Engineering education and individualism : the quest for individual excellence

Abstract

Engineering has been a discipline that is different from others as a result of various reasons. First, it is old as human civilization, and it has always been over the years. Excellence has over the years been a word common to institutions of learning as it has been a major part of most institutions vision and mission statement. This is not only limited to the academic institution as people have demonstrated excellence across various fields of human endeavour. Excellence is a defining character that sets individuals apart from others and it can be gotten by fulfilling certain standards that confer a mark of exceptionality on people. One of the most notable authors on individualism opined that it is an aspect of culture that is related with traits like independence and taking care of oneself. Findings from the study revealed that individual excellence gives specificity to the concept of excellence as it focuses on the individual. Thus, it was important to analyse individual excellence in engineering education using individualism and in doing this, some defining element in individualism were conceptualized for achieving individual excellence in engineering education. The study therefore recommended that to ensure the relevance of the distinction and excellence individualism offer, it must be subject to empirical verification.</jats:p>