1 Challenges for Engineering: Opportunities UNESCO and CAETS International Council of Academies of Engineering and Technological Sciences CAETS Council Meeting, Brussels, 2 June 2006 Tony Marjoram Senior Programme Specialist, Engineering Division of Basic and Engineering Sciences, UNESCO

2 Science at UNESCO Natural Sciences Sector Two overall programme themes areas: 1.Science, environment and sustainable development, 2.Capacity-building in science and technology for development Total staff: professional: 63, support: 49 Total budget: $58.2m (total UNESCO: $610m)

3 Science – Divisions, staff, budgets Water Sciences 21 Prof staff, $8.9m Ecological and Earth Sciences 14 Prof staff, $4.2m (Ecology $2.8m; Earth $1.4m) Basic and Engineering Sciences 11 Prof staff, $5.8 (BSc $4.6m; EngSc: $1.2m) Science Policy and Sustainable Development 12 Prof staff, $1.1m

4 Engineering at UNESCO 1960s-70s Engineering the biggest activity in Science Capacity building, heritage infrastructure projects Later 1970s Decline engineering, rise environmental sciences US and UK depart UNESCO (re-join 2003, 1997) Later 1980s Further decline of engineering, focus on RE (WSP) Increase in environmental science, particularly Water Sciences

5 Engineering at UNESCO 2002 Divisions of Engineering Sciences and Technology and Basic Sciences merge into Division of Basic and Engineering Sciences Engineering now: 1 Prof staff, 1 support; budget: $0.57m Renewable energy: 1 Prof staff, 1 support; budget: $0.45m

6 Engineering activities at UNESCO Capacity building in engineering and technology Engineering and technology to address the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), especially: poverty reduction, sustainable development Promoting international cooperation in engineering Various extra-budgetary and related activities

7 Capacity building in engineering Capacity relates to: human, institutional and infrastructure capacity Capacity is vital for: social economic development, MDGs, disaster response Capacity building includes: education, training, research, standards, policy and planning, advocacy, accreditation, related issues UNESCO Exec Board Decision in 2005 to develop: Cross-Sectoral Activities in Technical Capacity-Building

8 Engineering and poverty reduction Poverty relates primarily to limited access of poor people to knowledge to address basic human needs. These include: water supply, sanitation, food, housing, energy, transportation, communication, income. Engineering and technology enable poor people to alleviate poverty and promote livelihood development. UNESCO Project: Technology and Poverty Eradication (TAPE)

9 Engineering for sustainable development Engineering needs to address issues of sustainable development, link to the Decade of Education for SD Engineering activities need to focus on:  environmental/ecological engineering  waste management, water supply and sanitation  cleaner production and recycling  energy efficiency, conservation and renewables International Workshop: Engineering Education for Sustainable Development, Beijing, 1-3 November

10 International cooperation in engineering World Engineers’ Convention , 2004, 2008 ? UN Millennium Project Task Force on Sci, Tec and Innov Other networking: EWB, ESW

11 Extrabudgetary activities include: Mondialogo Engineering Award, €300,000 US Voluntary contribution, $100k (support AAES study) Virtual Engineering Library for Sustainable Development - pilot project based at the University of Khartoum, Sudan

12 Engineering - publications Information, learning and teaching materials: Forthcoming: Gender Indicators in Engineering, Science and Technology Social Factors and Innovation: Renewable Energy in the Pacific

13 Engineering – particular challenges Engineering capacity and capacity building Decline of interest/entry of young people into engineering, especially women perception: boring, hard work, poor pay, env impact Effective development and application of engineering to address the MDGs Failure to meet challenges: not enough engineers, brain drain, impact on development and developing countries

14 Needs and actions Promote public understanding and perception of engineering, gender issues Make university courses more interesting reform of curricula problem-based learning (for problem-solving people) just-in-time, hands-on engineering applications Promote engineering as a part of the solution, rather than part of the problem eg problem-solving (eg EWB, ESW, Mondialogo)

15 Possible UNESCO – CAETS cooperation Capacity and capacity building Need for better information - cooperation on proposed study: ”Needs and Numbers: International Study on Engineering and Engineering Education” Reform of engineering education Cooperation on activity/project/problem-based learning, in conjunction with above study Promote engineering applications As part of the solution, problem-solving, for MDGs – poverty reduction and sustainable development