE

programs
¾ Began 9/01- 60 enrolled
¾ Selected students attend UM for two
semesters (beginning 9/02)
ƒ Earn UM MS degree in either ME or IE
¾ Return to SJTU, complete thesis, obtain
alternate degree
ƒ ME at UM then IE at SJTU, visa versa
University of Michigan M.Eng
Degrees offered in China
¾ Authorized by Ministry of Education

¾ Manufacturing and Automotive

ƒ already offered at a distance
ƒ matches interests of corporate partners

¾ 9 credits taught by SJTU faculty

¾ 21 credits taught by UM faculty (via distance

or during a visit)
ƒ SJTU faculty provide local assistance for
distance courses
Impediments to International
Programs

¾ Language

¾ Curriculum

¾ Economic

¾ Non-supportive Environment
Removing Language Impediments

¾ Increase emphasis on language studies

¾ Cultivate exchange interest among students

with foreign language fluency
Removing Curricula Impediments

¾ Flexibility in degree requirements

¾ Credit for electives taken in partner

institutions

¾ Develop of special degree programs to

facilitate movement between national
educational systems
Example: University of Michigan’s
Curriculum 2000
¾ Removed barriers to internationalism
ƒ 12 hours of free electives
• may be used to improve foreign language
skills or knowledge about other cultures
• may be used for courses taken abroad
ƒ Training for, and experience with, team
based projects
ƒ Early exposure to environmental and ethical
issues
Removing Economic Impediments

¾ Symmetric exchanges

¾ Research fellowships

¾ Institutional tuition waivers

¾ Industry sponsorship of student exchanges

Providing a Supportive
Environment
¾ Logistics
ƒ Being met at the airport
ƒ Assistance in finding suitable housing
ƒ Buying a used car
ƒ Learning the lay of the land
ƒ Banking
ƒ Health care

¾ Spousal support
Providing a Supportive
Environment
¾ Help with lonesomeness
ƒ Social network
ƒ Counseling for depression

¾ Visa and immigration law assistance

¾ Identifying an office to help international

visitors when problems arise
Summary
¾ Globalization affects every aspect of
engineering
¾ Engineering education must respond
¾ Variety of responses
¾ Obstacles exist, e.g. financial
¾ There are great benefits to all parties
¾ Our experiences have been extremely positive
Thank You!