Location

ENS 245

Document Type

Paper

Start Date

29-6-2017 2:30 PM

End Date

29-6-2017 3:30 PM

Abstract

Each year, nearly 300,000 US college students study abroad and many more go on short-term service trips. The ethic of using engineering skills to serve developing communities abroad is strong in the engineering field. For Christian students and Christian colleges, this service can also integrate with their mission to serve God by serving and evangelizing others, whether motivated by charity, philanthropy, or scriptural mandate. These service programs have impacted students profoundly, often changing the life course of a student. But do they positively impact the targeted communities? Is it efficient to spend $30,000 in travel money to send an unskilled student team to drill a well that could be constructed better by a local well driller for $2000? Certainly it’s a great experience for the students, but what about the community? Does it in fact engender passiveness, cynicism, and dependency by the local partners? If we conclude that it’s inefficient, that we should just send money so a local business or an experienced NGO to drill the well, then do we deny the students a potentially life-changing opportunity?

What is the role of student groups and engineering in academia in serving the poor? How might the approach at a Christian college be different from a state university? This paper discusses the motivations and practicalities of student projects for development and how they integrate with faith, scholarship, and education. Experiences and lessons learned from implementing international community development into the engineering curriculum at The University of Arkansas and at Messiah College are presented.

Share

COinS
 
Jun 29th, 2:30 PM Jun 29th, 3:30 PM

Beyond Voluntourism: Examining the Motivations and Roles of Engineering Student Groups in International Development

ENS 245

Each year, nearly 300,000 US college students study abroad and many more go on short-term service trips. The ethic of using engineering skills to serve developing communities abroad is strong in the engineering field. For Christian students and Christian colleges, this service can also integrate with their mission to serve God by serving and evangelizing others, whether motivated by charity, philanthropy, or scriptural mandate. These service programs have impacted students profoundly, often changing the life course of a student. But do they positively impact the targeted communities? Is it efficient to spend $30,000 in travel money to send an unskilled student team to drill a well that could be constructed better by a local well driller for $2000? Certainly it’s a great experience for the students, but what about the community? Does it in fact engender passiveness, cynicism, and dependency by the local partners? If we conclude that it’s inefficient, that we should just send money so a local business or an experienced NGO to drill the well, then do we deny the students a potentially life-changing opportunity?

What is the role of student groups and engineering in academia in serving the poor? How might the approach at a Christian college be different from a state university? This paper discusses the motivations and practicalities of student projects for development and how they integrate with faith, scholarship, and education. Experiences and lessons learned from implementing international community development into the engineering curriculum at The University of Arkansas and at Messiah College are presented.

 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.