ABSTRACT
Engineers have been providing for the needs of people and societies for millennia, and they will continue to do so in the future. During this long development process the education of an engineer has changed from the past system of the experienced practitioner handing on his craft to apprentices to the now well-developed engineering education system of formal scientific and technical training at educational institutions, in the work place and through lifelong continuing education. The rapid scientific and technological developments of the 20th century have seen the emergency of many new engineering disciplines. Many more may have to be created in the 21st century, impossible to predict even for just 100 years ahead. While some engineers will continue to work in the future within one country, some will work in many countries of the world during their lifetime. The author is one such engineer, whose education and practice has taken him from Europe to North America, to the Middle East and more recently to Asia. He wishes to share with the audience his views on what will be needed in the 21st century by this “new engineer for the global environment”?
