May 2006 ISSUE
Back to School in a Hot Economy?
The economy is great, there’s money to be made and there’s work to be done. Why would any APEGGA professional want to head back to school?
Dr. Peter Flynn, P.Eng., has the answer to that question: to keep up with your promotions. And registering for his University of Alberta program is just the ticket for engineers new to the world of management.
Many engineers end up in management positions, says Dr. Flynn, who the U of A’s Poole Chair in Management for Engineers. “I’ve been there. All of a sudden I was running a company — and I didn’t know how to read a balance sheet.”
Engineers have great technical training and experience. Their people and financial skills, however, are not always up to par when they find themselves in the manager’s chair.
But the U of A can help. “As an engineer who’s just been made a manager, you can try to fitting an MBA into your schedule.
“Or you can get your master’s degree in engineering management. The
program is designed for engineers, and the content is flexible enough that you
can tailor the program to meet your needs.”
Active in the early 1990s, the Engineering Management Program fell victim to
budget cuts part way through the decade. It was reactivated in 1999, however,
with a large incoming class in 2000.
Open to graduates with a bachelor’s degree in engineering, Engineering Management includes a non-thesis degree program, which earns students a master’s of engineering in engineering management. Two thesis programs are also available, leading to a master’s of science degree in engineering management or a PhD in mechanical engineering.
The program, housed with the Department of Mechanical Engineering for administrative reasons, is also applying for certification of a PhD in engineering management.
The biggest class, however, is made up of working engineers seeking their master’s in engineering management. Right now 65 graduates are enrolled, and 37 of those are in the M.Eng. program. In the M.Sc. program are 16 students, in the PhD program 13.
An additional 76 students have completed the program since 2000 — 55 in M.Eng., 15 in the M.Sc and six in PhD.
Flexibility is the key to the M.Eng. program’s success, says Dr. Flynn. “This program is primarily aimed at the working engineer,” he notes.
It includes nine courses plus a capstone project worth a three-credit course. One course must come from a selection of alternatives in each of four core areas, and students tailor the rest to meet their own needs. Up to a third of the courses can be technical rather than management-oriented. Most courses are offered in the evening.
The courses cover the breadth of the challenges faced by a working management engineer — everything from advanced engineering economics and engineering project management to personality theory, and intellectual property and technology commercialization.
MORE INFO
Visit
www.engineering.ualberta.ca/mece/EngManagement.cfm
Contact
Dr. Peter Flynn, P.Eng. Peter.flynn@ualberta.ca