Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The aim of the study performed in 2014 was to identify what the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) needs are of a selected group of electrical engineering professionals from one company in South Africa. The interpretivist research paradigm formed the basis for the “Interactive Qualitative Analysis” methodology used in the study. Due to limitations research was focused on only one constituency, a selected group of electrical engineering professionals in one organisation, which is close to, but have very little power over the specific phenomenon of CPD. Research activities included conducting focus group and individual interviews with participants to gain a better understanding of identified problem through the analysis and interpretation of the collected data. The phenomenon of CPD was found to lie within the spectrum of lifelong learning. Due to increasingly fast changing technological and work environments, practicing professionals take part in professional development, if it is compulsory or not, in order to stay competitive in the global arena. Research has shown that compulsory CPD for registered engineering professionals may further their professional development. From the “Possible Implications for CPD Provision for Engineering Professionals” document several issues and concerns were identified, which influence engineering professionals’ perception of the professional body. The CPD system and CPD provision facilitated by the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) may be one of the key reasons why many practicing engineers choose not to register professionally. Through this study the perceived and proposed CPD needs for the selected group of electrical engineering professionals have been identified, but to identify the actual needs of practicing engineering professionals in South Africa, a more detailed study will need to be done that should include all the constituencies that practice within the engineering environment or have any influence on the CPD phenomenon. The study also identified aspects that could help to improve the CPD system and the available CPD initiatives, and enhance the leadership from the professional body. This may positively influence the perception of practicing engineering professionals. Such positive perceptions could result in more practicing engineering professionals registering with ECSA and maintaining their professional registration. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van die studie uitgevoer in 2014 was om die Voortgesette Professionele Ontwikkeling (VPO) behoeftes van ‘n geselekteerde groep elektriese ingenieurs van een maatskappy in Suid-Afrika te bepaal. Die interpretatiewe navorsingsparadigma het die “Interaktiewe Kwalitatiewe Analise” metodologie wat gebruik is in die studie onderlê. Binne die studie beperkinge is gefokus op slegs een konstituensie, ‘n geselekteerde groep professionele elektriese ingenieurs binne een organisasie, wie digby die spesifieke fenomeen van VPO funksioneer, maar baie beperkte mag daaroor het. Navorsingsaktiwiteite het fokusgroeponderhoude en individuele onderhoude met deelnemers ingesluit om ‘n beter begrip van die geïdentifiseerde probleem te verkry deur analise en interpretasie van die ingesamelde data. Die fenomeen van VPO lê binne die spektrum van lewenslange leer. As gevolg van ‘n toenemend snel veranderende tegnologiese en werksomgewing, neem professionele praktisyns deel aan professionele ontwikkeling, of dit verpligtend is of nie, en bly sodoende kompeterend in die globale arena. Maar navorsing het ook bewys dat verpligte VPO vir geregistreerde ingenieurspraktisyns hul professionele ontwikkeling tot voordeel kan strek. Vanuit die “Possible Implications for CPD Provision for Engineering Professionals” dokument is verskeie kwessies en knelpunte geïdentifiseer wat professionele ingenieurs se persepsies van die professionele liggaam mag beïnvloed. Die VPO sisteem en VPO verskaffing wat deur die Suid-Afrikaanse Raad vir Ingenieurswese (SARI) gefasiliteer word, mag een van die kernredes wees waarom vele ingenieurspraktisyns kies om nie professioneel te registreer nie. Die perseptuele en voorgestelde VPO behoeftes van ‘n geselekteerde groep professionele elektriese ingenieurspraktisyns is geïdentifiseer in hierdie studie, maar om die werklike behoeftes van professionele ingenieurspraktisyns in die breër Suid-Afrikaanse konteks te bepaal is ‘n meer gedetailleerde studie nodig wat al die konstituensies insluit wat praktiseer binne die ingenieursomgewing of die VPO fenomeen in dié konteks beïnvloed. Die studie het ook aspekte identifiseer wat kan help om die huidige VPO sisteem en insiatiewe te verbeter, en die leierskap van die professionele liggaam tot voordeel kan strek. Dit mag ‘n positiewe invloed hê op die persepsies van professionele ingenieurspraktisyns. Diesulke positiewe persepsies kan lei tot meer professionele ingenieurspraktisyns wat registreer by SARI en hul professionele registrasie byhou.

For decades, Army Engineers have utilized the systems of the Critical Path Method (CPM) and multi-level Gantt chart planning system for its construction projects. While these methods are well accepted, they are not without their flaws. Research and literature in project management has given weight to several viable alternative options to planning projects. One such option, Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM), was developed to address the flaws of CPM by offering a holistic approach to project management based on strict resource control and the use of time buffers. This method attempts to eliminate multitasking and procrastination that can plague efficiency and offer managers more flexibly on tasks that otherwise had no leeway. CCPM may give project managers more flexibility and control while at the same time shortening the overall length of a project, saving time and money. The purpose of this thesis was to address the time saving and resource management benefits of utilizing CCPM over CPM and analyze the viability of those benefits being applied to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers construction project planning. Through the use of surveys of Army Engineer project supervisors, several key factors that cause delays because of CPM were identified and rated. The validity of CCPM based solutions to the same issues were also assessed by Army project supervisors in the survey. Analysis of the survey results indicated that CCPM may offer solutions to major issues that Army project supervisors face.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is a federal agency with a mission to develop water resource projects to benefit the nation. Some of its large scale projects have been built to benefit cities, but through unintended consequences have caused economic and environmental damages. For example, its control of Mississippi River flooding has protected the City of New Orleans, but contributed to land loss in coastal Louisiana, and by some accounts, made the population more susceptible to hurricane damage. The agency has now embarked on a mission to restore some of the damaged environmental areas. This dissertation evaluates whether policies and practices used by the agency to evaluate and select plans to implement is logically flawed and could produce suboptimal project selection. The primary issue is the practice of including only implementation costs in the analysis while excluding other positive and negative economic impacts. A case study is performed using the method to evaluate a traditional economic development project for which optimal project selection has already been determined using widely accepted benefit-cost practices. The results show that the Corps' environmental project evaluation method would cause rejection of the most efficient plan. The loss of welfare that would result from using this technique is measured by comparing the welfare gain of the optimal project to the welfare gain of the suboptimal projects which could be selected using the flawed methodology. In addition, the dissertation evaluates whether suboptimal results could be produced using two other current Corps policies: selecting projects based on production efficiency, and the exclusion of environmental benefits from the discounting process. For the first policy, a simple counter example shows how clearly inferior choices may come from including only supply considerations in investment choices. For the second policy, it is demonstrated mathematically that refraining from discounting benefits while discounting costs causes a bias towards selection of plans that take longer to build, are delayed in their implantation, or a combination of the two.

L'objet d'étude de notre thèse correspond au groupe professionnel des ingénieurs brésiliens face aux transformations politiques et économiques menées au Brésil dans les années 1990 et 2000, notamment l'introduction des politiques néolibérales et de la restructuration productive. La thèse analyse comment les différentes fractions du groupe professionnel ont été touchées par ces transformations et comment ses distinctes organisations d'intérêt ont agit dans la conjoncture politique.D'un coté, la thèse montre comment la combinatoires des politiques d'ouverture commerciale, de déréglementation financière, de privatisations et de reforme de l'État sont liées à l'augmentation de la participation du secteur privé dans l'économie et à la croissante dépendance financière, technologique et patrimoniale du pays envers l'extérieur. D'autre par, la thèse suggère que les politiques de déréglementation du marché de travail, de réforme du système de retraites et de focalisations des dépenses sociales de l'État ont eu un effet sur le groupe professionnel : il y a une croissante tendance d'individualisation de la gestion de la carrière et du bien-être. A partir d'une étude quantitative avec des ingénieurs et qualitative entre ceux et leurs organisations d'intérêt, notre thèse est ciblée sur l'analyse de l'évolution historique et politique du groupe professionnel. Elle part, dans un premier moment, de la description de la littérature qui porte sur les organisations d'intérêt des ingénieurs dans les années 1970 et 1980 et analyse, dans un deuxième moment, la façon dont ces organisations ont agit dans la conjoncture politique des années 1990 et 2000. La thèse fait également une analyse exploratoire des profils politiques des ingénieurs des entreprises étatiques, en particulier la Petrobras, en les comparant directement avec les transformations dans leurs rapports de travail. D'une manière plus générale, notre thèse soutient que la dynamique des luttes macrosociales a une influence considérable sur le positionnement politique des différentes fractions du groupe professionnel et de ses organisations d'intérêt. / This thesis analyses Brazilian engineers professional group in the context of the neoliberal policies and of the productive restructuring. It studies how the fractions of the professional group have been affected by these structural transformations and how their different political organizations have reacted in the political conjuncture.On one hand, the thesis shows how the combination of opening up the economy,privatization, States' reform and financial liberalization could raise private sector activities and Brazilian economic dependence. This thesis describes how both transformations have been qualitatively touched engineers activities. On the other hand, it suggests that the liberalization of labor market, the reform of the public retirement system and the policies of focusing State social investments have had an effect on the professional group: a trend towards an individual career and well being management.Through quantitative analyses amongst engineers and qualitative studies among them and their interest organizations, the thesis focuses on analyzing the evolution of political history of the professional group. First, it describes the literature which shows the Brazilian engineers interest organizations during the 1970s and 1980s. Second, it studies in depth how these organizations have acted in the political context of the 1990s and early 2000s.This thesis also makes an exploratory analysis of the political profiles of the engineers of state companies, particularly Petrobras, in direct comparison with the changes occurring in their labor conditions. In general, the thesis argues that the dynamics of the macrosocial conflicts carries considerable weight in the political positioning of the different fractions of the professional group and its interest organizations.

A dissertação tem por objetivo analisar a especificidade da infraestrutura viária da província de Minas Gerais entre 1835 e 1889. Considera-se que as obras viárias envolveram uma rede específica de atores: engenheiros nacionais e estrangeiros, executores das obras (arrematantes, empreiteiros, encarregados) e artífices. Enfatiza-se o processo de adoção de novas tecnologias construtivas e a importância de atores distintos no âmbito da Engenharia no Brasil, assim como as formas de contato e transmissão de conhecimento científico e técnico durante a construção de pontes e estradas. Verifica-se que a modernização viária de Minas Gerais presenciou (i) a intensa circulação de engenheiros e, consequentemente, a junção de problemas técnicos e econômicos na edificação de pontes e estradas; (ii) a fragilidade do sistema de patente de 1830 na tentativa de construção e difusão de uma ponte pênsil no Brasil; (iii) a existência de rotas internas que atendiam a circulação mercantil. O trabalho mostra as relações entre o mercado (setor de exportação e abastecedor de gêneros alimentícios), o Estado e os transportes. Além disso, analisa-se a construção de pontes e estradas no Brasil do século XIX, dando uma atenção especial à disponibilidade de instrumentos científicos. Os resultados mostram que a compra e uso de instrumentos científicos criou uma rede de contato entre engenheiros e uma oficina de instrumentos científicos. A análise dos processos de pontes e estradas forneceu quatro resultados específicos: 1) a relação comercial estabelecida entre o Armazém e Oficinas de Ópticas e Instrumentos Científicos, na cidade do Rio de Janeiro e os engenheiros; 2) os produtos comprados e reparados no estabelecimento comercial; 3) a maneira pela qual os engenheiros viajavam e a divisão social do trabalho em torno das tarefas diárias de transporte, desmontagem e manutenção dos instrumentos científicos; 4) os livros comprados nas livrarias em a cidade do Rio de Janeiro. Portanto, intenta-se avaliar as relações e negociações estabelecidas entre os indivíduos com formação nos campos disciplinares da Engenharia, ressaltando as interações da ciência, da técnica e da tecnologia com outras esferas, ou seja, as formas de organização da sociedade, a institucionalização da Engenharia, as práticas dos arrematantes e artífices e a condição financeira da província de Minas Gerais no que tange aos investimentos em infraestrutura viária. / The dissertation aims to examine the specificity of the road infrastructure of the province of Minas Gerais between 1835 and 1889. It is considered that the road works involved a specific network of actors: national and foreign engineers, executors of works (bidders, contractors, foremen) and craftsmen. The intent is to highlight the process of adoption of a new technology and the importance of different actors in the context of civil engineer in Brazil, as well the manner in which contact and transmission of scientific and technical knowledge took place during the process of construction bridges and roads. The evidences of modernization on Minas Gerais indicate an intense circulation of engineers and how the activities of engineers interwove technical and economic problems during the process of construction roads and bridges. This research examines the fragility of the Brazilian patent system (1830) in an attempt construction and diffusion of a suspension bridge as well as the presence of internal routes that supported a mercantile circulation. This work shows the relationship between State, market (export sector and non-export sector) and the transport. Moreover, the dissertation examines the construction of bridges and roads in the nineteenth- century Brazil, giving a special attention to the availability of scientific instruments. The results show that purchase and use of scientific instruments created a network between engineers and scientific instrument workshop. The analysis of the processes of bridges and roads provided four specific results: 1) the commercial relationship established between the Optical Warehouse Workshop and Scientific Instruments (Armazém e Oficinas de Ópticas e Instrumentos Científicos) in the city of Rio de Janeiro and the engineers; 2) the products bought and repaired in the commercial establishment; 3) the manner in which the engineers traveled, and the social division of labor around the daily tasks of carrying, dismantling and keeping the scientific instruments; 4) the books bought in the bookstores in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Thus intends to evaluate the relationships and negotiations between individuals with training in disciplines of Engineering, highlighting the interactions of science, technique and technology with other spheres, in other words, the ways of organizing society, the institutionalization of Engineering, practices of bidders and craftsmen and financial condition of the province of Minas Gerais regarding investments in road infrastructure.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:31:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2012-11-19Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:01:24Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 rezende_la_dr_jabo.pdf: 650286 bytes, checksum: 6136f51c9cc6f953b78dfce5432508f9 (MD5) / O setor agropecuário brasileiro é responsável por cerca de 22,3% do PIB nacional e, para os próximos anos, há a previsão de expansão das fronteiras agrícolas em ecossistemas brasileiros ainda pouco conhecidos. No decorrer da história o setor contribuiu decisivamente para a transformação dos espaços naturais, em geral, comprometendo os recursos naturais e a integridade dos ecossistemas. Frente a esta realidade encontra-se a profissão de engenheiro agrônomo/agrônomo, enquanto mediador na relação produção e meio ambiente, e as instituições de ensino superior com a responsabilidade pelo perfil destes profissionais. Com o objetivo de conhecer e caracterizar os componentes curriculares da área de solos e os referentes à sustentabilidade ambiental frente às legislações educacional e profissional nos cursos de agronomia, analisou-se Projetos Pedagógicos de Cursos (PPC) de diferentes instituições, dentre as universidades particulares, estaduais e federais. A pesquisa constituiu de estudo exploratório, de natureza quali-quantitativa, delineado por pesquisa documental, com um enfoque comparativo, a partir de 15 (quinze) Projetos Pedagógicos de Cursos de Engenharia Agronômica / Agronomia do país, de instituições particulares, estaduais, universidades federais, com melhores resultados no Exame Nacional de Desempenho dos Estudantes (ENADE) em 2010 e Institutos Federais. Os PPC apresentaram dificuldades na apropriação das legislações educacional e profissional sendo que as instituições dentre as melhores no ENADE em 2010 e os Institutos Federais apresentaram maior aderência as mesmas. Apesar de alguns PPC destacarem nos seus referenciais teóricos preocupações com o solo e com as questões ambientais, essa... / The Brazilian agricultural sector is responsible for about 22.3% of the national GDP, and for the next years, there is a forecast of agricultural frontier expansion in Brazilian ecosystems little known. Throughout history the sector contributed decisively to the transformation of natural areas, often compromising the natural resources and ecosystem integrity. Facing this reality we can find the agronomy profession/agronomist, as a mediator in the relationship between production and environment, and institutions of higher education with responsibility for the profile of these professionals. Aiming to understand and characterize the components of the soil curriculum area and those referring to environmental sustainability before the professional and educational laws in the courses in agronomy, we analyzed Educational Course Projects (ECP) from different institutions, among private, state and federal universities. The research was an exploratory study, from qualitative and quantitative nature, designed for documental research, with a comparative approach, of fifteen (15) Educational Course Projects of Agricultural Engineering / Agronomy of the country, from private, state, and federal universities, with best results in the National Student Performance (NSP) in 2010 and Federal Institutes. The ECP had difficulties in appropriation of the professional and educational laws although the best institutions in NSP in 2010 and the Federal Institutes showed higher adherence to them. Although some ECP´s show in their theoretical some concerns with soil and environmental issues, this view was not expressed and translated into... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

A dissertação tem por objetivo analisar a especificidade da infraestrutura viária da província de Minas Gerais entre 1835 e 1889. Considera-se que as obras viárias envolveram uma rede específica de atores: engenheiros nacionais e estrangeiros, executores das obras (arrematantes, empreiteiros, encarregados) e artífices. Enfatiza-se o processo de adoção de novas tecnologias construtivas e a importância de atores distintos no âmbito da Engenharia no Brasil, assim como as formas de contato e transmissão de conhecimento científico e técnico durante a construção de pontes e estradas. Verifica-se que a modernização viária de Minas Gerais presenciou (i) a intensa circulação de engenheiros e, consequentemente, a junção de problemas técnicos e econômicos na edificação de pontes e estradas; (ii) a fragilidade do sistema de patente de 1830 na tentativa de construção e difusão de uma ponte pênsil no Brasil; (iii) a existência de rotas internas que atendiam a circulação mercantil. O trabalho mostra as relações entre o mercado (setor de exportação e abastecedor de gêneros alimentícios), o Estado e os transportes. Além disso, analisa-se a construção de pontes e estradas no Brasil do século XIX, dando uma atenção especial à disponibilidade de instrumentos científicos. Os resultados mostram que a compra e uso de instrumentos científicos criou uma rede de contato entre engenheiros e uma oficina de instrumentos científicos. A análise dos processos de pontes e estradas forneceu quatro resultados específicos: 1) a relação comercial estabelecida entre o Armazém e Oficinas de Ópticas e Instrumentos Científicos, na cidade do Rio de Janeiro e os engenheiros; 2) os produtos comprados e reparados no estabelecimento comercial; 3) a maneira pela qual os engenheiros viajavam e a divisão social do trabalho em torno das tarefas diárias de transporte, desmontagem e manutenção dos instrumentos científicos; 4) os livros comprados nas livrarias em a cidade do Rio de Janeiro. Portanto, intenta-se avaliar as relações e negociações estabelecidas entre os indivíduos com formação nos campos disciplinares da Engenharia, ressaltando as interações da ciência, da técnica e da tecnologia com outras esferas, ou seja, as formas de organização da sociedade, a institucionalização da Engenharia, as práticas dos arrematantes e artífices e a condição financeira da província de Minas Gerais no que tange aos investimentos em infraestrutura viária. / The dissertation aims to examine the specificity of the road infrastructure of the province of Minas Gerais between 1835 and 1889. It is considered that the road works involved a specific network of actors: national and foreign engineers, executors of works (bidders, contractors, foremen) and craftsmen. The intent is to highlight the process of adoption of a new technology and the importance of different actors in the context of civil engineer in Brazil, as well the manner in which contact and transmission of scientific and technical knowledge took place during the process of construction bridges and roads. The evidences of modernization on Minas Gerais indicate an intense circulation of engineers and how the activities of engineers interwove technical and economic problems during the process of construction roads and bridges. This research examines the fragility of the Brazilian patent system (1830) in an attempt construction and diffusion of a suspension bridge as well as the presence of internal routes that supported a mercantile circulation. This work shows the relationship between State, market (export sector and non-export sector) and the transport. Moreover, the dissertation examines the construction of bridges and roads in the nineteenth- century Brazil, giving a special attention to the availability of scientific instruments. The results show that purchase and use of scientific instruments created a network between engineers and scientific instrument workshop. The analysis of the processes of bridges and roads provided four specific results: 1) the commercial relationship established between the Optical Warehouse Workshop and Scientific Instruments (Armazém e Oficinas de Ópticas e Instrumentos Científicos) in the city of Rio de Janeiro and the engineers; 2) the products bought and repaired in the commercial establishment; 3) the manner in which the engineers traveled, and the social division of labor around the daily tasks of carrying, dismantling and keeping the scientific instruments; 4) the books bought in the bookstores in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Thus intends to evaluate the relationships and negotiations between individuals with training in disciplines of Engineering, highlighting the interactions of science, technique and technology with other spheres, in other words, the ways of organizing society, the institutionalization of Engineering, practices of bidders and craftsmen and financial condition of the province of Minas Gerais regarding investments in road infrastructure.

The acquisition of terrain data from aerial photography using digital photogrammetric methods gives the engineer and planner an economical alternative to conventional ground surveys. This paper describes a complete photogrammetric digitizing system developed for the Portland District Army Corps of Engineers. The hardware of the system consists of a Wild AlO first order stereoplotter interfaced to an Altec AC-74 coordinate digitizer which is interfaced to both a Hewlett Packard 9810A programmable calculator and a Digi-Data nine-track magnetic tape recorder. The software of the system consists of photogrammetric routines developed for online computation by the programmable calculator and a sophisticated FORTRAN IV program called PHOTDIG which processes the digitized photogrammetric data from the nine-track magnetic tape at the Corps of Engineers data processing facility which contains an IBM 370 computer and a Calcomp 748 precision flatbed plotter. The processing of the digitized data by PHOTDIG produces terrain information required by engineers and planners such as state plane coordinates, elevations, cross-sections, profiles, etc. in both digital and graphical formats. The system has been in production use for over two years in the Portland District Photogrammetry Section and has significantly increased the efficiency and economy of photogrammetric data acquisition.

The Technical Council of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) developed a program f or school crossing protection. The intent of this thesis is to evaluate the ITE program within. the context of those programs developed by other agencies throughout the nation. Research materials were obtained from the appropriate Federal, state, local and other agencies through papers, articles, reports and correspondence. Upon the analysis of these sources, the ITE program was found to be deficient in several ways. Recommendations for modifying the program which are set forth herein include a revision of the ITE program including the school route map, clarification of technical terminology, incorporation of a sound criteria for selecting the appropriate protective devices and/or measures, establishing a priority system, deletion of portable school signs, identification of funding sources, and establishing additional warrants for the installation of traffic control devices.

This current research study is an outcome of the global expansion of English into the business world, the vigorous growth of the research in the area of English language acquisition as a second language and a global language, as well as of the researcher's passionate ESP teaching experience to university engineering students, and her pro-active engagement with Thai automotive engineers in the multi-national companies. Through investigating the English language learning and working experience of Thai automotive engineers, pictures about their needs on English language communication in the workplace are sketched; through looking into the perspectives of the university teachers and the international engineering professionals, the factors impacting on the needs of those automotive engineers in English language communication have been demonstrated. As a product of this research study, an ESP working syllabus has been designed to showcase the major findings of this stu dy, and to inform the current and future practices in English language learning and teaching for global engineers from the angles of program design. In light of the principles in second language learning and teaching, and of the theoretical framework in Global English, this research study has been designed with a multi-faceted research strategy, which interweaves qualitative and quantitative research paradigms, and consists of questionnaire survey, in-depth interviews and case studies. The data obtained through this research strategy are analyzed through SPSS statistics, content analysis and triangulation. The research participants were recruited from two settings: automotive engineering workplace and technological educational institutions in Thailand. They include: 1) automotive engineers from an automotive-parts manufacturer, 2) foreign engineering professionals who co-work with the engineers from that manufacturing company, and 3) ESP teachers from the two selected technology universities of Thailand. The results from this study indicate that proficiency in English communication has not only become a global passport for Thai automotive engineers, but also for the engineering organisations. It works as a source of power for both employees and employers, if they own it, in entering global automotive business to effectively function and compete, but as a challenge for those who do not possess this asset. It is believed that enhancing their English language proficiency for engineers is a key toward their generic skills building. On the basis of the findings of this study, a 90-hour sample ESP syllabus spread out over a course of three months is developed. It employs an integrated model of syllabus design, having incorporated and balanced learner-centred approach, communicative approach and task-based approach. It combines classroom-based training sessions, self-directed learning and advisory sessions to introduce and strengthen the knowledge and skills and to mentor the engineers grow through the self-directed English learning process. Thus, the objectives of this sample ESP syllabus are to foster Thai engineers as not only proficient English communicators, but also as autonomous English learners. Through this learning process, they could get themselves better prepared for the challenges posed by this ever-changing world, while sowing seeds for nurturing future global leaders in the engineering profession.