The main recommendations of these reports follow:

(1) Engineering curricula.-Neither report advocates any radical changes in engineering curricula or any modification in the normal length of the undergraduate period. Curricula longer than four years for all students have not received the backing of the engineering profession or of industry.

Both investigations report that American engineering curricula are too congested and recommend a reduction in annual credit hours to 18 as a maximum; both also advocate that a student should carry no more than six subjects at any one time.

Both surveys advise only moderate differentiation in undergradu ate curricula. A common core of studies during the earlier part of the curriculum is essential to discover the abilities of individual students. A common freshman year is recommended for all engineeering curricula, with major differentiation to be postponed until the third year. The Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education survey recommends that in certain institutions provision should be made for options which recognize the technical and func tional subdivisions of engineering curricula. The findings indicated that engineering curricula have unity of structure as well as necessary interdependence of subjects; also, that the subjects follow each other in logical order and that the student is led from broad principles first to the general and then to specific applications.

Both reports stress the importance of the human and economic aspects of engineering. The Carnegie report favors special curricula in industrial or administrative engineering. The Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education survey recommends that the economic and managerial aspects be included in all engineering curricula, but advises that instruction in business and management should not interfere with the scientific and technical character of the curricula. Extended business training does not belong to the engi neering curriculum, but can be obtained after graduation as the need arises. A distinct curriculum in business engineering is not needed.

The Carnegie report advocates the teaching of theory and practice simultaneously, stresses the value of engineering laboratory practice, and favors an extension of the cooperative system of engineering education.

The Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education study has revealed that the engineering curricula are not specialized and that the student devotes about half of this time to studies that are acceptable toward a degree in practically any college of arts and sciences. Science, technology, and humanities constitute the basic parts of American engineering curricula. The present trends are to introduce more specifically engineering subjects during the earlier

part of the curriculum and to place greater emphasis on general rather than the technical subjects. It is recommended that a band of nontechnical electives, equivalent to about three semester hours per week, extend through all of the engineering curricula.

The Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education investigation includes a study of the cooperative method of engineering education. This type of instruction, which combines practical experience with scholastic training, is offered by 18 institutions, including 1 land-grant college. About 10 per cent of the total enrollment of engineering students in this country is in these cooperative courses. All but 2 of the institutions offering this type of instruction are located in cities of more than 100,000 population, and only 1 is in a strictly rural community. An analysis of graduates from 2 institutions which are alike in environment, number of students enrolled, size and general quality of staff, and in quantitative scholastic requirements for graduation indicates that there is no marked difference between the actual results secured by the institution offering cooperative curricula and the one confining its work to all-resident curricula. The type of positions occupied by both older and recent graduates exhibit a striking similarity. The two systems, when conducted equally well, produce equally meritorious results. The report states that the greatest fault in the operation of the cooperative plan is that it may be used as a disguise for insufficient facilities, for an inadequate and overworked teaching staff, and for low educational standards. Further, constant emphasis on practical knowledge may lessen the student's respect for abstract thinking and may be detrimental to development of scholarly attitudes.

(2) The engineering teacher.-Both reports emphasize the importance of good teaching. The Carnegie report criticizes the autonomy of the departments of our colleges and advocates that the departmental organization should find out by experiment the time needed to cover the subject matter. This report also urges that greater attention be given to the training of the engineer as a professional teacher and to closer cooperation between the engineering staffs and departments of education. The report also criticizes the present method of teaching mathematics and sciences to engineering students and advocates the selection of teachers with engineering background for this type of instruction.

The Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education study finds that, while inbreeding is not general, the present scheme of developing engineering teachers is inadequate. Appointment of engineers from practice is recommended only in special cases and the enlistment of engineering graduates for a teaching career is advocated near their entry into active life. Summer schools for engineering teachers, one of the results of this study, will be described in

another part of this report. Attention is called to the fact that while earning from outside engineering practice is encouraged in nearly all institutions, the salaries of engineering teachers, even when supplemented by outside earnings, are decidedly less than the incomes of the most nearly comparable class of engineering graduates in practice.

(3) The engineering student.-The Carnegie report advocates in connection with the admission procedure of engineering students experiments with objective tests and greater attention to records which show youthful interests and achievements.

The findings of the Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education Survey concerning the engineering students indicate that (a) the majority of entering students seem to choose engineering without adequate understanding of the work of the engineer and with little adult advice; (b) nearly one-fifth of all students admitted are conditioned and one-seventh are conditioned in mathematics; (c) less than 30 per cent of the students admitted are graduated in four years, and less than 40 per cent are ever graduated; (d) sectioning of basic freshman and sophomore subjects according to ability and preparation is advised; and (e) institutions which can not require a high selective system of admission should consider the division of their program into two stages, the first stage to be used as an introductory and try-out period for the advanced studies of the junior and senior years.

(4) Engineering graduates.-The Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education studies reveal the following information concerning engineering graduates: The demand for engineering graduates exceeds the supply. The majority of the engineering graduates remain in the same line of work as their college courses or in closely associated branches of engineering.

The engineering graduate advances steadily through positions preponderantly technical in nature to those involving executive and administrative responsibilities.

Conditions for the engineering graduate can be improved by more careful guidance on the part of the colleges in connection with his first position after graduation and assistance in an educational program after leaving college. Twelve per cent of engineering graduates (more than 1,000) pursue graduate study and about 7 per cent receive advanced degrees.

(5) Supplementary activities of engineering colleges.-Sixty engineering colleges are carrying on organized engineering research and testing. During the year 1923-24 about one and one-third million. dollars was expended for these purposes. Twenty-nine colleges report expenditures of this kind of $5,000 or more per year. The

greater part of engineering research is carried on by 10 institutions and about two-thirds of the engineering colleges maintain no organized research activities.

Only six institutions offer evening classes in engineering which lead to degrees. Twenty-one institutions offer evening instruction which does not lead to degrees. Thirty-one institutions offered in 1924-25 short term and special courses in residence. Sixteen institutions offer correspondence instruction. Twenty engineering colleges maintain radio broadcasting stations.

(6) Engineering education in Europe.-Dr. W. E. Wickenden, director of investigations for the Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education, made a very exhaustive study of engineering education in Europe. The main conclusions of the study follow:

A comparison of American engineering colleges with those of the most progressive countries of Europe indicates that engineering education in this country is effective and meets the need of the American student better than the type of engineering college found abroad. Technical education in the United States, however, suffers by comparison with that of other countries on account of its inflexibility. The most progressive countries of Europe have several well-defined levels of technical education. At the top are the technical universities which are comparable to the best of our engineering colleges. At the middle of the scale are institutions designed to train for the junior technical and supervisory positions of industry. At the bottom of the scale are apprentice schools for skilled workers. The most immediate need for large numbers of young people in the United States is a briefer, more practical, and more intensive training than that of an engineering college, a training broader than a trade school and quite distinct from the academic junior college.

(7) Survey of engineering education by industry.-In addition to the above two surveys by the Carnegie Foundation and by the Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education, the National Industrial Conference Board carried on during 1923-1927 a number of studies. pertaining to engineering education and American industry. The field for engineering graduates was investigated in 1923 for the paper and pulp, rubber textile, and metal trades industries. Of the executives in these industries engineering colleges have supplied 10 per cent in the textile field, one-half in the rubber industry, 60 per cent in the paper and pulp business, and more than 70 per cent in the metal trades.

Chapter II.-Position of Engineering in Land-Grant
Institutions

The preceding summary of the important findings of earlier surveys affords a point of departure for this report upon engineering in the land-grant institutions. This report is concerned with data and conclusions which have been obtained through questionnaires sent to the land-grant institutions by the Office of Education of the United States Department of the Interior, through special visits and by means of the study of published information.

An effort will be made to evaluate the place of engineering education in the land-grant institutions and to find whether it has any distinctive place among the engineering colleges of this country.

The land-grant institutions rest upon the foundation of State and national support. Accordingly, considerable attention will be devoted to facts which bear upon the distinctive services which these colleges are rendering to the public, with particular reference to contributions which relate to social betterment and economy; also information will be given concerning the status of engineering research and engineering extension at these institutions.

Before discussing the facts concerning engineering education secured in connection with the land-grant college survey it will be well to record the interpretations of the land-grant act as applied to engineering, to analyze the attitude toward engineering education at land-grant colleges, and to appraise the objectives of engineering education at these institutions. These topics will be followed by a discussion of the findings from the questionnaires on engineering education at land-grant institutions with special reference to entrance requirements, special problems of the undergraduate student and the engineering graduate, undergraduate engineering curricula, trends in graduate study, the status of cooperative engineering instruction, nondegree curricula in trades and industries, noncredit curricula in trades and industries, noncredit technological courses, industrial education other than engineering, agricultural engineering, engineering research, expenditures for engineering education, status of physical plant and educational equipment, aid to engineering education from industry, staff problems, and trends in internal organization.