ENGINEERING EDUCATION AS THE PATHWAY TO IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF LIFE

Engineering education as it relates to sustainable development, entrepreneurial engineering and the fourth industrial revolution cannot be overemphasised. Thus, this article discusses the role of engineering education in improving the quality of life. It provides a brief description on engineering, engineering education, and the role of engineers in today's societies. This is followed by the achievements of engineering and engineering education in the 20th century vis-à-vis inventions and interventions in agricultural mechanization, water supply, sanitation, automobile, aircraft, health technologies, infrastructural development, and domestic activities. The paper also discusses the challenges of engineering education such as; inadequacies of government in funding, inability of graduate engineers to meet the threats of 21st century, limitation of professional engineers in relations to assuming positions in government agencies, failure of secondary schools to offer basic engineering subjects, rigid and out-dated curriculum and so on. The paper concludes by highlighting the way forward for engineering education in modern day situations.