Reading the December 2007 issue of Prism magazine, I found an interesting blurb on page 16, titled, Subtraction. Chris Pritchard writes how Australia’s “universities are cutting back mathematics departments because fewer students want to study the subject. Seven of Australia’s 39 universities axed math teachers in the past 18 months…” It seems that few people in Australia want to do math, despite the need for engineers in aerospace and mining. Meanwhile, many of their engineering jobs are being filled from immigrants.

This seems very familiar. We are not alone in having trouble in engineering education. I wonder if England is having the same problem? Is it just English speaking countries that are having trouble having their own citizens become engineers? Are European countries experiencing the same problems? China and India have no problems having citizens wanting to become engineers. What are they doing that we are not? Or, is it just that we have gotten to the point in society that being an engineer isn’t “sexy” enough, or not “nerdy” enough for the general populace?