ENGINEERING DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN!

Engineering seems to be hot news during recent months, judging from what I have been reading in the Straits Times.

May 22nd:

Headline read: "His worry: Is Singapore becoming high cost, low tech?"

In it, Mr Ngiam Tong Dow, a former top civil servant, highlighted the importance of Singapore ensuring that the best and brightest students become engineers. He was quoted as saying: 'How do you become a knowledge-based economy except through science & technology? As a result, if the cream of the education goes to Shenton Way, instead of technology & industrial parks, I think we are done for.'

May 26th:

Headline read: "Engineers have 'role in community building"

The new president of the Institution of Engineers (IES) Lee Bee Wah, said she is determined to elevate the image of the engineering profession.

According to her, out of the top 50 chief executives in Singapore, a third of them were engineers by training. She estimates thatthere are more than 50,000 practising engineers in Singapore, 50% of whom are women.

'Many of us are being headhunted to banks and multinational corporations. Engineers look at every problem as a challenge, and we know how to dissect each one and come up with a solution,' she said.

'I feel that for Singapore to take the next leap, we need to have a core group of very good engineers, because technology will play a very important part in the next phase of our development,' she added.

May 31st:

Headline read: "Yale, Harvard 'engineering' a revolution"

Over the past year, Yale & Harvard have started following the lead of fellow Ivy League universities Princeton & Columbia by producing more engineers.

Incidentally, China is producing 575,000 engineering graduates a year. USA produced 81,610 in 2006.

In Singapore, there has also anecdotal evidence of a shortage of engineers. But Trade & Industry Minister Lim Hng Kiang said last year that local educational institutions are producing "a steady pipeline of 30,000 engineering & technical manpower each year", sufficient to meet domestic demand,

June 2nd:

Headline in the Forum read: "Engineers' body will work to draw top brains into industry"

Chong Kee Sen, Honarary Secretary of the Institution of Engineers (IES) shared Mr Ngiam's view, while expressing her hope that top students would make engineering their top choice a university.

The future certainly looks bright & rosy for engineers.

Food for your thoughts, especially if you are planning a university pursuit &/or making a career choice.

Well, my gym buddy, an electrical engineer by training, has been smiling ear to ear ever since he has managed to convince his youngest son in taking up an electrical & electronic engineering course at NTU, which has commenced in early April.