Are Guangdong's Electrical and Electronics

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TAGS: ECON ETRD EINV SOCI SCUL PINR CH
SUBJECT: Are Guangdong's Electrical and Electronics
Engineers Up to Snuff Internationally?

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1. (SBU) Summary: According to Moshe Kam of the Institute
of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE),less than
10,000 of the Institute's 370,000 members world-wide are
from China. With more and more electrical and electronic
engineering projects being pursued through global
partnerships and arrangements in a Thomas Friedmanesque
"The World Is Flat" environment, it is essential for
Chinese engineers to obtain internationally recognized
certification of high professional standards so that
Chinese companies can engage in more of these collaborative
projects, Kam said. Guangzhou authorities acknowledged the
gap between China and the highly developed world in this
respect and pledged to do their best to qualify and involve
a greater number of local engineers and students in IEEE
membership activities. End Summary.


2. (SBU) Dr. Moshe Kam, Board Member, Vice President of
the IEEE for Educational Activities, and Chairman of the
Institute's Educational Activities Board is currently
passing through Guangzhou, the first stop in a China trip
that will take him also to Shanghai and Beijing. In a
Easter Day meeting with Guangzhou Communist Party Secretary
Lin Shushen, Kam noted the high reputation of the IEEE
internationally, with most of its members still coming from
the United States and Europe. The mission of IEEE is not
only to build and maintain high technical standards and the
expertise of its members but also to reinforce strong
ethical norms and to promote environmental protection in
electrical and electronics engineering projects.

"The World Is Flat," But Not Many Chinese Engineers There
-------------- --------------

3. (SBU) Of the IEEE's 370,000 members, less than 10,000
come from China, and of the 70,000 world-wide student
members, less than a handful are Chinese, Kam said. It is
especially important that more Chinese join the IEEE and
obtain the professional certification that such membership
entails, Kam emphasized. More and more major electrical
and electronic engineering projects, including those that
determine international technical standards, are being
pursued collaboratively and transnationally. In such an
environment, described very ably in Thomas Friedman's "The
World Is Flat," collaborators and partners in one setting
need to have confidence in the technical expertise and
professional and ethical standards of engineers in another.
IEEE wants to see an increasing number of Chinese
electrical and electronics engineering companies engaged in
such collaborations, and it was precisely with this
likelihood in mind that the IEEE dispatched Kam on this
mission.


4. (SBU) Kam said that while IEEE has previously conducted
seminars and meetings in China, these have almost
invariably characterized by foreign experts lecturing or
leading the discussions. Kam said that he wants to work
towards a situation in which IEEE-sponsored activities in
China feature predominantly Chinese engineering
professionals. Kam also said that envisions a time when
IEEE's District 10 (which covers Southeast and East Asia)
will feature a Chinese chairman, who by dint of the
position is also a board member of the IEEE.

"We Want In"
--------------

5. (SBU) After extolling the virtues of Guangzhou
including as a major venue for future IEEE activities, Lin
acknowledged that there was a major gap between the
standards of Chinese engineers and those in the developed
world. That did not mean that Chinese engineers were any
less knowledgeable technically than their developed world
counterparts, but the absence of continuing re-education
and international exchange opportunities limited the
further development of expertise and skills among working
electrical and electronics engineers. He pledged the

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Guangzhou's commitment to changing this state of affairs,
and appointed South China University of Technology (SCUT)
Acting President Chen Jiequn and Deputy Party Secretary in
charge of science and education Fang Xuan to take the lead
in showing Kam the present state of the city's and the
province's electrical and electronic engineering education
system and to seek ways for IEEE to raise technical
expertise and professional standards. Lin noted that his
son, currently studying for his Ph.D. in electronic
engineering at Drexel University with, not coincidentally,
Professor Kam as his chief faculty advisor, had emphasized
how important it was for Chinese engineers and students to
make this jump into internationally recognized professional
settings.

Comment
--------------

6. (SBU) With a huge current and future installed electric
power base and with major concentrations of electronics and
electrical appliance manufacturers in Shenzhen, Guangzhou,
Foshan, and elsewhere, Guangdong Province undoubtedly has a
large number of electrical and electronics engineers.
Similarly, the educational presence of SCUT and Zhongshan
University not to mention branch campuses of Beijing
University, Tsinghua, and other major national science and
engineering schools suggests that there are an ample number
of potential IEEE faculty and student recruits. That being
said, however, Huizhou, east of Guangzhou and home to a
large number of domestic and international consumer
electronics firms, can serve as a metaphor on the state of
electronic engineer expertise in south China. Huizhou-
based manufacturers reportedly install more electronic
motherboards into products than anywhere else in China.
But only a miniscule percentage of these motherboards were
designed in China, and few if any of the semiconductor
subcomponents developed and manufactured there. If South
China is to make the leap into the leading international
ranks in electrical and electronic engineering, places like
Huizhou will need to have a lot more people who are genuine
experts meeting high professional standards.

Dong