Abstract

Over the years, there has frequently been tension within higher education institutions over the issue of who should teach mathematics to engineering students, and as to how it should be taught. In the current climate of falling numbers of students applying for places on traditional engineering courses, the temptation has increased for engineering departments to make their budgets go further by cutting service teaching in favour of in-house mathematics teaching. The advocates of in-house mathematics teaching by engineering lecturers suggest that engineers are better equipped to convey to students the applications of the subject, and to integrate the mathematics with the engineering principles. This, they claim, makes the mathematics seem more relevant to the students. By contrast, mathematicians are often ignorant of and disinterested in the applications of the mathematics, and too apt to be side tracked by proofs and other technical details that are unnecessary for engineering students. However, there is evidence that within some institutions this approach has met with problems. Opponents of mathematics teaching by engineering lecturers suggest that it is simply not true that mathematics can be taught by any numerate person with a degree in a scientific or technical discipline. Mathematics teaching is a specialist skill, which requires years of dedication and practice to excel in. Thus, they claim, mathematics teaching should be left to the specialists.