The Question of First-Professional Degree in Engineering

Abstract

At the present time the “first-professional degree” in engineering in the USA is considered to be the 4-year bachelors degree. But there is growing sentiment that 4 years is no longer sufficient time to properly educate an engineer. Indeed the National Academy of Engineering has recommended that the first-professional degree be a Masters degree, with the Bachelors being a pre-engineering program. This talk carefully defines the concept of first-professional degree, and presents a case for a practice oriented “Masters of Engineering” as a first-professional degree. Proceedings of the 2008 ASEE Gulf-Southwest Annual Conference The University of New Mexico – Albuquerque Copyright © 2008, American Society for Engineering Education