2-98 (July 1998) Education and Training by Ron Blicq The Netherlands Germany Canada U.S.A.

For most readers of TC-Forum, technical communication is an activity undertaken by dedicated technical communicators, for whom writing, editing, illustrating, or page-making is their chosen vocation. Yet there is also a much larger community for whom technical communication is only a secondary activity, although it remains an essential part of their work.

Brigitte Beuttenmüller touches briefly on this in her article (ET 3), when she examines responses to a questionnaire assessing the teaching of technical communication at universities and technical colleges in Germany. She writes: "The list makes clear that education for technical communication in Germany is based on quite different interpretations of the profession." This is particularly recognized by teachers of technical communication.

Where a university offers a degree program in technical communication, the emphasis is almost entirely on preparing undergraduates to become career technical communicators, with the focus primarily on how to prepare technical documentation. Such programs are offered, for example, by Fachhochschule Hannover in Germany, the University at Twente in The Netherlands, and Clarkson University in the United States.

Where a university or technical college offers technical communication as a support subject to a mainstream technical program, the emphasis is on preparing undergraduates to become career engineers, technologists or technicians who have the capability to communicate effectively about their work. Consequently, only minor emphasis is placed on technical communication.

The focus of such programs differs from that presented to career technical communicators. At Canadian universities and community colleges, for example, where technical communication is only part of a technical program, the focus is on how to write effective letters, memos, email, reports, and proposals, and how to present information orally at meetings and conferences. Only a fraction of the time, if any, is spent on teaching technical documentation of the type we know. (I would be interested to hear from readers of TC-Forum if the same is true where technical communication is taught at engineering schools and technical colleges in other countries.)

This distinction is not clearly understood outside the technical communication community. Consequently, we need to make these differences clear when we talk or write to lay persons about the programs in technical communication taught at our universities and technical colleges.  

"transline Deutschland - Übersetzungsdienst für technische Übersetzung"