The interdisciplinary work in Engineering as a topic of a follow-up activity to the meeting of the Executive Committee of ASIBEI. On May 24, 2011, an academic meeting was convened in the city of San Jose, Costa Rica which dealt with the topic of “Interdisciplinary work in Engineering” which consisted of some plenary presentations; a panel to discuss the topic and an exposicion of worthy examples being done in each one of the countries, members of ASIBEI.

The plenary presentations dealt with the components of interdisciplinary topics: Interdisciplinarity as viewed from the social sciences and its link to engineering.

The panel dealt mostly with the strategies needed to achieve interdisciplinary processes in Engineering Education. The panel was chaired by the President of ASIBEI, Armando Pires.

Afterwards, several successful experiences of interdisciplinary processes were presented by ANFEI of Argentina; the Polytechnic University of Madrid, Spain, ACOFI of Colombia; the University of Costa Rica; ASECEI of Ecuador; ORT University of Uruguay and LACCEI.

All the presentations can be seen at the website of ASIBEI: www.asibei.org.

Conclusions

As a consequence of the panel presentations as well as the case studies presented, the following can be concluded:

• Interdisciplinarity is away of looking at life. It is in the crossing of disciplines that innovation occurs . It is in the object of studies, and not in the creation of new disciplines being branched-off from other established career-paths, that a new vision of the world is being promoted, in harmony with the biological, social and cultural environment.
• At the present time, the traditional model of educating professionals from different areas of knowledge has been broken:
  • There is an end to the model of infinite development, since that could be an attempt upon our own existence.
  • Climate change and environmental crisis
  • Globalization and the free market with the end of the cold war and of the historic socialism.
  • Financial crisis
  • Transnationalization of human activities
  • The revolution in communications and information technologies and transportation. The appearance of the wired society and the information age.
  • The appearance of emerging paradigms.
• All that has made that the specialization of the professional is not enough to solve many of the problems of today, and therefore the education of that person has to be tried from more complex perspectives which cut across disciplines.
• The participation of interdisciplinary groups is fundamental for the creation of new knowledge, as well for generating an awareness about the impact of engineering projects on the environment, the social area, the economic area as well the cultural aspects of life.
• The development of an appropriate competence in team-work, facilitates the work of interdisciplinary groups in their analysis of problems.
• To develop a capacity to work at an interdisciplinary level, it is essential that the prevalent work culture be modified, as well as the know-how.
• The respect for other professions has to be developed and the ethical principles in the work of all professionals have to be reinforced.
• Stimulating the formation of networks in teaching, research and extension efforts, seems to be a good way to overcome cultural limitations.
• Our Universities do not have enough personnel, with an adequate background, to develop competent work in interdisciplinary groups, in our students, as they progress in their Engineering Education Process. It is thus very important that our faculty members develop competencies in the teaching /learning process. In other words, we should strive to make a profession out of engineering teaching.
• We should generate a culture of interdisciplinarity, preferably from the secondary school level.
• A very important aspect, to be able to achieve interdisciplinary groups, is to motivate our faculty members about the importance of this aspect and to involve them in the process.
• A structural problem is the type of contract a faculty member is given in our Universities.
• A faculty member is hired to teach a particular topic, but he might not have the complete vision of the profession for which he is teaching that topic. At the same time the teaching /learning process does not transfer the concepts, from one topic to another. One can say that the foundation of interdisciplinarity is the transfer of knowledge across topics, and this curricular change should be assimilated and applied by the faculty.
• Interdisciplinary education should be carried-out with the participation of social groups and,specially in Engineering, with the participation of Industry. Societal problems shoud he analized and solved in classrooms and laboratories of the University.
• A successful way of promoting interdisciplinary education is through national and international competitions.
• Normally such activities act as catalizers of interdisciplinary activities (for example the solar decathlon in Spain( see the webpage of ASIBEI)
• Isolation among areas is an important obstacle for interdisciplinary education.
• Even though at the beginning of their studies, students share studies with students from other disciplines, as they advance in their studies, they get separated, and the dialogis cut.

There are direct benefits for the Universities from interdisciplinary activities in teaching, research or extension services.

• It attracts the attention of society
• It promotes new interdisciplinary projects
• It creates a positive impact in all University activities
• It generates synergy in projects
• Networks are created in education, research and extension.

The universities have obstacles to promote interdisciplinary activities:

• Academic structures offer little flexibility for innovation, entrepreneurship and in general, transverse activities. That should he overcome, and flexible structures established, so as to stimulate the participation of other disciplines and external sectors.
• Administrative structures are rigid, designed so as to slow change. Thus, university policies should be developed so as to promote these policies.
• The tendency at the present time to view higher education as a business,as well as pay excessive attention to economic rewards of the professionals.
• There is a tendency toward an authoritarian stream and to minimize creativity in the student
• There is a lack of resources and other benefits (such as academic promotion) which could facilitate interdisciplinary work and meeting spaces.
• There is little interest in developing joint work between the University and Society.
• There is a lack of resources to allow mobility of faculty and students between different countries.

The minutes of this meeting were prepared by Engineer Ismael Mazón a member of the University of Costa Rica board and the representative of the University of Costa Rica in ASIBEI.