Future engineers: meet the world.

It is a big, scary place full of diversity and possibility. Get used to the size of it, because if you want to make it in construction today, you're going to have to work and think on a global scale. Luckily, many engineering schools are taking steps to imbue their students with a more worldly perspective.

One of them is the Humanitarian Engineering Program at The Colorado School of Mines (written about by a no-name reporter at this location on ENR.com). The school gives students a chance to work with other cultures through charitable engineering efforts. Other universities are introducing specific courses on global perspectives, such as the new International Collaborative Construction Management Course at Carnegie Mellon's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. It will give students a chance to see what it's like to work on a modern international construction project. These small steps have been well received so far and there is much more that remains to be done.

While universities scramble to meet the demand for construction professionals with international experience, there are other groups seeking to further highlight the benefits of international work. Several years ago UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, in cooperation with DaimlerChrysler, established the Mondialogo Prize. The contest is intended to recognize engineering students who have worked across great geographical divides to aid those in the developing world.

For the contest, students from two engineering schools in different countries work together on humanitarian projects ranging from rural sanitation projects to developing unmanned vehicles to disarm land mines. This is no old fashioned exchange program however. In the entries for Mondialogo you'll find students from the Czech Republic emailing those in Fiji with their latest plans and drawings, eager to get some feedback. The Internet allows for a level of communication not possible previously and students are able to connect to other like-minded parties on the other side of the world with a minimum of fuss.

Now the humanitarian benefit is all good, and these projects certainly demonstrate how even college students can apply engineering to tackle major problems. But there is something else important going on here. For perhaps the first time in a long time, engineering students are learning firsthand how to work across borders and great distances to complete construction projects. And in a world where construction is increasingly an international affair, this is an indispensable skill regardless of industry sector.

This is a time when even moderately-sized projects involve participants from multiple countries. Communications and ease of travel have removed many of the traditional barriers to international collaboration, and anyone entering the industry must deal with counterparts from all over the world. There has been some debate over what is the best way to prepare students to work in a global environment, and so far the most successful tactic is to allow them to work internationally while still in school. Equipped with this experience, these engineers will be heading off to their first jobs well prepared.