“Mexico has over one million students of engineering – and a drop-out rate of approximately 60%. Both numbers are staggering. Engineering is important to society – but these numbers show that there is something, we can do better. As a society what system do we have to support the one million students of engineering? How do we make sure that the drop-out rate is not a sign of personal defeat and system failure. How do we turn engineering education into a personal success – for those who graduate as engineers and those who start in engineering, but graduate in some other field? The field of engineering offers an obvious solution! We should make the education experience one that gives the students the opportunity to sense purpose, feel social and professional belonging and experience self-efficacy and mental well-being.”

Dr. Martin E. Vigild, R.

Bio:

Martin Vigild studied engineering at the Technical University of Denmark and the Technical University of Budapest in Hungary. He performed his doctoral work at the Risoe National Laboratory and received a Ph.D. degree in polymer science from the University of Copenhagen. He spent two years as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Minnesota before returning to Denmark to work as a professor at his alma mater – the Technical University of Denmark. Alongside his research he dedicated much of his time to teaching and developing new pedagogies and didactics in engineering education. He was Senior Vice President and Dean of Undergraduate Studies and Student Affairs for the last the years of his service. He is now chief advisor to the Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science.