Interactions between the German and Anglo-American Systems in Electrical Engineering Education.

Current trends in engineering education must accommodate the fast development of the global industrial marketplace. The well-known inertia against change in institutions of higher education will not fit for the foreseeable future. The career paths of our engineering graduates have changed and will change further, when industry moves to global playing, communications and information technology push the economy and the change from a manufacturing based economy to a more service-oriented economy is developing. The development of better international interfaces among the evermore distinct national education systems is of an increasing importance for a modern society. In Germany a number of technical universities financially supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst - DAAD) have started new programs to attract more foreign students and graduates especially in technical fields. This paper gives a survey of the current situation from the perspective of the German Assembly of Electrical Engineering Departments (Deutscher Fakultatentag fur Elektrotechnik - DFTE) and describes the actions taken by one member, the Dresden University of Technology. (Author)