Surely, many schoolchildren and even adults who want to change their profession are interested in what an engineering education is, what a specialist does and what field of activity he can choose. You can decide for yourself if this direction is right for you.

What is an engineer?

This is a technical specialist who performs various tasks:

• designs;
• constructs;
• serves technical objects;
• builds;
• creates new objects and so on.

A person of this profession must be inventive, be able to think logically and present his idea as if it already exists.

To become a competent professional, you need to get a higher engineering education. Of course, there are professions where they accept technicians with a secondary special education, but the knowledge gained in college will not be enough to solve complex problems on their own.

So, an engineer is a technician with a higher education who knows how to use tools and devices. An analytical mindset, skills in calculations are welcome, and knowledge of computer programs for design is also required.

What profiles exist?

To make it clear who an engineer is, it is worth giving examples. Let's take a look at the building under construction. Before construction began, someone had to draw up a project. This is exactly what a civil engineer does. And how is a car or an airplane created? Of course, the engineer comes up with them first.

There are also programmers and creators of office equipment and gadgets. Specialists in these areas should be well versed in the tasks at hand, since programming and electronics are among the most difficult areas. Despite the fact that both the one who creates the latest complex device and the one who maintains transport equipment have an engineering education, the level of training and the knowledge base are very different.

Let's take an environmental engineer or an occupational safety specialist as an example. The first one is engaged in studying the state of the environment and developing measures to improve the environmental situation, and the second one is developing measures to optimize working conditions in a particular organization.

Also, the engineer is fully responsible for his actions. The fact is that his projects and developments can affect the health and life of people. Imagine that the designer made a mistake in the calculations when he was designing an improved bus, and in the end everything led to an accident. Or, let's say, the built house turned out to be unsuitable for habitation.

Thanks to the engineers, we are surrounded by various technologies:

• computers and laptops;
• means of communication;
• household and transport equipment;
• electricity and heat and so on.

Thus, if you dream of becoming an engineer, it is better to decide on the direction. Very often, young people make a mistake, for example, by choosing a specialty of a programmer, and not a builder. After all, it may turn out that you do not like to create programs on a computer, but you have a talent for designing beautiful country houses.

What school subjects do you need to know to become an engineer?

Now let's consider a very important point that will be useful to future applicants, namely, what engineering education requires from us. When enrolling prospective students, institutes are required to take examinations in the Russian language, as well as in mathematics and physics. In addition, if you enter a specialty related to information technology, then you cannot do without in-depth knowledge of computer science. Of course, at present, it is not practiced to conduct an oral-written exam, but to accept the results of the USE. You must understand physics and mathematics very well. It is best to choose a physical and mathematical profile when moving from the 9th grade to the 10th-11th grade.

It is worth noting that it is at this moment (when studying in Physics and Mathematics) that you will be able to assess your knowledge and skills in technical sciences, and also understand whether you are interested in doing calculations or whether it is better to choose the humanities, chemical and biological or other sciences.

Which university should you go to?

Engineering and technical education can be obtained at any university that has technical specialties. But it is best to enter specialized universities. For example, to become an excellent builder and leading engineer, it is better to choose a university according to your profile. Let's say MGSU in Moscow.

For a future programmer or specialist in fiber optic communications, we can recommend MTUCI, which is also located in the capital of Russia.

So, for example, a person who is well versed in physics and who wants to develop this science can enter MEPhI or Moscow State University. Lomonosov.

Who can be a technical specialist?

While still a schoolboy, you should pay attention to what subjects are given to you best. After all, engineering education is suitable for those who have excellent academic performance not only in mathematics and physics, but also in computer science and drafting. And those who dream of becoming an occupational safety engineer or an environmentalist should additionally study ecology and life safety.

Is engineering education popular in Russia?

Very often people ask questions about what specialty is in demand in this period. You should not hope for the popularity of the profession at the present time, as people receive a diploma for life.

As for the essence of this issue, engineering education in Russia, as in other developed countries, will not cease to be in demand. After all, there is more and more technology, and the construction of buildings and other structures does not stop.

engineer salary

Also, often people ask the question of whether an engineering education is a reason for getting a well-paid job. We can say with confidence that yes, but not for everyone and not everywhere. It all depends on the profile, region and company. Of course, an ordinary person in the provinces on the railway receives a small salary (usually from 7-9 thousand rubles), and his fellow programmer in a leading company that creates graphic applications for PCs and tablets is much more (40-60 thousand rubles).

Choose only the specialty that is closest to you, then you will definitely be able to realize yourself as a successful and sought-after specialist.

Annotation: The lecture posed the problems of modern engineering education. The global conditions for the development of an innovative economy, such aspects as the globalization of markets and hypercompetition, super-complex and hyper-complex problems ("mega-problems") and the trend: "Borders blurring" are considered. Particular attention is paid to the principles of building modern organizations of the innovative economy and the main trends, methods and technologies of modern engineering. The advanced strategies for the implementation of modern engineering education are briefly considered.

1.1. Problems of modern engineering education

In the new Russian conditions, the higher technical school, first of all, the leading technical universities, faced the task of providing deeper fundamental, professional, economic, humanitarian training, providing graduates with greater opportunities in the labor market. To ensure the conditions for the country's transition to sustainable development, it is necessary to revive the national industrial potential based on high technologies that meet international standards and the realities of Russia's industrial development strategy; , increasing the international prestige and defense capability of Russia, strengthening the scientific, technical, industrial and economic potential of the country.

The situation for Russia is complicated by the fact that in our country for more than twenty years the industry has not invested significantly in technological growth, and in a number of areas we are now moving in the logic of "catching up" development: these are global standards and practices for efficient design and production, Information Systems, a number of areas of design and engineering.

The "information explosion" and the rapid changes in society, the permanent renewal of the technosphere place ever higher demands on the profession of an engineer and on engineering education.

One of the most characteristic features of the modern period is the leading role of designing all aspects of human activity - social, organizational, technical, educational, recreational, etc. That is, from slowly following the circumstances, a person moves on to a detailed forecast of his future and to its speedy implementation. In the process of such an implementation, in the materialization of ideas, the role of engineering activity, which organizes this process and implements a particular project based on the latest technologies, is significant. At the same time, the place and well-being of states and nations, as well as individuals, ultimately depend on the development and development of new technologies.

The fundamental feature of project activity in the modern era is its creative nature (the impossibility of creating competitive projects based on only known solutions), the presence of a universal fund of technologies and discoveries that does not depend on state borders, the leading role of science and, first of all, information technology in creating a new technology, the systemic nature of the activity. The central figure in the design activity is the engineer, whose main task is to create new systems, devices, organizational solutions, cost-effectively implemented by both known and newly developed technologies. The systemic nature of engineering activity also predetermines the style of engineering thinking, which differs from natural science, mathematical and humanitarian thinking in equal weight of formal-logical and intuitive operations, broad erudition, including not only a certain subject area, but also knowledge of economics, design, security problems and many others. , fundamentally different information, as well as a combination of scientific, artistic and everyday thinking.

More and more new integration trends are outlined, associated with a change in the understanding of the design process, with a change in the technology of engineering work. Today, design is understood as an activity aimed at creating new objects with predetermined characteristics while meeting the necessary restrictions - environmental, technological, economic, etc. In the modern sense, the design culture includes almost all aspects of people's creative activity - ethical, aesthetic, psychological. The project in a broad sense is the activity of people in the transformation of the environment, in achieving not only technical, but also social, psychological, aesthetic goals. The center of the design culture remains engineering activity, which determines the function of new information. It can be said without exaggeration that an engineer is the main figure in scientific and technological progress and the transformation of the world.

Any design is, first of all, an information process, a process of generating new information. This process in quantitative terms has an avalanche-like character, because with the transition to each new information level, the number of possible combinations increases immeasurably, and hence the power of new sets of objects or their information substitutions. Thus, the transition from individual phonemes and letters to words expands the set of objects by many orders of magnitude, and the transition from words to phrases creates truly endless possibilities of choice. The development of the technosphere, as well as the development of the biosphere and society, shows the validity of the proposition about an avalanche-like development, about the growth of diversity.

At the same time, in accordance with the principle of necessary diversity, W.R. Ashby, the possibilities of information description and interaction, the information capabilities of communication channels and means of storing and processing information in all areas of human activity should grow just as quickly (Ashby's principle was generalized to the humanitarian sphere in the book by G. Ivanchenko). Since the principle of the necessary diversity is the need for sufficient information throughput of all links in the information transmission system (message source, communication channel, receiver), this implies the need for advanced development of design tools and communication tools in comparison with the means of material embodiment of the project in the product.

An interesting analogy between the development of culture and biological evolution was given by D. Danin in a discussion about the interaction of science and art in the context of scientific and technological revolution. He says that, following nature, science and art have divided in the world of culture the functions of two decisive mechanisms of evolution - general species heredity and individual immunity. Science is one for all mankind, objective knowledge of the world is generally significant. Art is different for everyone: knowing oneself in the world or the world through oneself, everyone reflects his individuality. Science, as if in imitation of the conservatism of heredity, passes on from generation to generation experience and knowledge that are obligatory for all. Art, like immunity, expresses the individual differences of people. I. Goethe said more compactly about this: "Science is us, art is me."

A new understanding of design, new engineering thinking require a significant adjustment in the processes of training and retraining of engineers, the organization of design, and the interaction of specialists at various levels and industries. The humanization of engineering education, the inclusion of technical knowledge in the general cultural context contributes to overcoming the negative consequences of the narrowly professional training of engineers. No less important is the ability of future and working engineers to use humanistic criteria in their professional activities, a systematic consideration of the tasks assigned to them, including all the main aspects of the application of the products being developed. It is important to take into account the environmental, social and other consequences of the use of new technical devices and the use of new technologies. Only with the synthesis of natural science (including technical) and humanitarian knowledge is it possible to overcome the development of technocratic thinking, which is characterized by the primacy of the means over the goal, the private goal - over the meaning, technology - over the person. The main means of such a systematic representation of new developments and the prediction of possible consequences is mathematical modeling. Numerous variants of models of ecosystems, social and technical systems have long been created and are being continuously improved. But it is necessary, when designing any systems and devices, to have information about existing models, the possibilities of their application and the limitations under which these models are created. In other words, it is necessary to create a bank of such models with a clear indication of all modeled parameters and limitations.

The special role of the engineering profession in the era of technological and information development is well known, but the specific requirements for modern engineering education are far from fully formulated. These requirements are determined by the systemic nature of engineering activity and the multidimensionality of the criteria for its assessment: functional and ergonomic, ethical and aesthetic, economic and environmental, and the mediated nature of this activity.

The increase in the influence of science and technology on the development of society, the emergence of global problems associated with the unprecedented growth of productive forces, the number of people on the planet, the capabilities of modern technology and technology, have led to the formation of a new engineering thinking. Its basis is the value attitudes of the individual and society, the goal-setting of engineering activities. As in all spheres of human activity, moral criteria, the criteria of humanism, become the main criterion. Academician N.N. Moiseev proposed the term "environmental and moral imperative", meaning an unconditional ban on any research, development and technology leading to the creation of means of mass destruction of people, environmental degradation. In addition, the new engineering thinking is characterized by a vision of the integrity, interconnectedness of various processes, forecasting the environmental, social, ethical consequences of engineering and other activities.

The process of reproduction of knowledge and skills cannot be divorced from the process of personality formation. This is even more true for today. But since at present scientific, technical and other knowledge and technologies are being updated at an unprecedented rate, the process of their perception and the formation of personality must continue throughout life. The most important thing for every specialist is the realization of the fact that in modern conditions it is impossible to get an education at the beginning of life sufficient for work in all subsequent years. Therefore, one of the most essential skills is the ability to learn, the ability to rebuild one's picture of the world in accordance with the latest achievements, both in the professional field and in other areas of activity. The implementation of these tasks is impossible on the basis of old educational technologies and requires both new hardware and software, and new methods of open, primarily distance education.

The picture of the world of modern man is largely dynamic, non-stationary, open to the influence of new information. To create it, a sufficiently flexible thinking must be formed, for which the processes of restructuring the structure, changing the content of concepts and continuous creativity as the main type of thinking are natural. In this case, the expansion of the educational space of students will occur naturally and effectively. Like any complex developing system, the education system has mechanisms of self-organization and self-development that function in accordance with the general principles of synergetics. In particular, any self-organizing the system must be a complex, non-linear, open and stochastic system with many feedbacks. All these properties are inherent in the education system, including the subsystem of engineering education. It should be noted that some important feedbacks (for example, the level of education and the demand for university graduates) are significantly delayed.

It can be said with certainty that the curricula of modern universities do not include academic disciplines in which students would be taught the most important creative act - the idea, the search for problems and tasks, the analysis of the needs of society and ways to implement them. This requires both courses of a broad methodological plan (history and philosophy of science and technology, methods of scientific and technical creativity), as well as special courses with the inclusion of creative tasks and discussion of directions for their solution. Of course, it is expedient to develop intelligent information and analytical systems for supporting vocational education. In the near future, we should also expect the widespread introduction of artificial intelligence systems into the educational process - information, expert, analytical, etc.

As for any complex systems, the information law of the necessary diversity of W.R. Ashby: effective management and development are possible only if the diversity of the management system is not lower than the diversity of the managed system. This law predetermines the need for a broad educational program - both in terms of the totality of the disciplines studied, and in terms of their content and forms of study. But outside subject area engineering activities - mechanics, radio electronics, aircraft construction, etc. - it is impossible to fill the forms created by general principles, methods, specific technical content, and high internal motivation is also impossible. The creation of corporate universities provides an expansion of real possibilities for such a synthesis. This is one of the steps towards increasing educational and professional mobility.

At the same time, the importance of motivation for learning and professional activity is increasing, resulting in a significant increase in the role of pre-university training, the need for the earliest possible choice of profession. It should be emphasized that at present the engineering profession is underrepresented in the media, although the public need for it and its demand by employers is growing. The impossibility of dividing the process of modern design into separate fragments performed by narrow specialists requires expanding the scope of professional engineering education, creating for each young specialist such a picture of the world that would represent all aspects of modern humanitarian, natural science and mathematical knowledge. At the same time, all this diverse knowledge should represent a system with a clear subordination of individual ideas, their flexible interaction based on goal setting.

The importance of personal development of students becomes obvious, which requires individualization of education, increasing independence in educational activities. Great motivation in learning can arise only on the basis of creative development, as knowledge of some subject area, and setting practically important problems that have not been solved to date. The development of creative abilities is impossible only within the framework of academic studies. We need active participation in the research work of the departments, in engineering developments, close creative and personal contacts with engineers, designers, and researchers. The forms of such interaction are varied - this is participation in educational research work, and work in student design bureaus, under economic contracts of departments. Essential for increasing motivation and creativity are any opportunities for the practical use of knowledge and the introduction of student developments.

Engineering activity - as a special art, that is, as a set of non-formalizable techniques, skills, as a synthetic vision of the object of creativity, as a unique and personal design result - requires a specific approach based primarily on the personal interaction of the teacher and student. This aspect of the training of a creative engineer is also impossible to implement only in the form of academic studies; it is required to allocate special time for communication between the student and the manager when performing creative individual work.

The transition from the dominance of formal logical knowledge and teaching methods to an organic combination of intuition and discourse requires additional efforts to develop imaginative thinking and creative abilities. One of the main means of developing creative, figurative and intuitive thinking is art. We need both passive forms of its perception, and active mastery of art in the form of artistic creativity, as well as in its use in professional activities. Well-known examples of the use of aesthetic criteria in the work of designers, physicists, mathematicians.

Thus, within the framework of the innovative knowledge economy that is being formed in Russia (Fig. 1.1), a Unified Innovation Complex (Engineering Education - Science - Industry) should be formed and harmoniously developed, where Innovation acts as a multi-accelerator for the integration and development of achievements in education, science and industry (including the fuel and energy complex, defense industry, transport, communications, construction, etc.).

Rice. 1.1. Unified innovation complex (Engineering education - Science - Industry) Source: Modern engineering education: a series of reports / Borovkov A.I., Burdakov S.F., Klyavin O.I., Melnikova M.P., Palmov V.A., Silina E.N. / - Foundation "Center for Strategic Research "North-West". - St. Petersburg, 2012. - Issue 2 - 79 p.

1.2. Global conditions for the development of an innovative economy

1.2.1. Globalization of markets and hypercompetition

The globalization of markets, competition, educational and industrial standards, financial capital and knowledge-intensive innovation requires a much faster pace of development, short cycles, low prices and high quality than ever before.

The speed of response to challenges and the speed of work, we emphasize, at the world level are beginning to play a special role.

Rapid and intensive development of information and communication technologies (ICT) and high-tech computer technologies (NKT), nanotechnologies. The development and application of advanced ICT, NCT and nanotechnologies, which are "supra-industry in nature", contributes to a fundamental change in the nature of competition and allows you to "jump over" decades of economic and technological evolution. The clearest example of such a "leap" is Brazil, China, India and other countries of Southeast Asia.

1.2.2. Supercomplex and hypercomplex problems ("mega-problems")

World science and industry are faced with increasingly complex complex problems that cannot be solved on the basis of traditional ("highly specialized") approaches. I remember the "rule of three parts": problems are divided into I - easy, II - difficult and III - very difficult. Problems I are not worth dealing with, they will be resolved in the course of events and without your participation, problems III are unlikely to be solved at the present time or in the foreseeable future, so it is worth turning to solving problems II, reflecting on problems III, which often define " development vector".

As a rule, such a development scenario leads to the integration of individual scientific disciplines into inter-, multi- and transdisciplinary scientific areas, the development of individual technologies into new generation technological chains, the integration of individual modules and components into higher-level hierarchical systems, and the development of mega-systems. - large-scale complex scientific and technological systems that provide a level of functionality that is not achievable for their individual components.

For example, in fundamental scientific research, the term "mega-science" is used, associated with mega-projects for the creation of research facilities, the financing, creation and operation of which is beyond the capabilities of individual states (for example, projects: International Space Station (ISS); Big Hadron th Collider (LHC, Large Hadron Collider, LHC); International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER; International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, ITER), etc.

1.2.3. Trend: "Blurring the Lines"

There is an increasing blurring of industry boundaries, convergence of sectors and branches of the economy, blurring of the boundaries of fundamental and applied science due to the need to solve complex scientific and technical problems, the emergence of mega-problems and mega-systems, diversification and revitalization of activities, often on the basis of modern forms - outsourcing and outstaffing, as well as on the basis of effective cooperation between companies and institutions both within the industry (for example, the formation of high-tech clusters of scientific and educational organizations and industrial firms, from large state-owned companies to small innovative enterprises) and from different industries. A distinctive characteristic of time is the creation of new functional and smart materials using modern nanotechnologies, materials with specified physical-mechanical and controllable properties, alloys, polymers, ceramics, composites and composite structures, which, on the one hand, are "construction materials", and on the other hand, they themselves are an integral part or component of a macro-structure (car, aircraft, etc.).

1.3. Principles of building modern organizations of innovative economy

We note the basic principles for building modern organizations, enterprises and institutions of the innovative knowledge economy:

• the principle of state participation through the implementation of policies aimed at improving interactions between various participants in the innovation process (education, science and industry);
• the principle of priority of long-term goals - it is necessary to formulate a vision (vision) of a long-term perspective for the development of the structure based on the development of existing competitive advantages and innovative potential, a mission, and then, based on positioning and differentiation technologies, develop an innovative development strategy;
• E. Deming's principles: constancy of purpose ("distribution of resources in such a way as to ensure long-term goals and high competitiveness"); continuous improvement of all processes; leadership practice; encouraging effective two-way communication within the organization and breaking down barriers between divisions, services, and departments; practice of training and retraining of personnel; implementation of education programs and support for self-improvement of employees ("knowledge is the source of successful advancement in achieving competitiveness"); top management's unwavering commitment to continuous quality and performance improvement;
• kaizen principles - the principles of a continuous process of improvement that make up the central concept of Japanese management; main components of kaizen technologies: total quality control (TQC); process-oriented management; the concept of "standardized work" as an optimal combination of workers and resources; the concept of "just in time" (just-in-time); PDCA-cycle "plan - do - study (check) - act" as a modification of the "Deming wheel"; the concepts of 5-W / 1-H (Who - What - Where - When - Why / How) and 4-M (Man - Machine - Material - Method). It is fundamentally important that everyone should be involved in kaizen - "from top management to ordinary employees", i.e. "Kaizen is the business of everyone and everyone";
• the principle of McKinsey - "war for talent" - "in the modern world, those organizations that are the most attractive in the labor market and do everything to attract, help develop and retain the most talented employees win"; "the appointment of excellent employees to key positions in the organization is the basis of success";
• the principle of "the company - the creator of knowledge" (The Knowledge Creating Company). The main provisions of this approach are: "knowledge is the main competitive resource"; organizational learning; the theory of knowledge creation by an organization based on the ways of interaction and transformation of formalized and non-formalized knowledge; a spiral, more precisely, a helicoid, of the creation of knowledge, unfolding "up and in breadth"; a team that creates knowledge and consists, as a rule, of "knowledge ideologists" (knowledge officers), "knowledge organizers" (knowledge engineers) and "knowledge practitioners" (knowledge practitioners);
• principle of the learning organization (Learning Organization). In modern conditions, the "rigid structure" of the organization becomes an obstacle to a quick response to external changes and the effective use of limited internal resources, so the organization must have such an internal structure that will allow it to constantly adapt to constant changes in the external environment. The main components of a learning organization (P. Senge): a common vision, systems thinking, personal development skills, intellectual models, group learning based on regular dialogues and discussions;
• Toyota's "quick-fire" principle - "we do everything necessary to shorten the time period from the moment the Customer contacts us to the moment of payment for the work performed" - it is clear that such an attitude aims at continuous improvement and improvement;
• the principle of "learning through problem solving" - the development of a system of regular participation of students and employees in the joint implementation of real projects (as part of the activities of virtual project-oriented teams) on orders from domestic and global industries based on the advanced acquisition and application of modern key competencies, first and foremost computer engineering technologies;
• the principle of "education throughout life" - the development of comprehensive and interdisciplinary training / professional retraining of qualified and competent world-class specialists in the field of high-tech computer engineering based on advanced high-tech computer technologies;
• the principle of inter- / multi- / trans-disciplinarity - the transition from highly specialized industry qualifications as a set of knowledge formally confirmed by a diploma to a set of key competencies ("active knowledge", "knowledge in action" - "Knowledge in Action!") - abilities and readiness to conduct certain activities (scientific, engineering, design, calculation, technological, etc.) that meet the high requirements of the world market;
• the principle of capitalization of Know-How and key competencies - the implementation of this principle in the context of globalization and hypercompetition will constantly confirm the high level of R&D, R&D and R&D performed, create new scientific and technological groundwork through systematic capitalization and repeated replication in practice, both industry and inter- / multi / trans disciplinary Know-How; it is this principle that underlies the creation and distribution within the organization of core competencies - a harmonious set of interrelated skills and technologies that contribute to the long-term prosperity of the organization;
• the "principle of invariance" of multidisciplinary supra-sectoral computer technologies, which allows creating significant and unique scientific and educational practical groundwork through systematic capitalization and repeated application in practice of numerous inter-/multi-/trans-disciplinary Know-Hows, to debug rational effective, schemes and algorithms of engineering ( polytechnic) transfer system, which is fundamentally important for creating the innovative infrastructure of the future.

1.4. Main trends, methods and technologies of modern engineering

The possession of advanced technologies is the most important factor in ensuring national security and the prosperity of the national economy of any country. The country's advantage in the technological sphere provides it with a priority position in world markets and at the same time increases its defense potential, allowing it to compensate for the necessary quantitative reductions dictated by economic needs by the level and quality of high technologies. To lag behind in the development of basic and critical technologies, which represent the fundamental basis of the technological base and provide innovative breakthroughs, means to hopelessly lag behind in human progress.

The process of development of basic technologies in different countries is different and uneven. At present, the United States, the European Union and Japan are representatives of technologically highly developed countries that hold key technologies in their hands and secure a stable position in the international markets for finished products, both civilian and military. This gives them the opportunity to take dominant position in the world.

The fall of the "Iron Curtain" set before Russia the most difficult historical task - to enter the world economic system. In this regard, it is important to note that the strategy of Russia's technological development is fundamentally different from the strategy of the USSR and is based on the rejection of the concept of a "closed technological space" - the creation of the entire spectrum of science-intensive technologies on its own, which seems unrealistic due to the existing serious financial constraints. In the current situation, it is necessary to effectively use the technological achievements of other developed countries ("open technological innovations", "Open Innovations"), to develop technological cooperation (if possible, to "integrate into the technological chains" of leading firms), to strive for the widest possible cooperation and international division of labor, taking into account the dynamics of these processes throughout the world, and, most importantly, by systematically accumulating and applying world-class advanced science-intensive technologies. It must be understood that technologically advanced countries have actually created a single technological space.

Consider the main trends, methods and technologies of modern engineering.

1. "MultiDisciplinary & MultiScale & MultiStage Research & Engineering - multi-disciplinary, multi-scale (multi-level) and multi-stage research and engineering based on inter- / multi- / trans-disciplinary, sometimes called "multiphysics" ("MultiPhysics"), computer technologies, in first of all, science-intensive technologies of computer engineering (Computer-Aided Engineering).As a rule, there is a transition from separate disciplines, for example, thermal conductivity and mechanics, based on thermo-mechanics, electromagnetism and computational mathematics to multidisciplinary computational thermo-electro-magneto-mechanics ( MultiDisciplinary concept), from single-scale models to multiscale hierarchical nano-micro-meso-macro models (MultiScale concept), used in conjunction with tubing to create new materials with special properties, develop competitive systems, structures and new generation products at all technological stages "shaping and assembling" structures (e.g. casting - stamping / forging / ... / bending - welding, etc., MultiStage concept).
2. "Simulation Based Design" is a computer-aided design of competitive products based on the effective and comprehensive use of finite element simulation (Finite Element Simulation, FE Simulation) - the de facto fundamental paradigm of modern mechanical engineering in the broadest sense of the term. The concept of "Simulation Based Design" is based on the finite element method (FEM; Finite Element Method, FEM) and advanced computer technologies that totally use modern visualization tools:
   • CAD, Computer-Aided Design - computer design ( CAD, Computer-Aided Design System, or, more precisely, but more heavily, the Computer-Aided Design System, and therefore is used less often); currently there are three main subgroups of CAD: engineering CAD (MCAD - Mechanical CAD), printed circuit board CAD (ECAD - Electronic CAD / EDA - Electronic Design Automation) and architectural and construction CAD (CAD / AEC - Architectural, Engineering and Construction), note that the most developed are MCAD technologies and the corresponding market segment. The result of the widespread introduction of CAD systems in various fields of engineering was that, about 40 years ago, the US National Science Foundation called the emergence of CAD systems the most outstanding event in terms of increasing labor productivity since the invention of electricity;
   • FEA, Finite Element Analysis - finite element analysis, first of all, of the problems of mechanics of a deformable solid body, statics, vibrations, stability of dynamics and strength of machines, structures, devices, equipment, installations and structures, i.e. the whole range of products and products from various industries; using various variants of FEM, they effectively solve the problems of heat transfer, electromagnetism and acoustics, structural mechanics, technological problems (primarily, the problems of plastic processing of metals), problems of fracture mechanics, problems of the mechanics of composites and composite structures;
   • CFD, Computational Fluid Dynamics - computational fluid dynamics, where the main method for solving problems of fluid and gas mechanics is the finite volume method CAE , Computer-Aided Engineering - high-tech computer engineering based on the effective use of multidisciplinary supra-branch CAE systems based on FEA , CFD and other modern computational methods. With the help (within the framework) of CAE systems, they develop and apply rational mathematical models that have a high level of adequacy to real objects and real physical and mechanical processes, perform an effective solution of multi-dimensional research and industrial problems described by non-stationary nonlinear differential equations in partial derivatives; often FEA, CFD and MBD (Multi Body Dynamics) are considered complementary components of computer engineering (CAE), and the terms specify the specialization, for example, MCAE (Mechanical CAE), ECAE (Electrical CAE), AEC (Architecture, Engineering and Construction), etc.

As a rule, finite element models of complex structures and mechanical systems contain 105 - 25 * 106 degrees of freedom, which corresponds to the order of the system of differential or algebraic equations that must be solved. Let's get back to the records. For example, for CFD-tasks the record is 109 cells (computer simulation of the hydro- and aerodynamics of an ocean yacht using the CAE-system ANSYS, August 2008), for FEA-tasks - 5*108 equations (finite element modeling in turbomachinery using the CAE-system NX Nastran by Siemens PLM Software, December 2008), the previous FEA record of 2*108 equations was also held by Siemens PLM Software and was set in February 2006.

Rice. 1.2. Multidisciplinary research and cross-industry technologies (Source: Modern engineering education: a series of reports / Borovkov A.I., Burdakov S.F., Klyavin O.I., Melnikova M.P., Palmov V.A., Silina E.N. / - Foundation "Center for Strategic Research "North-West". - St. Petersburg, 2012. - Issue 2)

Multidisciplinary research is the fundamental scientific basis for supra-branch technologies (ICT, science-intensive supercomputer computer technologies based on the results of many years of inter, multi- and transdisciplinary research, the complexity of which is tens of thousands of man-years, nanotechnologies, ...), NBIK-technologies (NBIK- center at the National Research Center "Kurchatov Institute" and NBIK-faculty at the NRU MIPT; M.V. Kovalchuk), new paradigms of modern industry, for example, SuperComputer (SmartMat*Mech)*(Multi**3) Simulation and Optimization Based Product Development, "digital production", "smart materials" and "smart designs", "smart factories", "smart environments", etc.). , intersectoral transfer of advanced "invariant" technologies. That is why multidisciplinary knowledge and supra-industry science-intensive technologies are "competitive advantages of tomorrow". Their widespread introduction will ensure the innovative development of high-tech enterprises of the national economy.

In the 21st century, the fundamental concept of "Simulation Based Design" was intensively developed by the leading vendors of CAE systems and industrial companies. The evolution of the main approaches, trends, concepts and paradigms from "Simulation Based Design" to "Digital Manufacturing" can be represented as follows:

Simulation Based Design

– Simulation Based Design / Engineering (not only "design", but also "engineering")

– Multidisciplinary Simulation Based Design / Engineering ("multidisciplinarity" - tasks become complex, requiring knowledge from related disciplines for their solution)

– SuperComputer Simulation Based Design (wide use of HPC technologies (High Performance Computing), supercomputers, high-performance computing systems and clusters within hierarchical cyber infrastructures for solving complex multidisciplinary problems, performing multi-model and multi-variant calculations)

– SuperComputer (MultiScale / MultiStage * MultiDisciplinary * MultiTechnology) Simulation Based Design / Engineering

– SuperComputer (Material Science * Mechanics) (Multi**3) Simulation Based Design / Engineering (simultaneous computer design and engineering of materials and structural elements from them - harmonious

It is difficult to assess the state of the Russian system of engineering education at the moment, since there are diametrically opposed points of view on this issue. In order to better understand the situation that has developed in engineering education in Russia, it is worth considering it as a consequence of the previous historical development.

Engineering education in Russia has a three-century history. The first educational institution was opened in 1701 on the initiative of Peter I - the School of Mathematical and Navigational Sciences. All subsequent rulers, who headed the Russian Empire until the revolution of 1917, paid great attention to the development of engineering education. Until the 60s of the 19th century, the Russian Empire was not inferior to any country in the world either in the number or in the quality of the training of engineers. During this time period, perhaps only in France did engineering education enjoy the same prestige as in Russia. During the reign of Alexander II, Germany overtook the Russian Empire in terms of the quality of engineering education. However, at that time, such educational institutions as the Riga Polytechnic Institute and the Moscow Technical School (MGTU named after N.E. Bauman) were opened (Saprykin D.L., Vavilova S.I., 2012).

Starting from the mid-90s of the XIX century, the state began to pursue a targeted policy in the field of improving the quality of engineering education. Investments in this area were significantly increased, which made it possible to open a number of educational institutions. The government also set new tasks for scientists and engineers in various fields. In addition to the state, requests began to appear from private industry. Thus, by the beginning of the First World War, the Russian education system was significantly superior to the German one in all respects (Saprykin D.L., Vavilova S.I., 2012).

Thanks to government policy, a breakthrough was made in the field of engineering education in Russia in the first two decades of the 20th century. Then the concept of physical and technical education was formed, centers for the convergence of fundamental science and engineering practice were actively operating. It is important to note that all teachers of technical universities of that time, in addition to purely theoretical activities, carried out practical work both for state needs and for industry (Saprykin D.L., Vavilova S.I., 2012).

An analysis of the system of pre-revolutionary engineering education allows us to identify a number of key features that are currently preserved only in the leading universities of the Russian Federation. These are features such as:

• - development, along with scientific and technical knowledge, of humanitarian culture;
• - combination of science and practice;
• - formation of the ability of creative development of their field of activity;
• - focus on the practical implementation of completed projects;
• - preparation for the professional performance of the functions of the head of an enterprise, for the role of a state and military employee.

The humanization of the technical school was one of the main ideas of that time. Along with humanization, one can single out a combination of science and practice. This connection was a feature not only of Russian, but also of German and French schools - the main competitors of the Russian Empire in the struggle for leadership in engineering education. Based on high-quality mathematical and natural science education, the engineer's activity combined creative scientific work and practice. In contrast, we can bring the English School of Engineering, which trained mainly craftsmen and technicians, starting only from practice. It should be noted that for a long time the foreman and technician were ahead of the research engineer, but over time the situation changed, and science began to play a big role (A.I. Borovkov, S.F. Burdakov et al., 2012).

Thus, an engineer with a higher education must be simultaneously a scientist, technician, manager and leader. Examples of outstanding engineers - P.L. Kapitsa, N.E. Zhukovsky, A.F. Ioffe and others.

The formation of these competencies in an engineer took place not only within the framework of higher education. At that time, family traditions of education were very strong in the Russian Empire, family dynasties of engineers were formed.

The restructuring of the economy in the 20th century affected the structure of engineering education. First, education has become massive. Secondly, the concentration of technology in state enterprises has led to the fact that such qualities of an engineer as managerial and economic have become unnecessary. Thirdly, the state separated science, industry and education. All these facts had a negative impact on the quality of engineering education. But, it is worth noting that there are universities that have been able to preserve the traditions of the classical concept of engineering education to the present day. One of these universities is MSTU. N.E. Bauman.

The massification of higher education took on a particularly large scale in the 1990s. The 1993 law on education contributed to the increase in the number of institutions of higher professional education, which secured the autonomy of universities and legitimized the emergence of places with tuition fees, private and non-state universities (Figure 1) (Frumin, Karnoy, 2014).

Figure 1. Number of higher education institutions

It is clear that such an increase in opportunities to study has led not only to a fall in competitions, but also to the fact that those school graduates who, in terms of their academic background, could not even count on studying at universities a couple of decades ago, now have the opportunity to study there. For example, in 1991, 583.9 thousand students were enrolled in the 1st year of higher education, of which 360.8 thousand were enrolled in the full-time department. In 2013, these figures are significantly higher -1.25 million and 665 thousand students, respectively (Source: Rosstat, 2014. Russian Statistical Yearbook). At the same time, the prestige of the engineering profession is falling, so applicants with low USE scores enter the engineering specialties of Russian universities (Verbatim report on the meeting of the Presidential Council for Science and Education, 2014).

Consider, for example, data on the quality of admission to the engineering specialties "Electrical Engineering" and "Computer Science" in 2014 (based on the Ministry of Education and Science 2014). In the specialty "Electrical Engineering" in 2014, such training in Russia was conducted by 155 universities, of which 5 were private and 150 were public. In the direction of training "Computer Science" training of students was carried out by 283 universities, of which, respectively, 55 private and 228 public. Figure 2 shows information about the quality of training in profile exams - mathematics and physics - for students enrolled in Russian universities in these specialties.

Figure 2. The quality of admission in the areas of "Electrical Engineering" (number of applicants 15272 people) and

"Computer Science" (number of applicants 17,655 people)

An analysis of the data presented in Figure 3 shows that the average score for admission to universities in both mathematics and physics is less than TB2, which in 2014 were equal to 63 and 62 points, respectively. At the same time, there is a noticeable difference between the minimum and maximum average scores that applicants showed when entering various universities. This fact indicates the existing differentiation of universities in terms of the level of training of applicants.

And yet, the drop in the preparation of applicants is confirmed not only by the results of the Unified State Examination, but also by the opinion of teachers from leading universities. I.B. Fedorov, President of the Association of Technical Universities of Russia, stated in an interview with Accreditation in Education magazine in 2011 that “the quality of school education continues to decline. Mathematical training is deteriorating every year, and this is closely related to the quality of training of engineers.”

A survey of employers organized in 2013 showed that the quality of training of graduates of technical universities is estimated at 3.7 points on a 5-point scale, about 40% need retraining (Presidential Council for Science and Education, 2014). It is noted in the literature that Russia lacks engineers capable of performing specific practical tasks (Yu.P. Pokholkov, 2012). According to the results of a study organized by the Association for Engineering Education in Russia, more than half of the experts in the field of higher technical education who participated in this study assess the state of engineering in Russia as critical or in a deep systemic crisis (28% and 30%, respectively) (Yu .P. Pokholkov, 2012).

However, a number of experts are convinced that the accusations of the low quality of engineering education in Russia are unsubstantiated, in their opinion, Russian universities are at the level of the world's leading engineering centers. It should be noted that the majority of experts who note the high quality of engineering schools in Russia work in leading universities that have preserved the classical concept of engineering education - these are A.A. Aleksandrov, N.I. Sidnyaev, A.N. Morozov, S.R. Borisov and others.

At the same time, even those experts who testify to the high quality of engineering education in Russia say that the policy of the state in relation to engineering education has undergone significant changes. Along with the growth in the number of universities in the 1990s, their funding decreased significantly. The consequence of this was that Russia was overtaken by such countries as the USA, Japan, many countries of Western Europe, South Korea, and Taiwan. Such a policy reduces Russia's chances of recovery in the post-crisis period of the 21st century (G.B. Evgeniev, 2001).

Thus, the analysis of the literature and the results of the USE shows that in Russia there is currently a pronounced differentiation of universities in terms of the level of technical training. The country has universities that have preserved the best educational traditions, which allows them to be at the level of the world's leading universities. There are also universities whose activities were significantly affected by the restructuring of the economy, which led to a change in the structure of the university, teaching methods and, as a result, a drop in the level of training of their graduates.

To understand what allows certain engineering universities to take a leading position, one should analyze their educational strategies. As the leading universities, based on monitoring the effectiveness of universities (http://indicators.miccedu.ru/), one can single out the Baltic Federal University. Immanuel Kant (Russian State University named after Immanuel Kant), Far Eastern Federal University (Far Eastern State University), Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (State University), Kazan State Technical University named after. A. N. Tupolev, Kazan State Technological University, Moscow State Institute of Electronic Engineering, Moscow State Technical University. N.E. Bauman and others. All of these universities have retained the traditions of the classical engineering school. Among the listed universities stands out MSTU. Bauman. Consider, using his example, how the traditions of the Russian engineering school are brought to life in modern times.

The appeal of modern pedagogy to the problem of the quality of vocational education in the economically most developed countries reflects both liberal-democratic and purely pragmatic tendencies of the present period of the existence of the human community. The contradictory nature of the development of education is due to different visions of the prospects for the development of society, the economy and Man. These contradictions are especially acute in engineering education, which provides, through the training of specialists, the connection of scientific knowledge with production and the economy.

The pace of development of industrial technologies is such that the empirically formed system of professiograms and the corresponding system of knowledge, skills and abilities often become hopelessly outdated even before the completion of vocational education. The life cycle of technologies is comparable in duration, and in some industries it is shorter than the duration of an engineer's training. Vocational education as a social subsystem should change the content of education at the same pace. But this is not enough; the specialist must be capable of self-education, to maintain and improve his qualifications in the future. The conditions for professional interaction have also changed significantly in terms of the level of responsibility and consequences of possible risks, the ambiguity of setting goals, and the required rate of development and use of knowledge and new technologies.

The traditional model of personnel management emphasizes regulation, control and financial reward. The concept of "human relations" in the corporation focuses on the full use of the abilities of employees. Both of these concepts of personnel management are successful in the context of slowly changing technologies. They correspond technocratic the paradigm of engineering education, orienting education towards the formation of a specialist with the parameters set by society; on the transfer of knowledge, skills and abilities that would contribute to the rapid adaptation of a person to the profession at a given period of its development. The interests of production, economy and business dominate here. Hence - the regulation of the actions of teachers and students; the predominance of didactic-centric pedagogical technologies. The development of the future engineer is realized in the context of his adaptation to the conditions of a specific professional environment.

In the conditions of dynamic technical progress, according to the leaders of leading Japanese corporations, the most effective model is the "human potential" with its focus on improving and expanding the abilities of interacting specialists, on group self-management and self-control. This model corresponds humanistic the paradigm of engineering education with a focus on the priority of a person as the driving force of one's own personal and professional development. Accordingly, educational technology is aimed at the formation of significant values, at achieving self-determination and self-control of the process of personal and professional development. In the content of education, priority is given to methodological knowledge, the formation of a holistic picture of the world (Yu. Vetrov, T. Maiboroda). It is believed that this contributes to the optimization of professional development in modern socio-economic conditions.

Self-management of activities includes such components as setting and adopting a goal, taking into account significant conditions of activity, monitoring, evaluating and correcting the process and products of activity. As a result, not only adaptation to external changes becomes possible, but also an internal focus on change and improvement is stimulated. According to the classification of A.K. Markova, this corresponds to professional productive labor(Fig. 2.4).

Rice. 2.4.

There are two main concepts of development and strategic management of intellectual and human potential (Yu. Vetrov, T. Maiboroda). According to universalist concept adopted in the United States, there is a fundamental possibility of constructing generalized effective models for solving utilitarian problems.

This concept focuses on deductive logic, does not take into account the context of regional, social, cultural and other differences. Accepted in Europe contextual the concept is focused on inductive methodology; the subject of induction in it are these differences. This concept excludes the possibility of a general law of development for all, and for decision-making it considers it sufficient to take into account statistically identified trends.

We have to admit that virtually all ideas about the further development of vocational education are based on statistical data, on the analysis of trends. Despite the invariable statements about the humanistic orientation of the development of modern society, education is viewed through the prism of the requirements for efficiency and competitiveness of production.

The development of vocational education and the development of social production are interdependent. Accordingly, the development of modern vocational education can be represented by five stages (O.V. Dolzhenko):

• - the stage of prescription knowledge corresponds to the state of social production, in which the lifetime of the technology is significantly longer than the lifetime of a person; training is carried out in the production process as a transfer of prescription knowledge;
• - the scientific stage corresponds to the creation of new tools within the framework of unchanged technologies; education is carried out on the basis of a variable system of scientific knowledge;
• - the stage of fundamentality corresponds to the state of production, in which the lifetime of the technology is commensurate with the duration of professional life; with the help of active and traditional teaching methods, a system of activities is formed that ensures adaptation to changing conditions; in engineering pedagogy, this stage is characterized by activity approach to education and the formation of professional skills;
• - the stage of methodologization corresponds to the state of production, in which during the professional life there is a repeated qualitative change in technology; education should be focused on the formation of the ability to transform one's professional activity based on the methodology of research, design, management, taking into account socially significant goals;
• - the stage of humanization is characterized by the transition to the formation of the personal qualities of the future specialist, which to a predominant extent become indicators of his professional maturity.

It is believed that at present some branches of production in the economically most developed countries can only be satisfied with an education that would correspond to the stage of methodologization and the stage of humanization.

Note that in professional activities a specialist always uses (to one degree or another) prescription, scientific, fundamental, methodological knowledge. Thus, the content of engineering education is formed. Over time, as the productive forces and values ​​of society change, the “weight” of each of these types of knowledge in the system of professional qualities and activities changes (see Fig. 2.4).

Professional education prescription stage serves as the basis of reproductive activity, which is characterized by the reproduction of the necessary information from memory and actions according to instructions or instructions, the diligence and discipline of the employee. This is in line with the actions finished concrete complete(GKP) indicative basis of professional activity (OOPD). The quality of prescription education can be determined with a high degree of unambiguity, in particular, using a system of tests.

On the scientific stage vocational education provides training for qualified workers who are able to solve production problems at the level of modernization of existing technologies and equipment based on scientific knowledge and the use of analogues and prototypes. This is in line with actions based on ready-made generalized complete(GOP) OOPD of some enlarged branch of science and technology, for example, mechanics and mechanical engineering, radiophysics and radio engineering. The quality of education corresponding to the scientific stage can be determined by the quality of solving typical problems of modernization of equipment and technology, i.e. based on the analysis of the quality of modernization projects. Achievement of this level must be confirmed by a qualification document.

fundamentality is necessary if the solution of professional problems is impossible without the use of knowledge or the participation of specialists from different branches of technology and technology. In this case, the transformation of technology and technology is carried out on the basis of known knowledge, but using new principles of organization, design, management, etc. This is in line with actions based on aggregates GOP OOPD various branches of knowledge. Engineering education technologies based on fundamental knowledge proved to be effective, at least for those industries that determined the development of energy and defense capabilities in the second half of the 20th century.

Unfortunately, fundamental knowledge in engineering education for less dynamic industries has been reduced to a formal solution; the natural sciences and mathematical disciplines remained loosely connected with future engineering activities. It is no coincidence that abroad, especially in the United States, attempts have been and are being made to curtail the fundamental training of engineers for such industries, replacing the scientific content of engineering education with purely pragmatic ones and substantiating this, in particular, by the presence of information and computer technologies.

Adaptive and higher-level activities always involve some degree of product, process, or tool design. This will make it possible to determine which hierarchical level in the system of human activity corresponds to the minimum acceptable professional level of a graduate with an engineering education (Table 2.4).

Table 2.4

Design Subject Activity Levels

The tasks of social design belong to the highest level. Criteria and methods for solving problems at the social level are unknown and are “developed” in the process of the life of society and social groups. System-technological design is carried out on the basis of new effects already explored by science, subject to environmental criteria.

System-technical design can be effective if previously unknown principles are used in solving the problem of creating new technical means. The main limitation is ergonomic criteria, i.e. the requirement that the technical means correspond to the mental and physical capabilities of a person to control this means.

In adaptive design, the problem statement is carried out from the outside, indicating the functions and basic parameters of the object.

Subject to environmental and ergonomic constraints, the effectiveness of decisions made is evaluated using technical and economic criteria.

To methodological knowledge professionals apply if there are no effective solutions either at the level of fundamental, scientific, or prescription knowledge. Activity is needed at a level not lower than adaptive-heuristic activity, which provides productive technological and technical solutions based on the use of new physical and other effects. This corresponds to the creation independent generalized complete(SOP) OOPD based on the transformation known to experts in the GOP OOPD. But the risk of failure increases.

Probably, in modern conditions, a highly qualified specialist who is not able to act in conditions of perceived risk and, therefore, not focused on achieving success in professional activity, there is no reason to consider a professional.

What are the personal qualities characteristic of a professional? Naturally, the system of personal qualities of a professional should include the qualities necessary for executive, qualified and joint organized work. But, in addition, it should be characterized by:

• - high level of motives and orientation to the success of professional activity (both personal and joint);
• - confidence in one's abilities, in the effectiveness of scientific knowledge, in the possibility and usefulness of the expected result, etc.;
• - developed imagination, which allows to foresee the appearance of the future states of objects, as well as possible errors and risks;
• - the ability to find effective solutions with insufficient completeness of knowledge and information.

One can hardly consider justified the desire to make such high demands on all graduates of higher professional education, especially mass education. (Recall that, according to expert estimates, no more than 20% of current students will fall into the core of the future economy.)

In a situation of mass higher education, it is possible to ensure readiness for qualified and jointly organized work, i.e. level of adaptive activity based on known knowledge and known principles of research, design, organization and management.

The subsystem of academic education, together with research, design organizations and industries, should solve problems that require the participation of professionals. Only this subsystem of education (naturally, under certain socio-economic conditions) can ensure the formation of the qualities necessary to carry out activities at a higher level, the level of a professional.

Naturally, the methods, organizational forms, legal and ethical norms that guide the participants in the educational process are different in different subsystems of education. But the main goal is the same - to stimulate the formation of personal qualities necessary for life and work. The problem is resolved through the creation and dissemination of appropriate educational technologies as a coordinated purposeful interaction of participants (the state, educational authorities, interested organizations, teachers and students) in changing socio-economic conditions.

Note that new technologies, methods, methods are accepted by production if they turn out to be more cost-effective at the same or slightly improved level of product quality. The creation and implementation of new technologies can also be motivated by the consumer's requirement to ensure the quality of products at a significantly higher level. In the first case, the problem is solved by modernizing existing technological processes and equipment, i.e. innovative, without a qualitative change in production. In the second case, a new level of quality, as a rule, is achieved by a significant transformation of all elements of production (organizational, managerial, technical, personnel), i.e. innovative. It is unrealistic to believe that innovative transformations are possible as a result of changing only some elements of production (for example, as a result of the installation of new equipment, advanced training of personnel or the use of economic incentives). We also note that usually more than one project is being implemented, and the production of products based on existing technologies continues for a certain period of time.

The end result of innovative transformations is not obvious. New technologies may turn out to be too costly or effective only in specific conditions, which limits their application. An example of such a solution is the distance education of engineers and doctors. In reality, the level of quality may turn out to be lower than expected, planned, as was the case when television was introduced into the learning process. Moreover, it is not known which innovations will actually be innovative. The choice should be made on the basis of expert assessments of the effectiveness of options by high-level professionals from various branches of science and production.

The innovative development of engineering education is hampered by both objective and subjective factors, including:

• - the uncertainty of social and economic consequences both for society as a whole and for the system of vocational education;
• - a decrease in the prestige of industrial labor, in particular, as a result of the development of a service system with moderate requirements for the engineering qualifications of workers and the “expectations” of a post-industrial civilization;
• - uncertainty of development prospects for other subsystems of education, especially general education;
• - defining the goals of engineering education at the level of intentions, which does not allow diagnosing whether the desired result has been achieved and giving an objective assessment of the proposed educational technologies.

Scientific messages

Engineering Education: Status, Problems, Prospects

K.E. Demikhov

Back in the mid 1990s. the concept of university technical education was developed, awarded the Prize of the President of the Russian Federation in the field of education, which defines the basic principles: education based on science, the need for deep fundamental training of graduates, communication with industry, strengthening training in the field of economics and management, providing the student with the opportunity to choose an individual trajectory training - elective courses, training in a second specialty, etc.

The most important issue is the quality of engineering education. Of course, the quality of education can vary greatly from university to university - this is the case in all countries of the world and in Russia - therefore it is correct to talk about the quality of training at technical universities that determine the "face" of the country's engineering corps.

With a high degree of confidence, we can say that science and engineering education in Russia is one of the best in the world, and our leading technical universities are not inferior to the best technological schools in the world. And there is a lot of evidence for this.

Interest in our engineering schools, in our engineers, is primarily due to the fact that graduates of the Russian technical school have always been distinguished by the breadth of their professional knowledge, combined with the strength of their fundamental training.

Now, when the nanotechnology industry is being created in the country, in the development of which technical universities are actively involved, the need for fundamental training of engineers becomes even more obvious.

Along with deep fundamental training, the fundamental principle at technical universities is “learning based on science”. This means that teachers and students of specialized departments are obliged to conduct scientific research in order to be prepared at the highest and most modern level in the field of their professional knowledge.

These two principles - deep fundamental training and education based on the latest achievements of science - largely explain the recognition and high authority that Russian engineering education enjoys in the world.

At the same time, the new economic conditions and the realities of today's life pose a number of new tasks for the higher technical school to improve engineering education. Along with the traditionally high fundamental training, adherence to the principle of "education based on science", connection with industry, methodological thoughtfulness of the educational process, we should also note such problems as poor practical knowledge of foreign languages ​​by graduates of engineering universities, insufficient use of modern information technologies, and especially shortcomings in economic, managerial training of graduates. Now technical universities are working on a significant change in their respective curricula and courses. Today it is very important that every graduate of an engineering university should master the issues of management and management.

But in general, engineering education in the country has deep traditions, a high level, has retained, despite the difficulties of the 1990s, ties with industry and is ready to accept the most modern trends.

Now about some problems of university technical education. Not so long ago, we heard statements that we have an overproduction of engineers, that we need to reduce the scale of their training, that even in such an industrialized country as the United States, engineers are trained less than in our country. We have to remind you that these statements are based on an incorrect calculation, since the number of engineers in the United States is about 30% higher than in Russia. Discussions about reducing the scale of training of engineers in Russia now, in the context of the rise of the Russian economy, have generally lost their meaning - on the contrary, in many industries there is an acute shortage of engineers, especially in high-tech and knowledge-intensive industries - primarily in mechanical engineering.

And here, of course, questions of the structure of training engineers come to the fore. In the conditions of a growing dynamic economy, this is not an easy question - especially since when determining the structure, universities should work five to six years ahead of schedule, taking into account the period of training of specialists. Recently, a very correct practice has developed, in which an order for specialists is formed with the active participation of employers, and universities receive it through the founder on a competitive basis.

Now the question of the levels of training of engineers is very important for everyone. Until the early 1990s. there were two levels of training - an operational engineer with a training duration of 5 years and an engineer-developer of new equipment - 5.5 years. At MSTU, a development engineer is trained for 6 years. In the early 1990s - primarily due to increased international contacts - along with the above-mentioned training, training began at the bachelor's level (4 years) and the master's level (+2 years). A certain dynamic balance has been established, when production, the employer can choose a graduate of any level, and the university satisfies the requirements of the employer. In our opinion, this is the optimal solution to the issue of the levels of training of university graduates. Employers themselves determine who they need in terms of the level of education - bachelor, master or specialist (ie engineer).

After Russia joined the Bologna Declaration in 2003, proposals were made for a general, total transition to a two-level “bachelor-master” scheme. In the case of engineering education, such a general transition raises serious objections.

We believe that it is impossible to train a development engineer in specialties related to high technologies and science-intensive industries in four “bachelor's” years. If only because industrial practices, laboratory workshops, design training, scientific work simply cannot be “squeezed” into four years.

Training of developers of new equipment and high technologies is the level of a specialist.

A law on the levels of education has now been adopted, which provides for the levels of bachelor, master and specialist, that is, the arguments put forward by technical universities to maintain the level of specialist (engineer) have been accepted.

By the way, the Bologna Declaration itself says that the best traditional aspects of education in each country must be preserved. Now work is underway on federal state educational standards for all levels of education. We believe that the procedures and rules for the application of standards should be such as to ensure the preservation of the best, world-famous Russian engineering schools, to prevent leveling, lining up everyone in one row.

In our opinion, the most correct solution would be when standards were developed for each area of ​​training both for training under the “bachelor - master” scheme and under the “specialist” scheme, since some customer enterprises require developers of new equipment , i.e. specialists, and others in the same direction - graduates focused on scientific research, i.e. masters.

The founder and employers, through the mechanism of state order, on a competitive basis, determine the tasks for each university for the preparation of graduates of one level or another.

There are many staffing issues. This is, firstly, the lack of specialists in enterprises and scientific organizations of the high-tech complex, the lack of young people. Various options for solving the problem are proposed, up to the resumption of the mandatory distribution of graduates. However, there is no effective, effective way to attract young specialists to enterprises.

Recently, there has been such a way to solve the problem: the joint work of large, integrated production structures with higher education - the creation of corporate universities in the system of higher education, designed to train personnel for these structures. Such cooperation provides a unique opportunity to combine education based on fundamental knowledge gained at the university with practical work experience.

In general, the issues of integrating science and education, as a means of improving the quality of training, have always been the most important for technical universities.

shimi. There are many forms of such integration. First, about intra-university - structural integration. At the same time, faculties, university research institutes are united in similar areas of activity and scientific and educational complexes are created with a single Academic Council and management system.

Now let's talk about external integration, the importance of which has recently increased many times due to the sharp complication and rise in the cost of laboratory and experimental equipment in the development of high technologies and science-intensive industries, especially in the field of nanotechnology. A technical university - even with a very developed material base - cannot acquire and maintain a full range of necessary equipment for all university specialties in the field of high technologies. The only way out is to create cooperation with the institutes of the Academy of Sciences, branch scientific research institutes, with industrial enterprises. The forms of this cooperation are different - centers for collective use, including supercomputer centers, nanotechnology centers, remote access laboratories, joint budgetary and contractual R&D.

One of the most effective forms of integration of science and education is the creation of basic departments at enterprises and scientific laboratories of research institutes in universities. It is expedient to maintain and develop this form.

However, the scale of innovation is growing very slowly. What is the reason? Here are the lack of experience, the underdevelopment of venture stages of commercialization, and psychological reasons.

But the main reason is different. The most important condition for the development of an innovation system is the legislative support for this development, especially in terms of the use of intellectual property by state institutions - including state universities.

But today, state educational institutions do not have the opportunity to independently manage the created results of intellectual activity. They cannot independently conclude licensing agreements for the introduction of intellectual property objects into economic circulation and are not entitled to independently assign (alienate) the rights to intellectual property objects to other persons seeking to use scientific and technological achievements. This collision is the reason for the weak economic motivation of the authors of scientific and technical results in obtaining patents in the name of a state institution.

These legislative restrictions hinder the organization of full-fledged technology transfer centers in state educational institutions that interact with investors, including foreign ones.

The current legislative acts in the Russian Federation state that funds received from entrepreneurial and other income-generating activities cannot be directed by federal state institutions to create other organizations and purchase securities.

This restriction significantly complicates the participation of state institutions in innovation processes, since it prohibits the formation of other organizations - including innovative ones - by a state institution.

in the field of small and medium business. Foreign experience shows that such restrictions are unjustified.

For public universities, the opportunity to participate in the creation of commercial legal entities is of considerable interest. Therefore, without prejudice to the interests of the state as the founder of state educational institutions, bearing additional responsibility for the debts of such institutions, it would be necessary to provide state educational institutions with some opportunities to create commercial legal entities. The interests of the state in this case can be protected by strict rules.

The main thing is to give universities the legislative right to dispose of their intellectual property, the opportunity to establish small businesses, and also to link all this with the Tax and Budget Codes.

To the question about the prospects for Russian higher technical education, apparently, it should be answered that these prospects are determined by the demand for the real sector of the Russian economy. The level and traditions of engineering education allow us to state that Russian technical universities are ready to fulfill almost any personnel order of science and industry in the country.