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ENGLISH V UNIT 4 THE FORMATION OF AN ENGINEER UNIT IV - MODULE II - WRITTEN COMUNICATION / Reading ESSAY ON THE FORMATION OF AN ENGINEER Document written in Spanish by chemical engineer GEMAY BONILLA ARBOLEDA and translated into English by Olga Gil Dominguez,

Copyrights of this article have been granted to Universidad de Antioquia to be used in English V in the English for Engineers programThere are many specialists in engineering topics who have conducted studies, research, retrospectives and projections about the past, present, and future formation of an engineer before the permanent evolution of tools developed by basic sciences and engineering for achieving more efficiency, better performance, lower costs, more satisfaction, and wellbeing. With the purpose of contextualizingthis topic, let’s start with the meaning of the word engineering. According to Law 842, 2003 (law which governs engineering performance in Colombia): “Engineering should be understood as every application of physical, chemical, and mathematical sciences, industrial technique, and in general, application of human ingenuity to the use and invention on the matter.” MIT -one of the most importantacademic institutions in USA- defines engineering as follows: “creative profession for the development and application of scientific and technological knowledge for meeting society’s needs.” Engineering can also be contextualized with the development possibilities of a society, as established by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization): “Economic development of anycountry will finally depend on the human effort. Human beings trained to discover and exploit natural resources, to manage capital, to develop technology, to produce goods and distribute them among the population so the entire country can benefit from them, are required. Scientific and technical personnel has contributed in a very meaningful way to these social development works.”

Qualifiedformation for engineers cannot be oriented based on the erudition (learning, knowledge) but in the development of abilities. Studies with university students conducted by UNESCO points out that 50% of knowledge learned by memory is forgotten in one year, and 80% in two years. In the World Conference on Higher Education (1998) held at UNESCO headquarters, it was expressed that it is necessary to promoteboth permanent learning and construction of appropriate abilities to contribute to the cultural, social, and economic development of a society. Abilities may be defined as a system of knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values for a continuous improvement through study and practice. Personal abilities (personal formation objectives) are those personality traits such as leadership, teamwork, effectivecommunication, creativity, and global and systematic vision developed since childhood and then motivated by both universities and companies, and frequently defined by them as institutional competences. Professional competences are related to the work fields of each profession and are expressed in professional formation objectives of the programs of studies: professional model, curriculardisciplines, and subjects. What should be planned, analyzed, designed, optimized, constructed, evaluated, and recycled is defined in each area; that is, professional competences of an engineer according to his/her specialty. Some of these competences are referred to in ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology. Website: www.abet.org ). Initially, it could be stated that engineering is aprofession, and education at university institutions is a way to educate engineers. Engineers use all possible resources in their profession, become acquainted with them and improve their aptitudes and relations for producing and managing socio-technical systems, which provide goods and services for satisfying the needs of humanity, thus improving standards of living and protecting humanity’s...