Many students study engineering to impact our world, whether it’s through designing the new iPad, slowing global warming or building the next Hoover Dam. Regardless of the problem to solve, an engineer’s insight needs to go beyond the technical scope.
Waterloo Engineering has always been considered one of the best schools for these programs, excelling in academics, innovation and entrepreneurship. However, with pre-enrolment now a week past, I am finding it difficult to follow my passion for social issues and international development with the limited options for electives. Waterloo makes it very clear that an engineer must graduate a well-rounded student that has an understanding of the economic and human aspects of society. I have always wanted to take an international development, social work or conflict studies course; however, the demanding schedule of an engineering student doesn’t have room for a “non-prescheduled” elective. Albeit if you are taking engineering, you certainly didn’t choose the program for the electives; however, I find it discouraging that even with the university pushing for well-rounded engineers, an introductory International Studies course is not offered at a time that would not conflict with my schedule. Even worse are the many courses requiring prerequisites, essentially pigeonholing a 1B student like me to a generic Philosophy course.
It’s my understanding that the idea behind pre-enrolment is for the University to get approximations on how many students want to take a specific course. However, this past week’s pre-enrolment lacked one basic necessity: my new term’s schedule. I understand the complexities of scheduling, especially with tens of thousands of students roaming the Waterloo campus, but wouldn’t it be beneficial to have a “first draft” of my new term schedule to see if it’s even possible to take certain courses? I am positive the University has a good indication of how many students will be on term in Winter 2012, and considering 2A engineering programs have a maximum of one elective per program, it’s definitely in the realm of possibilities to show us a timetable that will be very similar to the final result. Not only is this pre-enrolment week a disappointment to me for choosing a course I’d rather not take, it is also a waste of the university’s resources. With the limited course options and a poor pre-enrolment process, customizing my degree and getting the most out of my time here at Waterloo to grow personally and academically is becoming more difficult than I had hoped. It seems that, given all of Waterloo’s creativity and ingenuity, becoming an engineer focussed on our global society is harder than a new student may think.
Engineers Without Borders has an idea about a global engineer that can propose solutions that are adaptable, humanity focused and socially conscious. This idea of a socially- and economically-focused engineer involves thought beyond the technical aspects of a project, broadening our area of our responsibility and helping our world regardless of the type of engineering you’re enrolled in. A portion of EWB’s work involves helping to change and shape the curriculum at UW, pushing towards an engineering program that graduates individuals who are able to create a better world, whether it’s a recyclable iPad, clean water in rural Africa, or the new electric car. We need to show Waterloo that it needs to change the way it thinks of CSE courses. This will allow students to follow their passions, whatever they happen to be, without having to miss a calculus lecture to do so!
Remember, the students are the backbone of Waterloo Engineering, and our voices are always the loudest.
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