CZECH TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY IN PRAGUE ENGINEERING ACADEMY OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC Engineering Education Petr Zuna

Interest of students in technical sciences decreases. The number of graduates is insufficient. In the Czech Republic we are witnesses of a steep drop of the demographic curve.

Demographic Curve

Students Registered at Universities in the Czech Republic

Lack of interest in technical education is an all-European problem There are many reasons for this – among them : Emphasis on technical education at primary and secondary schools Unsatisfactory emphasis on technical and natural science subjects and preference for humanities and socioscientific subjects at secondary schools Certain socially undesirable activities of “green activists“ aimed at technology Difficult study Conservative educational methods still surviving in some courses at certain universities Insufficient social and monetary appraisal of graduates Low support from the media Drop in the demographic curve

The public and the policy makers need to understand what engineers do and what they are able to do. And don‘t forget why young women and men choose NOT to study engineering

In the present globalized society requirements on technicians and engineers grow. High-level specialized professional education is not enough. Therefore deep engineering foundations must be guaranteed and based on theoretical and practical subjects which will teach students how to think and create.

Graduates must learn : teamwork to take resposibility to communicate in foreign languages to be unconventional, to realize necessity of development and changes and know how to implement them to think innovatively to understand developing globalization and be well oriented in it. If we choose to swin against globalization we will drown in it

Universities must educate future primary and secondary school teachers in innovative thinking Young people must be led to innovative thinking and competitiveness already at primary and secondary schools. Well prepared graduates of these schools can then be reshaped in to final profile at universities.

The system of education at universities must also be changed Project education must be supported at laboratories working jointly with industry. Theory must be explained in connection with practical industrial applications. New educational programmes must be created. Students must learn how to investigate industrial and social issues alike, they must be prepared in compliance with requirements of the market and must behave entrepreneurally.  Students must not be led to memorizing but to thinking and inventing

The right of access to education must be guaranteed, however, the right to become educated cannot be guaranteed. If someone is insufficiently talented and moreover has insufficient interest and diligence, nobody can pour learning into him.

Everything must be supported which leads to innovations in all spheres of human activity which leads to professionality and full exploitation of the potential of research and development, now often latent, but which can be utilized in state of the art technologies.

This is the most exciting time for engineering science and research in the history of mankind. The opportunity to lead the world to a more prosperous and sustainable future is ahead.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR KIND ATTENTION