Project Lead The Way: Synergy Of Colleges And Universities With Secondary Education

Project Lead The Way® (PLTW), a nonprofit corporation, has developed a national program forming partnerships among public schools, higher education institutions and the private sector to increase the quantity and quality of engineers and engineering technologists graduating from our educational system. Thirteen affiliated universities have joined in a partnership to support this mission across the country. Plans to expand this network to include 2-year colleges and teacher education universities are described. The Problem There is a critical shortage of engineers and technologists entering the field at a time when technology is reinventing itself every few years. The accelerating pace of technological change in computer technology and communications has increased the demand for skilled workers in fields already suffering from declining interest. In a report published by the Educational Testing Service, Barton (2002), based on extensive job data from the Occupational Outlook Handbook, states that “employment in computer specialist occupations will grow by almost 2 million – almost 70 percent – from 2000-2010.” Overall, employment opportunities in engineering are expected to increase by 9% with particular needs for Biomedical Engineers (+31%), Environmental Engineers (+26%), and Computer Hardware Engineers (+25%). Yet the number of engineering degrees granted has remained unchanged since 1988 according to figures published by the American Society of Engineering Societies. There has been a precipitous decline in degrees in Engineering Technology. Proceedings of the 2003 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright 2003, American Society for Engineering Education P ge 849.1