oa A New Voice in Engineering Education: Engineering Education Letters

It is our pleasure to share with you some articles from the forthcoming inaugural issue of Engineering Education Letters (EEL), an open-access, peer-refereed journal that is intended to provide an international platform for dialogue and interaction among engineering education researchers and practitioners. This journal is inspired by and published in a region that is home to some of the world’s fastest-growing economies. The Gulf has embraced quality education as the catalyst for transforming carbon-based economies to knowledge-based economies.

The editors and the publisher of this journal are affiliated with Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, a non-profit organization founded in 1995 as the driving force for Qatar’s national development goals. Qatar Foundation’s partnerships are designed to develop human capital and capacity necessary to meet Qatar’s immediate needs for technical expertise while fueling the nation’s economic expansion. To that end, EEL promotes and cultivates communication and exchange among engineering education institutions and communities around the world while showcasing innovation in engineering education.

This region offers a unique environment for engineering education because it controls a significant portion of the global energy and chemicals market. As such, the engineering discipline plays a critical role in the sustainability of regional economies, especially as they prepare for and adapt to shifting market forces. Therefore, the main aim of EEL is to highlight the role of economic, cultural and social factors in engineering education while providing a forum in which academics and researchers in engineering colleges, research institutions and industry can share their success stories and challenges in the advancement of engineering education. In particular, the journal endeavors to highlight models that contribute to the establishment of curricula and/or programs needed to produce highly skilled engineers to support the economies of this region, developing nations and the world.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Maersk Oil Qatar, the exclusive sponsor and industry partner for Engineering Education Letters, for its pioneering leadership in supporting engineering education. Additionally, we are grateful to QScience, Texas A&M University at Qatar, members of the editorial board, and the reviewers and the contributors for this issue.

We hope you will enjoy this volume, and we look forward to your contributions and feedback to help us develop the quality of Engineering Education Letters. With your support, we can open a new window for the dissemination of research and project results that will improve the engineering education discipline in both developing and developed nations. The full version of the inaugural journal issue will soon be published online. Visit www.eeletters.org for submission guidelines or to register for updates. 15 May 2015 Doha, Qatar