The globalization of European engineering education: an American observer's perspective

Universities and Fachhochschulen in Europe are adopting the bachelor-masters-doctoral (BMD) system as the de facto international standard for engineering education. The driving force for this dramatic change is the globalization of economy, society, industry, and education. Globalization has created a need for European multinational companies to hire engineers with a more practical education, and for European engineering programs to better compete for graduate students from other countries and institutions. Several important activities and events are discussed including the 1997 International Symposium of Berlin on "Research and Engineering Education in a Global Society", the Bologna Declaration on the European Space for Higher Education, the creation of the accreditation system for German engineering programs, and The creation of the Swiss Universities of Applied Science and their associated Peer Review.