Growth Spurts
The “resource curse” is a term commonly applied to countries living so comfortably off underground treasure that they fail to develop the infrastructure, educational systems, and innovation capacity to prosper without it. In Africa, the benefits redounded, first, to colonial powers, and later to well-connected elites and international commercial interests. Botswana, blessed with diamonds and other natural wealth, has escaped the curse with a combination of sound governance and native-born engineers trained in Europe and the United States. Now it’s ready for the next step: training engineers at home. As Don Boroughs explains in our cover story, Botswana is able to draw on a longtime connection with the Missouri University of Science and Technology and a government prepared to spend on faculty and labs. The country also has set up competition between the established University of Botswana and the new Botswana International University of Science and Technology. It’s an inspiring story.
The call for engineers in Botswana echoes one frequently sounded in this country by both industry and the White House, which has exhorted U.S. universities to graduate 10,000 more engineers a year. The coming retirement of baby boomers has many concerned that companies will be forced to recruit overseas. But some economists dare to disagree, as Beryl Benderly recounts in our feature “Boom or Bubble?” They argue that even with baby
boomer retirements, we’re unlikely to face an engineering shortage. Furthermore, they contend that the kind of innovation on which the nation depends to stay competitive won’t come from more engineers but from more investment in research and development. Their views deserve a hearing as a number of engineering schools expand.
Like it or not, there seems to be no stopping the MOOC wave, and some engineering faculty members are riding it with enthusiasm. They’ve been at it long enough that they’re ready to pass along some tips to colleagues just getting their feet wet. Mary Lord’s story “Step Online in Style” is both well-told and timely.
A correction: Gary Bertoline has been dean of Purdue’s College of Technology since July 2011, not 2002 as we incorrectly reported in September.
We hope you enjoy the November Prism, exuberantly illustrated by Lung-I Lo, Nicola Nittoli, and Francis Igot. Please contact us with comments.