On the surface, you might not expect the head of an engineering school to advocate for an educational focus outside the realm of scientific knowledge. At least not until you speak with Prof. Ami Moyal.
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Israel's "start-up nation" status is a source of national pride. Consequently, today's students are naturally gravitating more toward science and technology. Yet Moyal – the president of Afeka College of Engineering in Tel Aviv – believes that the embrace of the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) disciplines must also be fine-tuned in order for the Israeli workforce to receive the best-qualified new generation of talent.
Many of Israel's students are forgoing the humanities in favor of the STEM subjects. According to the Education Ministry, the number of students taking the most difficult exam in literature has dropped by 33% since 2010, with a 25% drop in history over the same period. Moreover, the Council for Higher Education reported that between 2013 and 2017, the number of students signing up for computer science and math degrees has increased by 28 percent. In that same timeframe, students obtaining engineering degrees went up from 33,600 to 36,400.
The trend of Israelis flocking to STEM from a young age means that the future is now. However, it comes with a caveat. Students embarking on a science or tech-based academic career rely on a certain foundational knowledge. But if they focus purely on STEM – at least in the way science- and math-based education is crafted today – they're missing out on acquiring a whole host of skills.
"Students today need much more than scientific knowledge," Moyal tells Israel Hayom. "I strongly believe that we must equip our students with skills. Effective communication skills, multidisciplinary skills, and teamwork."
A holistic view of what it means to be a well-rounded student should be taken into consideration as early as possible, Moyal argues.
"As a nation we should take a look at the whole education continuum from kindergarten to academia or even to the job market. We should set common goals and develop a common language. When we talk about what skills are needed, they should be properly defined. There should be an overall view of the whole education continuum in STEM."
Moyal is not advocating for first-graders to commit themselves to a life of high-tech, but rather encouraging them to acquire a firmer understanding of how the world around them works. Engineering, after all, is a problem-solving discipline. And what better way to get children involved in critical thinking skills than exposing them to the very basics of technology and science so that they understand the pure mechanics of their environment?
In an era where data is changing constantly, students must develop the capacity to learn on their own, and gain critical thinking and reading comprehension skills, to truly succeed in such a dynamic field, he explains.
"I'm putting a large emphasis on skills because in my experience, I've seen engineers with very high grades, certifications, and degrees, but they were lacking skills that are very important to the job market," he says. "These skills are important to any citizen in a newly advanced society."
In some cases, Moyal notes, students even lack basic English language proficiency – which puts them far behind where they need to be compared to their peers, especially if they are hoping to advance in their field.
This is a situation that must be rectified, especially if Israel hopes to continue to be a leader in tech, he says. As such, Afeka College has done its part to revamp its curriculum to ensure that its students are prepared for the myriad challenges that await them upon graduation.
"STEM education, regardless of age, must provide four basic skills: critical thinking, multidisciplinary teamwork, self-learning, and effective communication," he says. "Our new curriculum revolves around that."
That is where the lack of humanities education could pose a problem. Any long-term engineering project today "is multidisciplinary based, meaning engineers need to work with software people, with design people and sometimes with human machine design experts," Moyal says.
Accordingly, Afeka College spent five years overhauling its curriculum and educational model. At the center of the college's new approach is what it describes as the "graduate profile" – the compilation of skills that the educational process should impart to the ultimate engineer graduating from the institution.
During its journey of curricular transformation, Afeka College conducted comprehensive research on the tech employment market's needs, in addition to consulting with other engineering schools in Europe and the United States.
The result? Afeka College determined that each graduate must possess the following: scientific knowledge, engineering knowledge, personal skills, engineering skills, proficiency in Hebrew, English and software, ethics, and broad knowledge of the world around them.
Academics working from an old playbook assessed that it was up to the industry to provide these critical skills. That mindset is finally starting to change.
"The main point is we didn't start by the definition of the process, we started by the definition of the outcome. When you ask somebody, a faculty member in academia about a program to learn for a first degree in electrical engineering you receive a list of courses, their syllabi, the faculty," Moyal says. "These are all characteristics of the process. Instead, our starting point is asking ourselves, 'What is the problem? What does a student need in order to get the most of out of his/her education?'"
He adds, "All deans [at Afeka College] are working together to implement these changes. It's not easy at all but it's a must. We owe it to the new generation of students."
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