July -1 7, 19 19] 



NATURE 



387 



AN UNDEVELOPED ASPECT OF 

 ENGINEERING TRAINING. 

 A SURVEY of the careers of students who 

 -**' enter the engineering' profession after a 

 technical training at a university reveals the fact 

 that in very many cases the student, within a 

 comparatively short time of his leaving the uni- 

 versity, finds himself in need of knowledge which 

 his training has neither provided nor even sug- 

 gested would in time be required. This fact was 

 emphasised in a paper recently presented to the 

 Institution of Electrical Engineers by Lt.-Col. 

 \V. A. J. O'Meara, who urged the inclusion in 

 the training of engineers of courses of instruction 

 relating to non-technical subjects, such as book- 

 keeping, custodianship, administration, law, etc. 

 Further emphasis is given to this point of view 

 by the considerable amount of published matter 

 relating to various aspects of management in con- 

 nection with industrial affairs, with much of which 

 the engineer is nowadays directly concerned. 



In most of the British universities having 

 faculties of engineering, technical studies repre- 

 sent the outstanding feature of instruction, and 

 it must be admitted that such studies will always 

 be the real backbone of an engineer's training. 

 At the same time, with changing industrial 

 conditions, technical instruction alone — pre- 

 supposing that this will be followed by a period 

 of practical training — is not an adequate pre- 

 liminary equipment for an engineer. Consider, 

 for instance, a student who enters a manufacturing 

 branch of the engineering industry — a branch 

 which offers the widest scope and attracts prob- 

 ably the greatest numbers of technically trained 

 men. Such a student will, after his w^orks train- 

 ing, find that his natural interests lie in the direc- 

 tion either of the commercial, technical, works 

 administration, or research department of the 

 organisation. In any one of these departments it 

 is of fundamental importance that he should have 

 a thoroughly sound grasp of the principles of 

 industrial economics, since a cardinal feature of, 

 all manufacturing effort is to produce economi- 

 cally, and this is not possible if the basis on 

 which costs are computed and compared is not 

 fully understood. An engineer will be a better 

 designer, for instance, if he can discuss intelli- 

 gently with the works management details of 

 manufacturing cost. \Similar ability is of value 

 to the commercial engineer, and will enable him 

 to appraise correctly the strong and weak features 

 of competitors' efforts. Such knowledge is not at 

 present available in most of the courses of in- 

 struction for engineers, although many universi- 

 ties and colleges are paying attention to the 

 matter. In some large works this instruction is 

 given to members of the staff, including the tech- 

 nically trained apprentices, who can make best 

 use of the knowledge, but it is important that 

 works costing and accounting should occupy a 

 much more definite position in the regular in- 

 struction of the engineer. 



In vieV of the already overcrowded courses, 

 NO. 2594, VOL. 103] 



the main principles underlying these studies could 

 be taught to the student before he enters the 

 university, and he might receive instruction in 

 their practical application, either in post-graduate 

 courses in the university, or by systematic in- 

 struction in the works into which he ultimately 

 proceeds. 



Another most important subject is that broadly 

 covered by the term "industrial administration," 

 comprising modern methods of management. 

 Shortened hours and increased wages, together 

 with the burdens of taxation imposed by war, 

 emphasise the necessity for increased and more 

 efficient production, and bring to the fore the 

 importance of the prevention of waste, whether re- 

 lating to time, effort, or materials ; a study of 

 the periods of working that will result in optimum 

 effort ; factory conditions as regards lighting, ven- 

 tilation, the supply of food, and everything that 

 conserves the health and vitality of the workers ; 

 the selection of workers so that the job is adapted 

 to their characteristics rather than that they should 

 be forced to adapt themselves to fixed conditions 

 imposed by the character of their work ; and 

 means for improving the collective efficiency of 

 workers and management by ensuring harmonious 

 relations between them. Related to this subject is 

 the all-important one of the education of both the 

 juvenile and the adult w^orker, the former being 

 particularly pressing in view of the new Education 

 Act. 



We should like to see the principles of indus- 

 trial administration laid down in the university 

 courses in so far as this can be done without 

 jeopardising the value of the present curriculum. 

 In this connection it is interesting to note that at 

 the Municipal College of Technology, Manchester, 

 a directorship in industrial administration has 

 been set up, which not only provides public 

 lectures to which managers and others interested 

 in industry are invited, but also affords a full- 

 time course of instruction to young men who 

 desire to prepare themselves for managerial posi- 

 tions in industry. 



RECONSTRUCTION PROBLEMS. 



THE Ministry of Reconstruction is issuing a 

 series of pamphlets which deserves to be 

 very widely read by the public, as they bring 

 briefly and yet clearly to notice a number of con- 

 siderations of great importance, though probably 

 not familiar to everyone. Two of these pamphlets 

 bear the titles "The Classics in British Educa- 

 tion " (No. 21) and "Natural Science in British 

 Education " (No. 26). 



It is remarkable, notwithstanding the discus- 

 sions which have been going on during the last 

 forty years or more on the conflict between litera- 

 ture and science in education, how much con- 

 fusion still exists, even in the minds of fairly well 

 informed people, as to the aims of the two parties 

 in the controversy. It is a misfortune that the 

 word "science " has become perverted from its 

 original meaning to such an extent that it now 



