Architecture & engineering education in the fourth industrial revolution

26-27 March – Beyrut, Lebanon. A conference about the impact of the fourth industrial revolution on higher education organized by the Lebanese order of Engineers and Architects. This conference concluded a cycle of  conferences: The 4^th Industrial revolution; Smart Cities; Artificial Intelligence, Digital Revolution and Impact on the Economy

This cycle of conferences aimed to make Lebanese institutions and engineering societies conscious about the importance of digital (r)evolutions and their consequences for their graduates and members.

The strongest point was the link between Engineers and Architects that share the same issues, such as “design thinking”, use of digital tools, digital innovations.

The presence of Vicente Guallart (Institute of Advanced Architecture in Catalunya), who recalled the importance of “learning by doing”, and of Hannes Mayer (from ETH Zurich) and of Hani Asfour (Dean of Dubai Institute of Design and Innovation) made the conference discussions very rich and controversial.

The French organisations CDEFI (Conference of the Directors of French Engineering Schools), HCERES (High Council for Evaluation of Research and Higher Education), and CTI (the French Engineering accreditation agency) were invited to present the French view on the fourth industrial revolution and Prof. Anne-Marie Jolly  was their representative.

Currently, the American ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology) seems to be more influential in Lebanon than the European accreditation agencies. This conference however brought the European point of view into  the Lebanese context.