Dr Ching: an analytical mindset

The modern business world requires well-rounded engineers who are able to apply their knowledge to any situation. Therefore, management skills are becoming more important than ever, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) makes sure that budding engineers get a good training in it.

"The broad-based curriculum that we have adopted at CUHK offers the chance for students to grasp life at work. Our mission is to nurture future leaders in engineering who are not only technically competent, but also have the vision, knowledge and exposure to excel at the top," says Dr Ching Pak-chung, dean of the CUHK's Faculty of Engineering.

Under the modular system followed at CUHK, engineering undergraduates take up to a quarter of their degree in non-engineering courses. The current degree requires 99 units to be completed, with compulsory units comprising about 70 to 75 percent of the mix. The remainder is occupied by electives, which include general education, languages and other related topics. Despite this, purists need not be concerned about the dilution of engineering education.

"We require our undergraduates to take a few management modules as part of their degree," explains Dr Ching. "We actually have a specialised department for engineering management, because we feel that, although technical knowledge is the most important aspect of their education, engineers simply cannot afford to ignore business issues. This way, we also prepare students so that they have at least a general idea of what the industry needs when they join the workforce."

He adds that there are no barriers to reaching management grade for engineering graduates, provided that they have the necessary qualities. "It relies on personal calibre - and management skills tend to be transferable," he says. "If you can manage people, you can manage a business or an engineering project. Indeed, a significant number of engineering graduates have become managers."

Career choice

An engineering education, while specialised, also provides a good grounding for other careers, says Dr Ching. "Engineering students are good at problem solving and analysis. This is necessary for the subject and also useful in many other areas, making engineering graduates good choices for unrelated industries." "For example, although the economy is not doing so well, we've found that financial and insurance companies like to hire engineering graduates because of their analytical mindset. They are particularly good at finding problems with current working models and proposing solutions and new products."

Women on tech

Engineering is also no longer exclusively a man's world. The number of female students has steadily increased and Dr Ching attributes this to the fact that more young women are finding engineering to be an acceptable career choice. "These days, it is not a physically demanding job either - you are unlikely to find yourself shifting heavy machinery or covered in grime on the shop floor," he comments.

"Also, CUHK's engineering department concentrates on IT and the computer science aspects of engineering which are a bit more cerebral; perhaps this has had an impact on the number of female applicants."

Currently, within the Faculty of Engineering, about 30 percent of the students in the field of information technology are female, with between 10 and 20 percent studying robotics-related subjects. "The trend is slowly moving towards balance, although I don't know when that might happen," says Dr Ching. "We want more female students, but don't want to set any targets. We'll probably reach a 60:40 ratio, which is helped by the fact that increasing numbers of our lecturers are also women."

Course information

Developing a subject Engineering has become a markedly more popular university subject over the past ten years, according to Dr Ching Pak-chung, dean of The Chinese University of Hong Kong's Faculty of Engineering, who says that, blips caused by the information technology boom notwithstanding, manufacturing, construction and especially computing and electronics will continue to be growth industries. "Engineering has great relevance to daily life. It plays a vital role in advancing quality of life and so the subject is of great importance to the community. Prospective students must have an interest in the topic and can't be too worried about job prospects on graduation. The job market is always open to fluctuations and, after three years at university, the whole business environment might change. It's best to do something you love and do it well." Typically, engineering students need a good grasp of numbers and an interest in science. "Apart from basic subject knowledge, an engineering student also has to face a number of realities. Today, we face a global market with global competition - engineering has no boundaries. Whatever project an engineer is working on, he needs to consider the worldwide impact, whether it is feasible elsewhere. That's why engineering graduates need broad-based knowledge, plus a good grasp of subjects related to the engineering process." Dr Ching adds that engineering's scope has increased greatly since he took his first degree and brushes aside suggestions that today's students are less able than their predecessors. "The number of subjects covered has increased, but fortunately the students seem to be a bit smarter too," he says. "That's because they have quick and easy access to so much information these days ... that it is much easier to absorb new ideas." Approximately 16 to 20 percent of students move on to full-time further studies, while the faculty conducts six part-time MSc programmes for servicing engineers to keep themselves up-to-date with the latest technology. A number of students go overseas for their higher degrees, the majority will first do an MSc before going on to doing a PhD, while local postgraduates tend to concentrate on the research-side with an MPhil.

Taken from Career Times 2003/06/13