Current status of engineering education in Japan and the role of JSEE

Abstract

The economic depression during the last decade of the 20th century caused various drastic changes in the social structure, including employment and educational systems. Japanese universities have devoted much effort to research activity and the development of teaching methodology for engineering education was not a major effort for professors. Decrease of 18 years old population, however, forced universities to change this attitude. University education is no more for only elite but is becoming very popular among young people. Another impact came from the ‘globalization’ of industrial societies such as establishment of WTO and APEC. Japan Accreditation Board for Engineering Education (JABEE) was established to cope with both domestic and international problems in 1999, and JABEE was admitted as a full signatory member of the Washington Accord in 2005. The Professional Engineer Law was amended linked with JABEE. The importance of engineering ethics has been recognized with these social structure changes. This paper describes the problems now Japanese engineering education is facing and the role of Japanese Society for Engineering Education (JSEE) in order to reorganize the engineering education in Japan.