Enhancing the Management Component of Engineers' Knowledge

Abstract

Science and investigation are pursued in fulfilment of a natural desire to enrich knowledge, and they create the potential for personal and practical achievement in the industrial environment. This has been a key motivating factor for the continuous development and improvement of education systems, especially at the end of the last millennium. The process of transition from an industrial to an information society has seen the introduction and development of computerization, automatic control, information technologies, and artificial intelligence. In this paper, the authors discuss progress in education in one of the newest independent countries, the Ukraine – a country which has to combine rapid development with the complexities of its transition to a market economy. In this context, the paper discusses the importance of education and training, stressing the importance of cooperation between higher education institutions responsible for technical education and industrial enterprises that need engineers with in-depth technical and economic knowledge. They address in particular collaboration between Zaporozhya State Technical University (ZSTU) and the joint stock company Motor Sich, a manufacturer of gas turbine engines. They also discuss ZSTU's involvement in a major regional effort to prepare secondary school pupils more effectively for higher education and training.