TRAINING ENGINEERS

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 147, 23 June 1928, Page 6

TRAINING ENGINEERS

SUITABLE* EDUCATION LECTURE BY MR. KISSEL The' Technological section of the Wellington Philosophical Society on Thursday heard a lecture by Mr. F. T. M. Kissel, Chief Electrical Engineer of ' ' the 'Public Works Department, oa / ''Engineering Education and Train-, ing." . . .- . / ' ' Engineering work, said Mr. Kis'^ilj dated back to very, early ages. There, was no doubt that as far back as 3000 ' 8.C., or even earlier, there were men, who specialised, and had undoubted skill far beyond thoir fellows,.in structural work; but he did dot:propose to set out how they' were educated and trained.' The men who carried but great works like the building of the Pyramids probably carried them out at . a great expenditure of time and of human life; still'the men in command ! wore engineers in that they designed and they executed. ,"]'■'' . Engineering was a science and an v . art, the science teaching one to know and tho. art to do. An engineer had to know and^ had , also':'to bo able.to do. He might%not actually do a great/deal with his hands, but he had to know, how to do. The most commonly known, and best quoted definition of engineering was that which formed part of the definition in the charter of the.lnstitution of Civil Engineers: "The. art of directing great sources of power in na-' ture tor the use and convenience of man."" Mr. Kissel quoted, other definitions, and. then discussed, the sub--jcet .of training for engineers. , He outlined the syllabus in use in various countries, ' eoiipariug their.' Relative merits. In. m'bst of the more.modern discussions' on engineering education, he said,, there. Was a strong. tendency to advocate a more complete .system of general, education.? Though, the varieties of engineering were so.varied and so complex, the1 basic laws were milch the, same, and the student and; young engineer thoroughly ' trained in.these basic principles was able to adapt'himself to tho particular type- and -kind of engineering. ho was. called upon to perform with much greater facility than. if he had only had a specialised train-, ing in purely technical. subject?.. An. engineer's success in life in "any; case might depend, largely on ".opportunity, and practice in: any one section might \ ' not be available when he graduated .". from his training course and ,was ready to take his place, : in the professional world. . Education was a training to . think,' engineering education . being ' training to think along engineering lines. A man of great ability .might ' go far without training and education, but the real question was rather how much further might he have gone -if his education and training had been carefully designed for his .future.needs. There was no doubt that .the modern, tendency in engineering training, .was to provide for a broad general education in order to train and develop the mind,, and then, to leave the^specialised and more technical .part until towards the end of the-collego course, this being obtained by the young engineer himself after..he has actually started-on his professional work. In .the. case of ciyil • engineering personality should be developed possibly to a greater extent than in other branches of the- profession, these requiring more,technical ability, although both characteristics were required to the fulles.t degree in ... all branches. '■. ■ j ..-.-.. '•; It might be argued; concluded Mr. Kissel, that engineering .education andtraining shouM include snch studies ..-as, laWj^accbuntaney^'an'^./ecooomicg, ■ ■ ,A knowledge' of these subjects w;as, certainly, desirable,' but it was. questionable whether the ordinary engineering course was not already long enough,' and-whether the addition of more subjects would not keep the young- engineer away from the actual, work th« doing of which was, after all, his main.' function.: '/.There', obviously\v -was a need of knowledge^ of- these more com- . mereial.'subjects, particularly x fot administrative, engineers, many of the highest administrative positions being • , held by men with, purely commercial or legal training. ','lt might be argued . that the filling of such superior positions is not engineering,.but it appears tome that the fully efficient engineer is now being trained „in^ so many! of the attributes that lead-to a logical mind, to precision of thoughts) to definiteness'/of expression, td control t of staff and men, that there must be , something slightly wrong with . this ; educaf4on and training when. he does . hot hold down the greater proportion of the really big positions. It. may bo1 that personality is'of paramount importance, but whatever it is I.think.ita subject.for serious .thoughtby.those controlling tho educational ..and'train-, ing facilities: which are, available' and which should be used to -train the engineer to take his proper : place in world affairs.?.?. '*.;'.. . . . : ■-■■■„ . .-■ I