Japan "Running Out of Engineers"

bfwebster writes "A story in the New York Times reports that Japan, a country that rebuilt itself as a technological power after World War II, now faces an increasing shortage of college graduates with degrees in science and engineering. Says the article: 'By one ministry of internal affairs estimate, the digital technology industry here is already short almost half a million engineers.' The article goes on to point out that the overall trend of waning interest in science and technology has been going on for 'almost two decades' and that the shortage is made worse by the traditional reluctance of Japanese companies to hire and use foreign workers. The US has had a similar trend for quite some time: 'Undergraduate engineering enrollment declined through most of the 1980s and 1990s, rose from 2000 through 2003, and declined slightly in recent years.'"

Comments

Re:It's probably not waning interest in engineerin

[dattaway]

I heard about the "lack of engineers" a lot in the late 1980's. I went to engineering school and found out schools were turning out engineers like a puppy mill. We graduated in a recession. Looking back, the shortage hype appears to have been "engineered" by educational institutions and sponsoring companies heavily advertising in the media. Don't fall for it, unless you make plans to settle for low paying jobs just to find something interesting.

Take a look at slide 9

[linhares]

http://www.slideshare.net/linhares/outline-of-globalization-course-at-fgvebape Check out slide 9, which compares the explosion of engineering degrees in China, India (& to a certain extent the EU) to the US and Japan. I use it on my classes, and people think it must be bogus. Data from Morgan Stanley, by the way.

free timers (not freeters)

[reiisi]

Convert it to Romaji: furii-taimaazu ... furiitaimaazu ... furiita-imazu ... furiita

Got it?

By the way, your description is neither satire nor exaggeration. The security side of it is no longer reality, but other than that, you're better than 90% accurate.

I'm one of those who have bailed.

I've seen some companies that have tried to do the right thing by their engineers, but they just get eaten by the next wave of college grads at the next startup willing to burn themselves out for the mirage of a permanent posh position. Only to get their company killed by the wave after next, two years down the road, about the time they've all hit the wall and simply can't compete any more. Those who stay in the industry go into management or go back after taking a break as free-timers to recuperate (never getting married), or do something equally self-destructive.

I place the blame squarely on Microsfot for setting the role model: selling broken dreams.

Re:Also a matter of rewards, I guess

[mikael]

New Labour didn't help things either - parents of children with behavour problems demanded that their children be sent to mainstream schools in order to avoid the stigma of being sent to "special schools". Teachers have to deal with students who will constantly hit other students or hide under their desk the minute there is a loud noise. Teaching Assistants were introduced, but that was seen as a tn attempt to recruit teachers on a reduced salary.

Then there was also the attempt to stop schools from telling off, expelling or suspending disruptive students as this would be a violation of their fundamental human rights. Then there was the requirement that schools should provide breakfast to students who don't have time to have breakfast in the morning.

Exam systems have been tinkered with. Previous governments introduced the concept of Foundation, Standard and Credit 'O' Grades so that everyone could say that they got an 'A' in their subject. Then there was switch to using coursework for assessment rather than exams, and the merger of Biology/Chemistry/Physics into General Science or the removal of various topics from Mathematics (permnutations and combinations, trigonometric equations and Physics.

As the same time, providing sanctuary to large numbers of asylum seekers who couldn't speak English as a first language, overloaded schools in London, which forced the government to "share the burden" across cities all across the UK. The side-effect of this was that the local parents pulled their children out of the popular state schools and send them to private schools instead. Now, the state schools are being forced to close due to lack of demand.

Then if there is a fight between students, the teachers can't intervene for fear of being injured, or being accused of being a pedophile for touching one of the students.