Governing Engineering

Most people agree that our world face daunting problems and, correctly or not, technological solutions are seen as an integral part of an overall solution. But what exactly are the problems and how does the engineering ‘mind set’ frame these problems? This chapter sets out to unravel dominant perspectives in challenge per-ception in engineering in the US and Denmark. Challenge perception and response strategies are closely linked through discursive practices. Challenge perceptions within the engineering community and the surrounding society are thus critical for the shaping of engineering education and the engineering profession. Through an analysis of influential reports and position papers on engineering and engineering education the chapter sets out to identify how engineering is problematized and eventually governed. Drawing on insights from governmentality studies the chapter strives to elicit the bodies of knowledge, belief and opinions in which engineering is immersed. Thus the overall objective is explorative. By investigating the language, practices and techniques by which engineering is governed the chapter sets out to point to the presumptions, stipulations and ‘limits’ of the dominant discourses that shape our thinking about engineering and engineering education. Thereby the analy-sis adds a critical input to the ongoing debates on ‘the future of engineering’.