The Future of Education

Mutations in the form of business organization and the constant changes of society demanded changes in the profile of engineers to be trained by educational institutions to meet the expectations of its performance, only the technical knowledge is no longer enough for the professional act effectively.

Within the business and academic environment the 1990s is marked by the increasing use of the concept of competence, under two aspects, the U.S., focusing on the results delivered by the individual, and the French, with the focus on autonomy, action and reflection on the individual the given situation.

Also in the 90 studies on the need to engineer in the XXI century, such as conducted by the University of São Paulo, in 1995, pointed to the need for development technical and non-technical competences.  In same time companies changed their style of management incorporating the notion of competence in the performance of its employees as a key element for success.

Considering the scenario presented, Brazilian law has changed and curriculum guidelines of courses engineering began to incorporate technical and non-technical elements of the roll to be developed students competences. What happened in Brazil had already occurred in the U.S. and Europe, reinforcing the need for change in the curriculum guidelines of the Brazilian courses. However, the questions arise: i) whether the changes implemented in Brazil had a positive impact on the formation of Brazilian engineers; ii) if the graduates of engineering courses identified as positive changes to their professional activity; iii) what are the positives and negatives resulting from these changes in view of the graduates of the programs of Brazilian engineering.

Based on these assumptions interviews with 17 active engineers were held in large companies with headquarters or branches in Brazil, in order to identify the elements allow either answer the questions raised.