Bulletin Number Five 1987

famous saying from the sage, semantically rich, and the meaning is subjected to the circumstances under which the words are used. This example shows two principal ways of how technology has caused fundamental changes. Firstly, man and machine are increasingly intertwined in every aspect of our life. Obviously, this state of affairs must be reflected in the way we approach our education. Secondly, science and technology are increasingly complex. Their influences spread broadly. Even from the arts and social science angles, the impact of technology on our value system is readily felt. Today, I like to share with you some viewpoints which I have gathered in my over thirty years of involvement in science and technology. Hopefully, they are relevant for improving our understanding of the technological impact on university education. It has been said that technology is advancing and proliferating rapidly. Certainly this is true if we count the number of different projects and the number of people engaged in technologically related activities. In the United States of America alone the research and development expenditure of industry amounts to nearly US$120 billions, or about 3% of GNP. EEC and Japan, with a combined GNP at least equal to that of the USA, also devote similar percentage to research and development. No wonder the generation of new ideas and techniques appears to flood the knowledge pool. The university academics exerting supreme vigilance try vainly to keep up with the progress only to find that their students graduating over four years are obsolete before they enter into society. The possibility of covering any subject in its entirety fades as endless sub-divisions come into existence, each clamouring for attention. This seemingly hopeless situation also exists at high technology companies where the variety of requirements appear to be endless. How much should be spent on research and development and which area should be supported become the daily challenge for the managers. This situation has aroused institutional and national concern, and a few forward looking organizations have started to try to understand and then to tackle this dilemma. It is a dilemma because the more resources given to solve a problem, the more new ideas may be generated, and hence the larger could be the problem. However, several recognitions are beginning to emerge. (1) Technology progress is actually orderly and reasonably predictable. (2) Proliferation of technology is natural but is generally variation of a few important themes. They represent the variety of trails towards apparently important milestones or goals. (3) Understanding of how technology can help in fulfilling identified product needs could be the best guide for technology investment. (4) Inventions are unpredictable and sometimes can alter the course of progress drastically. They occur rarely and should be watched but cannot be ordered. From the above points, we can see that the required talent for this modem society is not necessarily one that is an expert in a narrow area or one that can improve a narrow technological discipline and make progress in certain specific direction. He should be a person who has a clear understanding of how technology is progressing and what the influence can be. This broad generalist must also have a certain expertise in specific areas as his foundation, and also more importantly, have a critical and analytical mind so that he can move in and out of different areas and see the inter-connections naturally. The foregoing remarks are of course most pertinent to the development of science and technology education at the universities. At the heart of the issue is the same objective towards which university education has always been directed since the inception of university education, namely, to help the students to think independently and with a critical mind. The methods used are probably the same: learning the facts, dissecting the facts to develop a critical sense of analysis, and practical realities, by means of examples, the art of using facts to gain realism. The difference technology makes is in the changing of the scope and scale of facts and their inter-relationships. Technology cross-links not only scientific disciplines but also social science and arts areas. Its influence affects all subjects and transforms our value system. We must worry about industrial waste which pollutes our rivers, oceans and upper atmosphere, while at the same time we cannot suppress industrial activities since they are responsible for improving our well- being materially and otherwise. We must struggle to distinguish between what computer aided design can do to improve productivity in mechanistic activities as well as in intellectual pursuits such as poetry and music. In short, we must be trained to be broad and specialized at the same time. This, I submit, is the challenge of university education in our age. With man's ingenuity we will definitely succeed. Let us not kid ourselves that we can achieve our goals without changes both in the structure and in the management of our entire education system. It would be a shame if each interest group tries to fight its rear guard battle for its own preservation without realizing that the only way to win a new and bright future is to throw in their lot with all the others. Today I would like to let my faith that we will definitely succeed to be the gift to all our graduands. 3