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2009 International Symposium on Total Engineering Education
9 World Outstanding Professors Receive 2009 Bayer Teaching Award
Bayer Technology & Engineering Shanghai (BTES) and East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST) jointly hosted 2009 International Symposium on Total Engineering Education at ECUST campus in Shanghai. This is the second time that the two organizations have cooperatively organized this seminar, with the mission to establish an international platform of Industry-Academy collaboration for constantly improve the development of future engineers.
On Oct 24 2009, Bayer Teaching Excellent Award Ceremony was held, and BTES Managing Director Dr. Martin Franke granted the cups and certificates to 9 excellent professors from various academic institutions worldwide. Those professors have made outstanding contribution to the theoretical research and teaching practice in relevant area. In his speech after the ceremony, Dr. Franke raised three expectations:
‘First to universities and academies: while leading the basic research and development, integrate commercial evaluations at an early point in order to accelerate the application phase! Secondly, to authorities and associations, in order to foster the bilateral benefits of industry-academia collaborations, allow more favorable policies to support these collaborations with funding. We can report very good experience with this from other regions, leading to win-win situations for all parties involved! Last but not least to the students-our future employees: Be proactive in acquiring knowledge in university, and be patient in accumulating experiences in your future career – following our philosophy of life-long learning!'
Dr. Dieter Heinz has been heading the R&D work of BTES as Head of Process Technology for two years, and he delivered a presentation during the event to share his vision on Innovation and its implication to engineering education. He listed the global challenges currently such as climate change and energy efficiency, and enlightened that those challenges will bring immense opportunities but also requires new qualifications for future engineers. By some case studies he then shared the best practice of the global BTS group in its system of training on an ongoing basis.
In his speech Dr. Heinz called for a long-term service spirit to future engineers: ‘From the standpoint of the industry, BTES has a growing requirement for versatile engineers with cross-disciplinary know-how and experiences. According to its experience it takes many years for us to train a new post-graduate to a qualified engineer. Therefore at BTES it is one of our key strategies to value long-term service of its employees, though the concept of long-term service is still not popular in the dynamic China talent market. ’
It has been a common challenge worldwide among industries to find qualified engineers, especially in China. Along with the huge number of engineering graduates each year in China, there is a certain gap between students’ skills and the requirements of the industry. This is a joint challenge to the industry and to the academy as well. Therefore, the solution should be out of the cooperation of both sides with their strengths.
During the past years in China, universities have achieved remarkable improvement, in the area of research and development as well as education. Represented by top universities such as ECUST, some institutions have reached international level in certain area of innovation, and being service providers to the industry, the universities pay an increasing attention to develop well-rounded graduates.
More than 100 representatives from global engineering institutes participated in the three-day event. People presented their research result on how to improve the engineering education so as to better satisfy industry needs, and at the same time try to get feedbacks from the industry on the trend of talent demands. All participants appreciated the efforts of BTES and ECUST to make this exchange platform sustained.
