Most Innovative
STEM
College and Universities to Watch, 2017 T R
The 20
Imparting Innovation and Creativity through Comprehensive STEM Education
ave a brief look at the career evolution in the last 20 years. It is quite evident that tomorrow’ s
Hoccupation may not be today’ s. Beyond one’ s imagination, automation today has completely rendered the roles of assembly workers, switchboard operators, and aircraft and automobile production welders. Twenty years ago, we would not have predicted demand for telework coordinators, online community managers, search engine optimization specialists, and sustainability managers.
In an age of globalization and knowledge-based economies, improvements in science education for handson, inquiry-based approaches provide problem-solving and analytical skills that help to create a productive workforce. The importance of STEM education is becoming more and more relevant in today’ s ever changing world. In a report from the U. S. department of Commerce, careers in STEM are growing at a rapid pace of 17 % since 2008, as compared to other careers which are growing at a rate of 9.8 %.
This special issue of“ The 20 Most Innovative STEM College and Universities to Watch, 2017” lists out the institutions which are imparting innovation and creativity by reconciling the opposing trends, so that the composition of STEM education conduit reflects the nation’ s shifting demographics. STEM education encourages a spirit of inquiry, exploratory learning, logical and innovative thinking, along with a problemsolving mindset among students. This forms the foundation for our future scientists, architects, engineers and sagacious educators.
Moreover, an extensive empowerment of such STEM-oriented courses can boost our future scientific and technological innovations, which are key to our prosperity and an improved quality of life. It proves to be an essential component for a competitive society and the driver of the entire nation’ s economy. STEM education equips students with a widely-applicable set of skills that can be transferred to meet new workplace demands. Perhaps most important of these is the ability to learn.
So flip through the folios for acumens on such competent institutions providing comprehensive STEM education. Also, do not miss out on the scholarly articles on“ Reinventing Society ─ One System at a Time” &“ Role of Universities in Teaching the Skills Needed to Sustain in a Knowledge-Based Economy” from the editorial desk. T R