Instrumentation education in Japan: despair and expectation

The impact of innovations directly attributable to digital technology has been substantial. Measurement sophistication can be built into the most basic of instruments. Adding it is cost-effective because component costs are low, and good development tools are widely available. For Japanese industry, the major impact of the digital revolution has been the steady erosion of Japan's enviable position with respect to quality, which was sustained largely by faithful adherence to standards. We are now faced with intense global competition from international companies that have employed digital technology to substantially increase product quality. To win the global competition, industry demands young engineers who have many detailed professional skills, and it wants engineers who understand a systems approach to problem solving. This impact has been felt in the I&M curriculum. Universities have responded to this challenge by adding new elective courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels. New professional graduate education programs also have been added. Making changes is not easy. Creating a course and deciding on content is left to the discretion of the instructor. This approach has pitfalls. Sometimes the same topics are covered by several courses, or some important topics such as data acquisition, digital signal processing, and system identification, are missing. To improve this situation, we have initiated a review of the undergraduate and graduate curricula.