An International Industrial Outreach Program In Engineering Education: The Cultural Impact

There is more to engineering education than science and technology; there is more that is beyond the textbooks, the classrooms and the laboratories; there is more that relates to the cultures of the professional worlds in which graduates aim to work. It relates to the gap between the competitive professional world and the protective world of academ ia, something that has to do with the human dimension, the cultural baggage and with the need for lifelong learning skills required to maintain competitiveness in all fronts. For the past six years, a pro gram developed by West Virginia University in coll aboration with universities and industry from Queretaro, Mexico has been addressing many of issues cited above in the context of an experiential exercise. Each year, the program takes place during six weeks of the summer session, in which students and faculty from West Virginia travel to Mexico to join a similar team of Mexi can students, faculty plus industrial liaisons to wo rk as a team, despite language and cultural differences. A challenging industrial project (or problem) is posed to each team with a tight schedule and under budgetary constraints. The pressure of reaching the objectives on tim e, t he bii cultural environment and the tea mmentality phil osophy of the program bring the cultural dif ferences and personalities of t he participants to the forefront. The experience is as much an engineering educational experience, as it is a cultur al im mersion as well as a “self-discovery” journey for all involved. A fundamental premise for this program is that all involved draw a benefit from this activity. This experience has brought forward not only the practical engineering dimension (from industry), but also the human dimension that comes with the individual participants. The educational implications of this Program are indeed far reaching. The West Virginia/Queretaro exper ience is a “customer-supplier” model between academia and industry, which can be expanded and replicated in other areas of professional endeavor in a shrinking global and competitive professional context.