Engineers and Globalization

oneEngineers and Globalization
What is Globalization?
Globalization is a term that is used to describe the increasing trend towards
internationally integrated markets and global interconnectedness, making national boundaries less
important in terms of political, cultural, technological, financial, environmental, and national security
issues. It can have a positive effect on society, providing tremendous
opportunities and benefits - increased access to world markets, greater competition and
the freer flow of goods, services, capital and knowledge. However, globalization
may also lead to serious negative impacts on society, especially in developing nations where
increased poverty and the lack of access to clean drinking water, education,
good health and other basic services of life have increased with globalization. The impacts of
globalization have been felt all over the world and in all aspects of social life from the food we eat and
the TV we watch, to the sustainability of our environment.
Globalization of the Civil Engineering Profession
The effect of globalization on the civil engineering profession and the increasing expansion of
engineering services into international markets present both incredible opportunity and significant
challenges for the future of civil engineering. As the world becomes more globalized and as world
population increases, civil engineers will play a
critical role in addressing the concerns of the global community such as decaying infrastructure and
deterioration of the environment. However, due to increased access to
international markets, engineering will change considerably as issues that control the international trade
of professional services - international licensing requirements,
international codes and standards, and international treaties and trade agreements affecting engineers are
created and finalized. In addition, civil engineers must consider how
international policies regarding intellectual property rights, emerging markets for engineering products
and services, and other factors affect the practice of engineering and the
education of future engineers.
The purpose of this report is to provide a brief discussion of the effects of globalization on the civil
engineering profession in terms of future market growth, international trade agreements affecting
engineers and the education and training of future civil engineers. Although globalization will lead to
greater opportunities and access to world markets, there are several challenges facing the globalization of
the engineering profession. These challenges include developing international licensing procedures and
international engineering standards, defining global engineering ethics and the engineers responsibility to
society, and breaking language and cultural barriers. With increased globalization, the role of the
professional civil engineer will change significantly. It is important for the civil engineering community
to recognize its role in developing and negotiating international trade agreements
involving engineering services as well as preparing the future generation of civil engineers to meet the
challenges of a globalized world.
Challenges of engineers in globalization.

In the area of engineering for economic sustainability, the challenges are to design
technologies and systems that can facilitate global commerce, foster technological
innovations and entrepreneurship, and help generate jobs, while minimizing
environmental impacts and using resources efficiently. An emerging challenge to
engineering is also to develop technological approaches that can help prevent or mitigate
hostile acts, reduce the impact of natural disasters, and motivate humans to reduce their
draw on the resources of the planet.
The uneven distribution of water across continents and regions and its limited availability
make enormous demands on engineering skills, from devising more effective systems for
water and wastewater treatment and for recycling, to desalination, reducing evaporation
losses in reservoirs, stanching the large amount of leakage from old distribution systems
and building new recirculation systems.
in energy, engineering is challenged to continue to improve technologies for the collection,
in all its manifestations, of the inexhaustible but widely dispersed solar energy, for the
extraction of oil, for tapping thermal energy from the interior of the
Earth, and for providing environmentally sustainable power and light to large segments of
the worlds population. Integration into power grids of large amounts of intermittent solar
and wind power is a major challenge, and so is the devising of economical storage
mechanisms large and small that would have widespread utility, including also the
reduction of power plant capacities required to supply power at peak hours.
Improvement in efficiency of energy utilization to reduce the large percentage (about 50 per
cent) of global energy supply wasted is a global engineering challenge of the first
magnitude, and so is the decarbonization of emissions from fossil fuel power plants, e.g.
through underground gasification and deep coal deposits. The need to replace liquid
hydrocarbons, which power much of the worlds transportation systems, is particularly
urgent, and the prospect of doing so by biomolecule engineering of plant microbes or by
hydrogen fuel cells is emerging as a more desirable possibility than making biofuels from
agricultural biomass.

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oneEngineers and Globalization

Challenges of engineers in globalization.

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