Global engineering education in the Americas: Challenges and opportunities

There is an urgent call for changes in the educational model in the Americas to facilitate the formation of world class engineers for the 21 century described as a leader, visionary, and entrepreneur, committed to the social environment and with a clear sense of the common good; an engineering capable of creating new companies, being competitive in the global market, and bringing economy growth to the region. This call for a change in paradigm in engineering education to educate engineers with global competencies is coming from all sectors, and clearly requires defining and facilitating experiences that would result in the formation of world-class engineers for the Americas. This paper reports the education challenges and opportunities in forming global engineers for the Americas, as discussed in a recent workshop sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Latin American and Caribbean Consortium of Engineering Institutions (LACCEI), where professionals, scholars, researchers and students from the Americas met to exchange ideas and experiences, explore research opportunities, and develop international collaboration. The outcomes and recommendations from the working groups as well as the future actions suggested are discussed in this paper.