This paper examines the role of creativity and innovation in engineering education across Asia, using a Creativity Awareness Index (CAI) to compare mentions of creativity in online portals of top engineering universities. It finds that while Asian universities have higher creativity and innovation awareness than global counterparts, there are significant gaps in the integration of creativity within curricula. The study highlights the need for changes in perception and implementation to better foster creative engineering.

1. CREATIVITY AWARENESS IN
ENGINEERING SCHOOLS IN ASIA
Ricardo Sosa, Poon King Wang
Singapore University of Technology and Design

2. “Companies like Apple could not emerge in societies like
Singapore where ‘bad behaviour is not tolerated’ and people
are not taught to think for themselves”
Steve Wozniak

3. This paper:
• Seeks to contribute to the ongoing reflection of the role of creativity and
innovation in the education of future engineers in Asia
• Creativity Awareness Index or CAI: a ratio of mentions of creativity
compared to other relevant terms of interest
• CAI in online portals of top universities, focusing on “Engineering and
Technology” in Asia
• H: CAI lower in engineering schools in Asia in comparison to top technical
universities worldwide

4. QS World University Rankings:
• List 1: Top 10 “World Universities for Engineering and Technology”
• List 2: Top 10 “University Rankings Asia”
• List 3: Top 10 “Universities in Asia for Engineering and Technology”
• CAI= c⁄Σ{k_1…k_5 }, c occurrences of ‘creativity’, and each k occurrence
of: ‘innovation’, ‘technology’, ‘science’, ‘engineering’ and ‘design’

5. CAI INNOVAI TECHAI SCIAI ENGAI DESAI
List #1 0.58% 4.46% 14.18% 28.72% 26.48% 16.22%
List #2 1.50% 18.26% 14.45% 18.37% 20.64% 10.30%
List #3 1.43% 18.03% 12.07% 17.73% 26.23% 9.50%
CAI and scores from reference keywords by list

6. Results:
• Lack of awareness and understanding of creativity in engineering
(Kazerounian and Foley, 2007; Schertz and Goldberg 2010)
• Substantially higher creativity and innovation awareness in Asian
universities compared to their global counterparts
• Design is less prevalent in Asian than in global universities

7. “[Our] curriculum (…) seeks to foster individuals who are
capable of creatively blazing new trails in the world.”
Kyoto University
“The Engineering discipline prides itself for innovation
and creativity in providing solution for our industries and
the betterment of the society.”
Hong Kong
University of
Science and
Technology
University President: advocates a model of nurturing
creativity
Shanghai Jiao
Tong University

8. Discussion:
• Creativity has been integrated to the discourse of prestigious
engineering schools in Asia
• Change [external] perception of engineering education in Asia
• Large gaps between intention and implementation when defining
curricula and syllabi
• Draw attention to the future of creative engineering