The place of focal engineering in university education

The engineering enterprise is considered as a contextualized phenomenon. Three layers of context are pointed out. The immediate context is the realm of technological systems. These are embedded in the realm of systems in general. And systems are constructs arising out of the real world. On one hand, the contextualization of the engineering enterprise by socially constituted decisions coming from the real world is indicated as one instance of the technology/society relationship. On the other, colonization of the real world by the technologized practices of the engineering enterprise is another instance of that relationship. Focal engineering, which can be nurtured in the university, is suggested as a practice that checks the totalizing effects of colonization and gives voice to muted contexts.