Selama sekitar 10 tahun terakhir ini memang
di jerman teramati menurunnya minat anak-2 muda
jerman memilih bidang teknik (engineering)
pada saat masuk bangku universitas. Sehingga
jumlah tenaga insinyur yang dihasilkan oleh
universitas-2 juga berkurang.
Menurut analisis di bawah ini, kecenderungan
menurun-nya minat masuk jurusan teknik teramati
sejak tahun 1970 an dan konon kabarnya itu
disebabkan oleh maraknya kesadaran akan perlunya
kelestarian lingkungan, dan pada saat yang sama
adalah berkembangnya persepsi bahwa kerusakan
lingkungan selama ini banyak disebabkan oleh
keberadaan industri-2 serta sarana transportasi
yang dipandang sebagai *-hasil karya-* tukang-2
insinyur.
Saya terus terang meragukan argumen di atas.
Bukankah upaya pelestarian lingkungan itu sendiri,
termasuk konservasi energi juga memerlukan keahlian
teknik/engineering. Dunia teknik dalam 30 tahun
terakhir ini (sejak "krisis minyak" tahun 1973-an)
juga telah banyak berjasa memunculkan berbagai
produk industri yang lebih hemat energi dan
ramah lingkungaan ...
***
Saya lebih cenderung menduga adanya 2 penyebab utama:
==> Meningkatnya daya tarik bidang-2 lain yang
'menyaingi' daya tarik bidang teknik, misalnya
bidang bisnis & manajemen; misalnya dengan maraknya
pendidikan MBA sejak tahun 1980 an ...
Bidang pendidikan bisnis bisa jadi dianggap
'lebih mudah lulus' nya dibandingkan bidang teknik
dan pada saat yang sama "menjanjikan imbalan"
(gaji) yang lebih tinggi dibanding bidang teknik
==> "Kolot"/konservatif nya sistem pendidikan tinggi
( Diplom Ing ) di jerman/eropa yang bagi mereka
yang pernah menempuh pendidikan tinggi di negara
lain (mis. Anglosaxon) terasa "kurang efisien =
menghabiskan umur", terutama sekali untuk bidang
teknik.
( kami di lingkungan mahasiswa-2 bidang teknik di
jerman memang sering "ngrasani", bahwa di kampus-2
jerman, kehidupan mahasiswa-2 bidang ilmu-2 sosial
memang terkesan "lebih santai"; mereka ini yang
lebih banyak waktu untuk konkouw-2 di kantin/bar
/sekretariat senat mahasiswa dan biasanya mereka
ini lah yang lebih "willing" untuk menjadi
"aktivis kampus": mis. aktif di dalam berbagai
gerakan-2 protes/demonstrasi khas mahasiswa :) >
***
Satu lagi, artikel di bawah ini tidak membahas adanya
"alternatif solusi" yang laen: yaitu dengan "mengundang"
tenaga insinyur bangsa lain/asing, terutama yang memang
hasil didikan universitas-2 di jerman ...
There is no question, tentu saja di mana-2 tenaga asing
relatif "lebih susah" mendapat pekerjaan dibanding
tenaga-2 "pribumi" karena kepada mereka di kenakan
peraturan-2 khusus.
Khusus di kalangan imigran/asylum, kadang-2 saya juga
mengamati sebagian dari merekan ini (yang misalnya
mengungsi dari negaranya yang dilanda perang/konflik)
punya kualifikasi yang cukup (pendidikan setingkat
bachelor atau master), tetapi susah sekali mendapat
pekerjaan di jerman, sehingga mereka terpaksa hanya
hidup dari tunjangan sosial sebagai asylum.
Sebuah artikel di majalah Newsweek pernah "ngrasani"
bahwa di negara-2 eropa barat, bagi Asylum jauh lebih
mudah untuk mendapatkan status sebagai "penerima tunjangan
sosial" dibanding mendapatkan pekerjaan. Sementara di
negara seperti AS, exactly the opposite is the case.
----( IM )---------------------------------------------------
< http://www.csmonitor.com >
------------------------------------
Germany alarmed at lack of engineers
------------------------------------
By Isabelle de Pommereau, Correspondent
of The Christian Science Monitor Thu Aug 10, 4:00 AM ET
FRANKFURT - When high school junior Daria Schirmer conducted
scientific experiments with 8-year-olds as part of a school
project this year building a periscope or a compass with
a magnet she became not only an inventor of sorts but also
part of the solution to what looms as one of Germany's greatest
challenges: how to keep its sterling reputation as the world's
leader in engineering.
For centuries, Germany led the world in technological prowess,
from the motorcycle to the refrigerator. In the 19th century,
inventors and entrepreneurs like Gottlieb Daimler, Carl Benz,
and Carl Wilhelm Siemens developed products for brands still
respected today. But over the past few years, young Germans
have dramatically turned away from engineering and now, the
country needs 18,000 engineers a third more than last year,
according to the German Association of Engineers in Berlin.
Alarmed that this gap could endanger Germany's engineering
creativity, businesses are trying to stem the tide by launching
a publicity campaign to make engineering sound like fun from
kindergarten through university.
"The image of engineers has never been so bad," says Markus
Roeser of Do Things, a coalition of 80 businesses, universities,
and research institutes created five months ago to fill the
engineering gap.
The group sponsors school projects, gives awards to youths
making special scientific discoveries, awards scholarships,
and helps engineering students find internships and young
researchers commercialize their inventions.
potential
---------
"If we don't succeed in making young people enthusiastic
about technical jobs again, we're running the risk of losing
our place as the world's leading exporter," of manufactured
goods and technologies, says Mr. Roeser.
"The lack of engineers is Germany's No. 1 hindrance to
innovation," says Roeser. "At stake is to keep Germany's
creative potential."
"Little Einstein Experiments," the pilot project that had
pupils like Daria visit grade schools to do experiments every
week, is the crux of this publicity campaign. Sponsored by
the German state of Hessen's entrepreneurs association, it
is meant to awaken scientific thirst early on.
"Children are naturally curious about learning. It's important
to encourage their enthusiasm so that the fun doing experiments
lasts," says Monika Zieleniewicz, Daria's physics teacher at the
Albert Einstein High School in suburban Frankfurt who supervised
the program. "That's how you help develop children's motivation
for those fields."
"The focus has to be on the schools," says Benjamin Burde of
the Berlin-based Mathematics and Science Excellence Centers
in Schools, which supports mathematics, computers, science,
and technology education. He notes that in Germany, those
disciplines have almost disappeared from the school curriculum.
How engineering lost its cachet Being an engineer no longer
has the high status it once enjoyed.
In the mid 1960s, 41 percent of Germans said engineering was
a job they had a lot of admiration for. In 2001, only 22
percent said so, according to the Association of Engineers.
A study by the Allensbach Research Institute, Germany's
leading polling firm, found in 2003 that being an engineer
ranked seventh among young people as a prestigious career
behind pastors, doctors, and university professors.
Part of Germany's engineering decline started in the 1970s
as the environmental movement grew and people started
questioning the impacts of ever-faster energy-hungry
technologies on society and the environment.
By making people skeptical about technological progress,
it gradually hurt the prestige of engineering jobs, says
Joerg Feuchhofen, head of the Association of Entrepreneurs
in Hessen, which represents 100,000 entrepreneurs in the
state of Hessen. "The Germans often looked at it as something
that endangered the environment," says Mr. Feuchthofen. "That's
a reason why the fields covering ... technology have lost
ground in the education system."
Ten years ago, there were twice as many engineering students
at universities than today according to the German Association
of Engineers.
The problem isn't new. But attention was focused on the dearth
of engineers this spring when Airbus-Germany announced it
couldn't find 600 engineers needed as they gear up to expand
their production over the next two years.
"That Germany can't fulfill a major order in China that would
have created many jobs was a big shock for the nation," says
Roeser.
Indeed, Airbus isn't the only firm hindered by Germany's current
lack of engineers. Thirty percent of German employers say they
are short engineers, according to a survey by the German
Association of Engineers.
"At least four or five years ago, people came to interviews,"
says Andrea Gossel of the Schunk Group, an international car-
part manufacturer headquartered in the small village of
Heuchelheim. "Today they don't ever bother to show up."
***************************************************************************
Berdikusi dg Santun & Elegan, dg Semangat Persahabatan. Menuju Indonesia yg
Lebih Baik, in Commonality & Shared Destiny.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ppiindia
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