2025-10-15
As artificial intelligence and big data are reshaping the engineering and industrial landscape, the intergenerational renewal and upskilling of tens of millions of engineers worldwide have come to the fore. The statement “A sustainable future depends on the growth and engagement of every engineer” has drawn the attention of young engineers across the globe to this shared agenda.
On October 13th, the 2025 General Assembly of the World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO), co-hosted by WFEO, the China Association for Science and Technology, the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government, opened in Shanghai. In the afternoon, experts from China and abroad gathered for a special session on “Empowering Women and Young Engineers”, exploring new pathways for training young engineering talents in the digital age.
Roundtable discussion
“Accompanied growth” as the optimal pathway for engineers’ professional socialization
“Capacity building is vital for engineers. Engineering is not just a profession; it is the ‘lifeblood’ of sustainable development and the foundation of sustainable transition. Whether it is driving digital transformation, tackling climate challenges or advancing smart agriculture, engineers are indispensable. Yet there are substantial gaps in the technical preparedness of young engineers, particularly in the Global South,” said Martin Manuhwa, Chair of the WFEO Committee on Engineering Capacity Building, in his remarks.
Martin Manuhwa, Chair of the WFEO Committee on Engineering Capacity Building, speaking at the event
According to UNESCO’s 2021 Engineering Report, although demand for engineers is rising in many countries, interest among young people in studying engineering or pursuing engineering careers is declining. In several countries there has been a noticeable “flight from engineering”, and the proportion of young women engineers remains relatively low. Underlying reasons include the relatively low socio-economic status of engineers and scientists, and the fact that mechanisms for the international mobility of young engineers remain inadequate. Young engineers are facing “growing pains”, with multiple constraints intertwined and limiting the release of their full potential.
In response, Enyonam Kpekpena, Chair of the WFEO Committee on Women in Engineering, noted during the roundtable: “This General Assembly is enabling young engineers around the world to engage with new discoveries in the AI era and to seize the technological opportunities created by WFEO.” She emphasized that by leveraging the links between the WFEO Young Engineers/Future Leaders Committee and national engineering education organizations, WFEO can provide a platform for young engineers—especially young women engineers—to interact and connect. Embedding knowledge updating, skills training and activities such as engineering ethics seminars into training systems, she added, will offer stronger support for young engineers and provide them with “accompanied growth”.
Enyonam Kpekpena, Chair of the WFEO Committee on Women in Engineering, speaking at the roundtable
Training “multi-skilled warriors” to enhance young engineers’ global competence
“I believe the essence of education is to nurture well-rounded individuals. We must not only impart knowledge, but also cultivate a combination of humanistic qualities and practical abilities,” said Wang Hongyang, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, when speaking about the training of young engineers.
Academician Wang Hongyang of the Chinese Academy of Engineering speaking at the session
The continuous upgrading of international cooperation mechanisms has created new opportunities for technological progress, but has also intensified “friction” in technology that is itself colored by culture. Labor, environmental and intellectual property laws differ markedly between countries, and religious customs and workplace cultures vary significantly. A lack of cross-cultural collaboration skills often causes projects to stall. Divergent technical standards add further complications, as some countries still apply traditional standards that conflict with internationally accepted norms, increasing the cost of cross-border engineering cooperation.
Cultural barriers, language differences and divergent professional competency standards, among other factors, are effectively “pushing” outstanding engineers worldwide to fight on multiple fronts at once.
Kancheepuram Gunalan, Chair of the WFEO Committee on Engineering and the United Nations, remarked: “Improving young engineers’ ability to ‘convert’ their soft skills into real value is crucial for enhancing their global competence. In addition to scientific and engineering knowledge, education should help them build soft skills such as intellectual property awareness, understanding of trade and economics, and business literacy, and put these skills into their ‘toolbox’ through targeted training. Only then can they better innovate in technology and in society.” He called for making full use of the leading role of international organizations and the bridging role of enterprises to strengthen capacity building for young engineers, so that more of them can collaborate on the same global stage.
Kancheepuram Gunalan, Chair of the WFEO Committee on Engineering and the United Nations, speaking at the forum
Bridging universities, industry and research to build full-chain training pathways
The rapid development of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data and the Internet of Things is profoundly transforming traditional engineering sectors and industrial economic structures. Young engineers now stand at a critical juncture of this era of change.
Academician Sun Lili of the Chinese Academy of Engineering shared how young engineers in the chemical sector are growing through “cross-boundary” development. She explained that a science and technology professionals’ studio, established under national initiatives within China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec), serves both educational and practical functions. As a platform for professional exchange in chemical engineering, it enables interaction among different specializations, helping young engineers broaden their expertise while deepening cross-specialty collaboration in practice and seizing innovation opportunities in an atmosphere of “cross-boundary” exchange.
Academician Sun Lili of the Chinese Academy of Engineering speaking during the discussion
The shift between “academic” and “practitioner” roles is an important turning point in the growth of young engineers worldwide. At present, there is an increasingly evident “structural gap” between university-based engineering education and continuing engineering education: the updating of university programs lags behind the pace of industrial upgrading, and talent reserves in emerging fields such as artificial intelligence and quantum technologies are insufficient. A “cognitive gap” in how talent is defined leads to a disconnect between learning and application, as many universities still focus heavily on theory while downplaying engineering practice, so that students’ hands-on skills fall short of enterprise needs. An even more critical “skills gap” arises from rigid disciplinary silos, which make it difficult to train the kind of interdisciplinary engineers required today, and from a lack of training in emerging technical skills, forcing many young engineers to “catch up” after they enter the workforce.
In the face of gaps in the global higher education system’s contribution to young engineers’ development, experts find themselves converging on similar views regarding program classification, AI integration, enhanced practice and university–enterprise co-creation. They recommend that universities focus on emerging and future industries such as artificial intelligence, biomanufacturing, quantum technologies and the low-altitude economy, dynamically adjust the structure of engineering programs, guide differentiated institutional development and promote early-stage engineer training that is oriented towards practical competences. They also call for building robust interaction mechanisms between universities and enterprises, innovating models for deep university–enterprise cooperation, and increasing enterprise involvement in designing training schemes so as to co-develop talent and co-create courses. Optimizing the match between supply and demand and constructing competence-oriented training systems will help build new full-chain pathways for training young engineers.
“Young engineering talents are both active stakeholders in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and future leaders in driving them forward.” This is the vision of the WFEO Young Engineers/Future Leaders Committee, and also a strategic goal of WFEO as a whole. Guided by the common goal of “sustainable development”, the Young Engineers/Future Leaders Committee will work to find pathways that ensure “no one is left behind”, striving to safeguard the well-being of people and the planet while promoting peace, prosperity and partnership.
(Source: Global Times Online)
