The Science-Trained Professional

Abstract

It is generally agreed that there will be significant shifts in the production of knowledge in the coming century. But these shifts are not yet reflected in the (higher, professional) education of knowledge workers. While science-trained ‘flexible experts’ constitute an emerging and significant segment of the intellectual capital of a nation, higher educators are still operating under the old paradigm. There are, however, many different ways of serving society by way of mathematics and science, and many different settings in which future knowledge will be produced. In addition to focused discovery in a traditional research setting, science and technology-based problem solving, technology transfer, management of knowledge production, patent and regulatory affairs, and diffusion of new knowledge are being recognized as more than ancillary tasks in the business of producing knowledge. In this paper, the authors set out the educational implications for the new knowledge society; how supplying differently trained professionals can stimulate demand for their services; barriers to be overcome; a description of some educational innovations in the USA and Europe; and the challenges of finding new means (and criteria) for self-regulation (quality control).