"World Engineers' Convention Identifies a Shortage of Engineers"

President Lula addressing the Convention

Source: Tony Marjorem, UNESCO, December 2008

The World Engineers' Convention was held in Brasilia on December 5, 2008 with the participation of UNESCO. President Lula of Brazil addressed the participants, describing the needs for engineers in his country, and the inability of the university system to train enough engineers to meet national needs.

There are in many countries shortages of engineers to address national priorities in infrastructure, energy, manufacturing, construction, transport and communications. In the oil and gas and mining industries, for example, recent peaks in the price of commodities were partly attributed to the shortage of engineers. Engineering and technology are also vital for sustainable development and addressing climate change mitigation and adaptation – where shortages of engineers to develop renewable energy are also indicated. The same is true for many fields of engineering - civil, mechanical, electrical and electronics, chemical and new and emerging areas such as materials engineering and nanotechnology.