Abstract
JABEE in Japanese engineering education is discussed by focusing on the status and treatment of engineers in Japanese society and their achievements. The entrance fee and tuition of the engineering departments of higher education facilities are higher than those of the law, economy and literature departments. On the other hand, an engineer's lifelong wage is smaller than that of those who have graduated from the latter fields. Although engineering students must study for a longer period of time, the scholarship system to support these students in Japan falls far behind that in the U.S.A. The achievements of Japanese engineering were summarized from the viewpoint of economic indications such as 1) production of steel, 2) energy consumption per person as a function of GDP, 3) income 4) real estate abroad and miscellaneous factors such as the life spans and criminal rates of many countries. These analyses made it clear that Japanese engineers have the highest ability even compared to advanced countries and this is because of the higher engineering education in Japan ; but their status is unreasonably low in Japanese society. The four points by which the present status of Japanese engineers can be improved were discussed in relation to the introduction and the achievement of the JABEE system. The true aim of education reform by JABEE is that the engineering education in Japan should shift “from government to non-government”, “from organization to individual” and “from control to interdependency.” The expected points of improvement are discussed.
