Chapter Summaries
• Introduction (pdf) • Contents (pdf) • Whole Report (pdf)
Chapter One: What is Engineering?
- Defines engineering and engineers.
- Illustrates how engineering differs from the science and technology fields.
- Provides an overview of the various engineering fields (ex. agricultural, chemical, civil, etc.).
- Highlights the different qualifications of the engineering profession.
Chapter Two: Engineering and Human Development
- Offers a brief history of UNESCO’s involvement in the engineering sector.
- Describes the roles of engineers in contemporary socio-economic development, including issues such as alleviating poverty and mitigating climate change through sustainable growth and adaptation.
- Discusses the social and corporate responsibility of engineers.
Chapter Three: Engineering: Emerging Issues and Challenges
- Highlights a number of emerging issues that engineers face, including sustainable development, urbanization, globalization, bioengineering and recent advancements in the energy and information sectors.
- Emphasizes the roles of engineers in reducing greenhouse gas emissions to mitigate climate change.
- Notes the importance of public engagement and the media in engineering projects.
Chapter Four: An Overview of Engineering
- Indicates the need for international data on engineering as separate from the science and technology sectors.
- Highlights the role of engineers in international development.
- Examines engineering education studies and women in engineering.
- Provides an in-depth examination of the civil, mechanical, electrical, chemical, environmental, agricultural and medical engineering fields.
- Offers a list of professional engineering organizations involved in policy development, youth participation, research, etc.
- Presents macro-statistics (obtained from the OECD and Eurostat data) that demonstrate how:
- Overall, enrolment in engineering studies has increased over the last decade.
- The enrolment in engineering studies has declined, when compared to enrolment in other disciplines, at the tertiary level. (This points to more people receiving a tertiary education rather than an increased interest in the engineering field.)
- Despite more females studying engineering, their proportions to male graduates are still low.
- It is difficult to create a transnational generalization about engineering, given the differences that exist in each country and in each region.
Chapter Five: Engineering around the World
- Reports on the engineering sector in selected countries from five global regions: Africa, the Arab States, Asia and Pacific, Europe and the Americas and the Caribbean. These country perspectives include information on key organizations that address engineering issues within the country.
- Presents demographic information, current situations and future trends within the country.
Chapter Six: Engineering for Development: Applications and Infrastructure
- Demonstrates how engineering is necessary to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), poverty reduction, sustainable development, climate change and emergency relief.
- Highlights the importance of engineering to social infrastructure including sanitation, environmental health, transportation and communication.
- Focuses on the role of engineers in infrastructure improvement in developing countries.
Chapter Seven: Engineering Capacity: Education, Training and Mobility
- Emphasizes the importance of engineering education.
- Shows the extent of brain drain occurring in developing nations.
- Highlights the various professional standard and accreditation organizations in the engineering field.
