An Iconoclastic View Of Graduate Education: The 4+1 Program, An Accelerated Route To The Ms Degree

Graduate engineering education is a key to the maintenance of U.S. competitiveness in the world market. The world has been an extremely dynamic engine during the last fifty years, and we have witnessed a dramatic change in the world order. The change has been evolutionary in many cases, but events in Eastern Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the erstwhile Soviet Union are only slightly less cataclysmic than the events associated with the Second World War. In a world where strength is measured in terms of the financial resource, the technological ability and the intellectual capability of a populace, Japan, China, India and the EEC are poised to make further strides, while the U.S. is slipping when measured by a number of economic and educational indicators The U.S. and the world face serious challenges challenges of social, technological, and economic nature. A poorly-kept secret is that engineering capability is crucial to the resolution of these problems! Engineering pervades our environment, it is our personal companion from a few days after we are conceived until we die it is a life prolonging, life enhancing endeavor. Engineering is certainly the solution to the technical problems civilization faces, it is also the solution to many of the social challenges confronting society on local and global scales. This paper describes the development and implementation of the 4+1 blended, dual-degree program offered in the College of Engineering. This program destroyed many of the myths which surround graduate education, and provided it as an immediate option to a greater public. This program was designed to fill the needs of students, the needs of society and the needs of industry. Five-year undergraduate degrees, often touted as means to the same end, financially penalize the student and place the school at a competitive disadvantage. The 4+1 provides a winwin situation for all participants, and has been strongly supported by students, faculty and industry. The program has dramatically increased the number of students pursuing advanced degrees at our primarily undergraduate institution.