Educating the New Generation of Engineering Managers to Stay Relevant in the 21st Century Workforce

The growing pace of innovation in terms of products and business models, forces organizations to seek innovative engineers who can build for the future, not just through a technical job, but through a wide range of management roles in any industry, the government and even academia. Engineering managers are distinguished from other managers as they have the ability to apply engineering principles and skills in organizing and managing people and projects. Some of the most important questions that this paper considers, are the following: Is engineering education in line with today's engineering profession demands? Which are the most appropriate teaching methods that need to be implemented in order for higher education to promote understanding of academic content at much higher levels? This paper presents a modified framework on how 21st century interdisciplinary themes derived from core subjects in Finance, Economics, Business and Entrepreneurship, have been weaved into the MSc Engineering Management (MScEM) Program (at the University of Nicosia), so that students of the program are trained to become 21st century industry leaders.