INNOVATION January-February 2012

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APEGBC Mentor of the Year Award APEGBC has created a new Mentor of the Year Award to recognize excellence amongst mentors in the engineering and geoscience community in British Columbia. Mentorship plays a key role in supporting a successful career in engineering and geoscience. APEGBC wishes to acknowledge the importance of mentoring relationships amongst Association members with the Mentor of the Year Award. Nominations are now being accepted for APEGBC’s Mentor of the Year Award. Nominees must be a mentor in the APEGBC Mentoring Program. Full details on the nomination process and awards criteria can be found online at www.apeg.bc.ca/services/ University Engineering Program Enrolment Trends Show Strong Growth in 2010 Engineers Canada has released a report based on its annual survey of Canada’s undergraduate and postgraduate university engineering programs. The report, titled Canadian Engineers for Tomorrow: Trends in Engineering Enrolment and Degrees Awarded 2006-2010 , highlights trends in engineering education in Canada based on data from the period between 2006 and 2010. From 2006 to 2010, undergraduate full-time equivalent enrolment increased by 18.4%. A significant increase was noted in 2010, with university enrolments reaching 63,113, a 7% increase from the year before. British Columbia saw the greatest gains in enrolment among the provinces in 2010. After experiencing a 8.6% decrease in 2009, enrolments soared to the highest level in seven years, increasing by 33.1%. This extraordinary growth may be attributed to changes in reporting at UBC, as well as the addition of new engineering programs at BCIT and UBC Okanagan. With respect to enrolment by program, mechanical engineering attracted the largest amount of undergraduate enrolments, followed by civil, then electrical engineering. Enrolments in computer engineering and industrial and manufacturing engineering continued to decline over the reporting period, but mining or mineral engineering and environmental engineering demonstrated exceptional growth, with gains of 98.5% and 80% respectively between 2006 and 2010. The proportion of women in enrolment and graduation is rising moderately for the first time since 2006. In 2010 the number of women enrolled in engineering programs reached a new record at 11,176 (17.7% of total enrolment). The proportion of international students attending Canadian engineering programs continues to rise. The enrolment of these students is growing rapidly as compared to Canadian students. Since 2006, the number of visa students has grown by 46.2%, three times faster than Canadian enrolment. Increased enrolment by visa students is most visible in post-graduate engineering programs. Degrees awarded rose in line with enrolments in 2010 but have lagged growth in enrolments through 2006 and 2010, experiencing just 4.6% growth. The report is available on the Engineers Canada website: www.engineerscanada.ca/e/pu_enrolment.cfm.

awards/mentorawards.html. The deadline for nominations is May 15, 2012. The award will be presented at APEGBC’s 2012 Annual Conference, to be held October 25–27 in Victoria, BC. APEGBC’s mentoring program pairs members-in-training (EITs/GITs) and applicants with professional members based on profession, expertise and location. The goal of the program is to help the members-in-training or applicants obtain the advice, counselling and assistance they need to help them achieve professional registration. For more information on APEGBC’s mentoring program, visit: www. apeg.bc.ca/services/mentoring.html.

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