Aligning Engineering Education Initiatives For Knowledge Economies: Outcomes Of The Ifees Global Engineering Education Summit

The International Federation of Engineering Education Societies (IFEES) held its second Global Engineering Education Summit in Cape Town, South Africa in October 2008. The goal of the Summit was to begin aligning the initiatives of the engineering education societies, industries and government agencies around the world to maximize impact on knowledge economies. A five hour workshop specially designed by the World Bank Institute was embedded in the two day Summit to assist the leaders in formulating local and global, long and short term action plans. The highly interactive Summit began with policy makers presenting their perspectives, and was followed by short presentations by engineering education societies and industry leaders highlighting initiatives. The initiatives were grouped under an area of focus in the IFEES Strategic Plan: Infrastructure and Accreditation; Research, Development and Entrepreneurship; Student Success; and Lifelong Learning. This paper presents an analysis and summary of the outcomes of the Summit.