MIT May Overhaul Undergrad Education

Massachusetts Institute of Technology has ordered an ambitious review of its undergraduate program with an eye to turning out intellectually broader graduates by putting more emphasis on the social consequences of science and technology while easing the academic pace.

MIT President Paul E. Gray, in an interview published yesterday, said the eventual changes will be sweeping and will include the goal of better integrating the teaching of academic disciplines, ranging from the humanities to engineering.

"We're not considering just a fine-tuning of the curriculum" but a "recasting of the education mission," he told The Boston Globe.

Being considered is an "intentional, modest reduction" in the pace and intensity of academic pursuits so there would be more time for contemplation and reflection, he said.

In a report to trustees that will be made public later this month, Gray wrote that the review is expected to lead to a new undergraduate program that will "assure a lifetime of technical competence, social contribution and personal fulfillment" among graduates.

MIT tends to attract overachievers, he said, and a "slight reduction in the throttle setting" of academic life would provide "a little more time on the margins...for reflection, pleasure and interaction with colleagues."

MIT has 9,500 students, and 60 percent of them are engineering students.

In recent years, MIT has strengthened core requirements in the humanities, arts and social science, but Gray said changes being considered would go beyond broadening the curriculum.

Studying the humanities and social sciences "is not simply desirable because it makes a rounder person, but because it's necessary to bringing a broader perspective to an engineer in his or her work," he said.

"If you're going to do a responsible job of educating engineers, you have to incorporate different kinds of study about people, social values and ways of framing problems--not as an 'add-on' but as an integral part of that education."

Margaret MacVicar, dean of undergraduate education and chairwoman of the committeee gathering ideas, said changes would be more than curricular.

"It has to do with how we expect our students to look at a problem," she said.

Graduates should not be just "competent at finding solutions to problems brought to them" but "more analytical in examining how a problem is framed" and in looking at underlying assumptions and the consequences of possible solutions.

"This process goes beyond wanting more humanities with your science," she said. It is intended to create an approach to learning that will combine technical expertise "with a sense of social responsibility."

Under consideration are interdisciplinary courses taught jointly by faculty from the humanities and social sciences and professors in sciences and engineering.

The school also is considering relying more heavily on qualitative measures other than test scores and grades in admitting students. The goal would be to identify applicants "with the broader range of interests we seek" in addition to traditional strengths.