Technology, the University and the Community

Technology, the University and the Community: A Study of the Regional Role of Engineering Colleges focuses on the regional role of engineering colleges and suggests some mechanisms for increasing the interaction between the universities, or their colleges of engineering, and the local region. The study examines the problem of not effectively tapping the potential of state universities to bring applied science to the service of state governments. Comprised of four chapters, this book begins with an overview of the engineering college and its environments, together with its two main resources: human beings and information. Traditional views on the roles of engineering colleges are considered, and their impacts on regional development are examined. The next chapter deals with dimensions and models for the various roles of the engineering college and how the activities of the people of the college, including faculty and students, constitute the main areas of impact upon the region. The obstacles that must be overcome to increase the regional involvement of engineering colleges are then discussed by thinking of the university in terms of human and information resources. The final chapter describes some mechanisms for increasing the regional involvement of engineering colleges. This monograph will be of interest to university administrators, local government officials, and educational policymakers.