Engineering an endangered major
- Source: Global Times
- [08:06 January 05 2010]
- Comments
Brain drain
Comparative studies also suggest that the decline in engineering majors is a reoccurring phenomenon within rapidly developing economies, a parallel that occurred in Japan during the 1980s' economic boom.
As the Japanese real estate and stock markets experienced substantial and rapid growth during the 1980s, engineering students dropped from 18 percent of total enrollment in 1986 to 8.7 percent in 1991. As can be expected, enrollment in finance-related majors spiked within the same five-year period, according to a Science Daily report in April.
In addition, because top scorers the college examinations are able to choose their field of study and are tempted by the financial sector, lower-scoring students are then assigned to study engineering to fill the quota needed for that year. As a result, the overall quality and enthusiasm for engineering drops.
Instead of pursing a related career, Li Dong, a recent graduate from Central South University School of Materials Science and Engineering in Hunan Province, took a job at an import/export company in Tianjin dealing with order management.
"I had a hard time during my years at university, learning tedious and often abstract physics and chemical equations." explained Li, "I didn't want to have to deal with the lifeless lab equipment and chemical fumes anymore."
Engineering the future
But regardless of the social lackluster and lower salaried engineering field, China needs to boost its enrollment if it plans to increase its competitive edge in scientific innovation on the world stage.
"This lack of new scientists and engineers can impede the further development," said Lei Qing, a professor with the Institute of Higher Education at Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics during last year's annual International Engineering Education convention held in Beijing in October.
"We should not only foster interest in engineering and innovation from an early age in school, but also the government should lessen the income gap between engineers and employees in finance-related professions."
Wang suggests the societal image of engineering is in need of a makeover and repackaged for the next generation.
"Engineering usually makes people think of factories while factories often give people an impression of hard work, low wages and lay-offs," he explained.
"But traditional heavy industry is in the process of transformation and upgrading, developing towards high technology, which equates to a higher value placed on engineers, monetarily and socially."
