Engineers and their role in public policy: an active learning experience for enhancing the understanding of the state

Abstract

To achieve effective intervention of engineers in the public sector, engineers should develop skills to comprehend their ethical and professional responsibility, and they should gain the necessary education to understand the possible impact of engineering solutions in a global and social context. An active learning process has been conceived, which enables engineering students of Universidad de los Andes to comprehend the scope and limitations of public management, in general, with the objective of solving public problems. The method used to set the objective in motion comprises a workshop where students simulate a democratic republic with a parliamentary system. The simulation works as a pretext for students to compare their experience with some of the problems of Colombian public management. In this article, we will submit the evolution of the different processes that take place and that enable the optimization of resources in the republic, thus generating knowledge about public systems.

Keywords:

• active learning
• engineering
• public management
• engineering competences
• interdisciplinary teams