Newport Declaration Rev. 12 Nov 2008
Table of Contents
The Newport Declaration To Globalize U.S. Engineering Education and Research
Rev. 12 November 2008
WHEREAS the world has experienced fundamental geopolitical and technological changes, which have revolutionized transportation and communication, opened borders and created vast new markets; And
WHEREAS the national economy, competitiveness, and well-being depend upon succeeding in a global, technology-driven marketplace; And
WHEREAS these changes also involve substantially increased population in the developing world and increased worldwide tensions related to clean water, adequate food, energy, climate change, and sustainable development, And
WHEREAS engineering is crucial to addressing these grand challenges facing the planet, and to thereby enhancing global peace and prosperity, And
WHEREAS collaboration on grand challenges is an excellent way to build a global community, and U.S. engineering students and engineers are uniquely positioned to be ambassadors for the nation; AND
WHEREAS U.S. Engineering brings ingenuity, boldness, and a results-oriented mentality that are crucial to global collaborative progress, And
WHEREAS Americans tend to be least informed about other nations and cultures and therefore the most ill equipped to understand and work with international partners; And
WHEREAS the engineering education community has labored to develop viable model programs to educate for global competency; And
WHEREAS all of the above have vital implications for the education of U.S. engineers;
IT IS IMPERATIVE that U.S. science and engineering educators and education adapt to the modern global environment, AND
IT IS IMPERATIVE that all engineering students develop the skills and attitudes necessary to interact successfully with people from other cultural and national environments.
TO THIS END, we call on engineering educators, engineering administrators, and engineering policy leaders to take deliberate and immediate steps to integrate global education into the engineering curriculum to impact all students, recognizing it as one of the highest priorities to ensure global competency for their graduates;
TO THIS END, we call on funding agencies, foundations, and leaders in the private sector to shape their policies and priorities in support of these goals;
Furthermore, TO THIS END, we urge that this document be widely distributed for endorsement by all key constituencies.
Composed and endorsed this 6th day of November, 2008, by the participants of the NSF-supported Summit Meeting on the Globalization of Engineering Education