Themes and Tracks

In collaboration with Purdue University
International Association for Continuing Engineering Education (IACEE)
Presents

April 2025 Symposium

Revitalization of Continuing Engineering Education: Bold strategies for sustainability

April 3-4, 2025
 
Venue: Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana
 
The world is in a polycrisis- a dynamic interplay of complex divergent and competing social, economic and ecological drivers - that challenge what we can do and how we can do it. In such a world of interacting systems, adaptability is key and requires innovative approaches. Engineers are instrumental to providing solutions - for industry, for society and for the planet - so long as they, their workplaces and engineering associations can access education/learning. Continuing Engineering Education is a critical mission amidst the rapidly changing landscape.

The International Association for Continuing Engineering Education invites you to the 2025 Symposium to explore this exciting renaissance in CEE:

     How are universities and technical organizations adapting their CEE resources and strategies so that they can thrive in a polycrisis?

     How do you deliver high-quality learning in a world where the cost of CEE is often dropping while learner expectations are increasing?

     What do learners need to meet their short-term and longer-term needs? Credits or non-credits? What mode of delivery?

     How can policy makers and professional engineering associations support CEE providers in this quickly changing ecosystem?

The symposium will have three tracks to explore the above (and related) questions.

Track 1: The new reality of Workforce Development in Engineering Organizations

This track will focus on what industry is doing for the new training needs of engineering organizations, what industry needs from training providers, higher education, engineering associations and policymakers, and explore how industry is using technology to serve current and future employee training needs. There will also be focus on what strategies industry is adopting to ensure their workforce is prepared for the future of work to stay competitive in this more dynamic environment.

Track 2: Innovative Policies and Practices for Continuing Engineering Education Sustainability

This track will focus on continued financial pressure, necessity of partnerships for sustainability, continued collapse of traditional business models with price/format/value proposition, dependency on edTech tools to scale and rapid shift to AI and automation. There will also be exploration of whether universities sufficiently understand/monitor the needs at industry/company/individual level and types of pedagogical research being done to develop effective and impactful continuing engineering education.

Track 3: Inclusive, accessible and internationalized Continuing Engineering Education through Technology, Platforms, and People Innovations 

This track will explore new innovative models for massively scaling continuing engineering education and current disruption in this space. There will be discussion on to what extent curriculum and assessments are being reoriented by educational institutions towards competency based skills, and what are the resources and creative thinking needed to pivot to this non-traditional model.