An Educator-Practitioner Interaction Program

The teachers in engineering colleges and universities should possess some practical design experience on a continuing basis so that they are cognizant of the real-world, day-to-day engineering problems that are encountered by the practicing engineer, as well as the solutions that he is applying to them. The Residencies in Engineering Practice sponsored by the Ford Foundation and administered by ASEE is certainly one method of achieving this. An alternate approach would be to offer institutes or short courses during the summer that would bring the faculty in direct contact with practicing engineers. The program should be planned and organized by a university, but the major part of the teaching responsibilities should be delegated to engineers from practice. The advantages of such a program are two fold: (1) it provides an insight into design practice for the participating faculty member; and (2) it provides the practicing engineer with a critical review of his design.