The Beginning Of American Higher Engineering Education

Higher engineering education is a kind of professional education based on technical science which aims at educating people capable of transforming technology into productive forces.In the early 19 th century,the training of higher engineering staff in the United States was lagging right behind,while American society increased the demand for higher engineering talents continually.This coincided with the predicament of the start-up West Point military school,owing to which needed urgent reform of itself.After Thayer took over as the president of the West Point,he started to introduce the talents training model of French higher engineering education to the West Point,create a new teaching system and management mechanism,and improve the teaching facilities,and in this way the West Point became a leader of American higher engineering education.The introduction and implementation of advanced engineering education into West Point had great influence.From the point of the West Point military school,these reform measures made it the first formal engineering school in the United States,at the same time promoted the American engineering and economic development with the cultivation of engineering staff.In addition,the West Point set a good example and propelled the establishment of other engineering schools,such as Norwich University,Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Annapolis Military Academy.It's clear that the continuous development of the American higher engineering education demonstrates a shift from imitation to internalization and from the point to surface.Therefore,it is of great significance to understand the origins of American higher engineering education.